The Problem Isn’t Conservative Comedy… It’s Ideological Comedy
I had meant to be posting a lot more often to this blog then I have, but things have been busy with Techdirt, so I haven’t had much time. Plus, all the good stuff I find, usually is worth posting there.
But here’s one that’s really off-topic for Techdirt. I’m a huge fan of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart (as well as the Colbert Report), and was surprised recently to hear that Fox News had decided to come up with a “conservative response” or a conservative version of TDSwJS, that apparently is set to air this weekend. Of course, Fox News has leaked out some of the first show and it’s beyond awful. It really is quite a train wreck.
This is leading to a bunch of folks saying that “conservatives can’t do comedy.” Now, I don’t consider myself a conservative or a liberal — but something about that didn’t seem right to me. And, then, I finally realized why the whole concept of “a conservative version of The Daily Show” seems so stupid. The Daily Show isn’t liberal. It points out stupidity — and it just so happens that it makes a lot more sense to point out the stupidity of the party in power then the party that’s not in power. They certainly do point out stupidity on the other side of the aisle as well, and assuming the Democrats ever come back to power, there will be plenty of material for The Daily Show to work from then, as well.
Setting up the show as having an ideological viewpoint is where Fox News went wrong. It’s not that conservatives aren’t funny. It’s that ideologues aren’t funny. They believe too strongly in their own ideology to see much humor in anything that touches on it. The Daily Show is funny because it satirizes any kind of stupid behavior, with no respect for ideology. This other thing sets up an ideology and all the humor disappears immediately.
4 Comments
Mike Masnick on February 16th, 2007
Jonathan,
I believe you misread my post. I am not at all criticizing conservatives for getting into comedy. I’m really not sure how to respond when you seem to have misread my entire post.
Mike
carlo on February 20th, 2007
For somebody so concerned about Mike expressing his opinion about the show before it airs, it’s rather amusing that Jonathan apparently expressed his opinion about Mike’s post before actually reading it all the way through.
Jonathan Moore on March 6th, 2007
You make a good point, Carlo. I shouldn’t jump the gun before reading all the way through.
Jonathan Moore on February 16th, 2007
I am a South Park conservative and very excited about Fox News airing this comedy show. Unlike you, I am going to reserve my opinion about the show until I watch it. If you are so interested in criticizing conservatives getting into comedy, go to ourcountry.com and criticize them too.