Reply #67: To do comedy you first have to have a sense of humor

[Tekla West]

Wonderful commentary there. As someone who wrote comedy for a long time I could not agree more. First of all, it seems basic, but unavoidable to mention that in order to do comedy, you have to have a sense of humor. You can not see it as a threat, which is the first place they fail. They see TDS and Cobert as some sort of threat, rather than as competition. Now, one show is on Fox, a "news" network, and the others are on the comedy channel, so from the start there is a different level, and for the 1/2 Hour its a handicap.

You are dead on with the remarks about authority, even more so, you have to have a 'nothing is sacred' approach, which for most of these people is impossible by definition. TDS rips on the Ds as much as on the Rs, when they can. Its not their fault per se that the Rs are working overtime writing so much material for them. Which brings me to the next point, irony.

What you said was true, but irony is mild (you do have to see it first however - back to the having a sense of humor deal) but TDS and TCR are real satire, and satire is a much more brutal and vicious kind of comedy, because its a double edged sword. Take some of the stuff from the old Harvard/National Lampoon. They once did a parody of the racial pride stuff then floating in common circulation called "Our White Heritage" which promoted the many accomplishments of white people. Now on the surface it was a flat out parody of those tracts, and worked well as such. But the deeper satire was on White Culture, and that was brilliant.

You mention that the 1/2 Hour show uses lots of puns, and there is a reason that puns tend to be met with groans and not a chuckle - and never with a belly laugh. Because they are dumb. They can never make it to the level of the tears running down your face while you pass the milk you just drank through you nose - Monty Python funny -the kind of stuff that I see on a regular basis on the Colbert segment "The Word." I know better now then to even be trying to drink something or eat when they do that bit because from time to time when they hit it right (and its no more than a simple pointing out the contradictions of the situation or speeches) its killer material.

Belaboring the obvious is only funny to the stupid. Its that juxtaposition that is perfect. So, Barak and Tiger are black - no humor there. But Al Sharpton being a possible relation to Strom Thurmond and vice-versa is hysterical. You can't write humor like that. And its because the two of them so perfectly deserve just exactly that. And because they got to be powerful by playing exactly on that.

And, its because they both are powerful too. You are so right when you stated 'mocking the vulnerable is just bullying, and all it does is pander to the audience's worst instincts.' Rush, who back in the 90s WAS funny, back when he was doing the stuff on the Congressional Bank ("Oh Congressman, you don't need to deposit money into the Congressional Bank to write checks") but when he did the trip on M. Fox, well that wasn't funny at all, and he did a lot of damage to his cause by doing that. (Don't tell him though, he is busy hanging himself, so let him sway.)

Lenny Bruce was funny because he took on the Pope, the President, and J. Edger Hoover. He didn't pick on homeless people. Even his gay material was at the expense of those who hated them. I.E. the vintage "tits&ass" routine. And in choosing the target right is the difference between Rush and Lenny.

Lenny also knew - and here is the real Achilles Heel of conservative humor - that in order to be funny, you have to be able to laugh at yourself first. Think of any great comedian - Roseanne, The Smothers Brothers, Robin Williams, Don Rickles and one trait they share is that they are funny before they even say a word. They can stand on stage and make people laugh - and make no mistake about it, they are comfortable with people laughing AT them, because they first knew how to laugh at themselves. That is why Rush will never make it to the big time, I've never heard him make a joke at his own expense - though the possible material can be measured in volumes. Jerry Springer on the other hand knows well why he is funny, which is why his radio stuff is touched with such good humor.

Its going to be hard for Fox to compete with TDS/TCR because they are not funny, where over at the comedy channel, they are. Simple difference sure, but....