Comedy Crisis

Since the primaries really got dirty last spring and summer, the comedy world has been all in a dither about whether they will be able to make good jokes out of the Obama administration. As I mentioned on this blog previously, many digs about Obama are built on public perception of him, rather than him as a person. On the New York Times "Laugh Lines" blog today, the editor of About.com's political humor page (I know...About.com has a wha?) interviews various comedy writers about their next four to eight years.

MAD Magazine's guy's response is predictably threadbare and worn: "Why am I optimistic? Look who Obama has included in his inner circle — the Clintons! Talk about a humor stimulus package!" Ugh. Really? I'm not saying there aren't still details to be mined for comedy between Bill and Hillary, but come on. That's like making a joke about Hugh Grant and transvestite hookers or Milli Vanilli. STALE.

Baratunde Thurston, besides having the best name I've seen in months, is the web and politics editor for The Onion. I liked his take:

For the first few weeks, I plan to scream for joy and hug strangers on the street as I’ve done continuously since the night of Nov. 4. Then I plan to keep writing material that uniquely illuminates this country’s socio-political reality while causing laughter and self-urination among my audience. That’s what political comics do. Too many people had one Bush-is-dumb joke and thought that made them the next Mark Twain. The arrival of a president fluent in English should raise the bar.

Raising the bar is good, though I suppose hugging strangers on the street is not always the best course of action. Here is Peter Gwinn, a writer for The Colbert Report:

We do face a serious problem, because now that George Bush is no longer president, nothing is funny in the entire world. I expect that in 2009, most of my own comedy will consist of reading Laffy Taffy wrappers out loud: “Why are rhinos so wrinkly?” “Because they’re hard to iron.” That joke right there will always be comedy gold, at least until America elects a rhino president.

Another example of a good bad joke, thank you, Peter.