Attack of the Hacks!
I'm no comedy genius, folks. But what passes for humor on most late night shows is laughable in a way they don't intend. Don't these people have paid staff that writes material for them? Even Bill Maher throws in a "Bill Clinton likes pussy" joke at every available opportunity (every time anyone mentions a Clinton in the same paragraph as any topic which can be tied to sex in two or three steps). The Lewinsky scandal happened a decade ago.
I remember talking to editorial cartoonist Clay Bennett at a convention about cartoons being spiked by editors. One of his was Bill Clinton wearing a shirt that said "I'm with stupid" pointing down. I couldn't believe an editor was lame enough to spike that--those cartoons dominated the late 90s. Then he told me he drew it in 1994. I struggled to understand what a Bill Clinton sex joke may sound like to virgin ears. I was a kid in '94 and do not remember a time when they were the cutting edge of comedy.
I am old enough to remember when "Bush doesn't know English" was new and funny. But will Jimmy Fallon still be telling it 2018?
Monday: McCain's Magic Carpet Ride
I remember talking to editorial cartoonist Clay Bennett at a convention about cartoons being spiked by editors. One of his was Bill Clinton wearing a shirt that said "I'm with stupid" pointing down. I couldn't believe an editor was lame enough to spike that--those cartoons dominated the late 90s. Then he told me he drew it in 1994. I struggled to understand what a Bill Clinton sex joke may sound like to virgin ears. I was a kid in '94 and do not remember a time when they were the cutting edge of comedy.
I am old enough to remember when "Bush doesn't know English" was new and funny. But will Jimmy Fallon still be telling it 2018?
Monday: McCain's Magic Carpet Ride
posted by Matt Bors at
1:12 AM
4 Comments:
Matt, Viagra was invented a generation ago...and I don't think Jay Leno has been able to get through a week without mentioning it in some context.
I think the phenomenon you're describing is Pavlovian: the audience is already anticipating jokes about Viagra, Clinton's dick, McCain's age, whatever. So when the very topic itself is mentioned, the braying begins and the context is irrelevant.
Hell, today a nonentity like Dane Cook just has to enter the building and people start laughing. It's almost like faith healing, where 90% of the work is done by the audience.
If you go the Dailyshow.com in the late 90's, Jon Stewart has a bad haircut and just makes Clinton jokes. The satire doesn't get punch until Bush comes in.
Kevin, I think Dane Cook could recount a trip to the store to buy milk and as long as he told it in his spastic style the audience eats it up.
Great cartoon. I'm a huge comedy geek, and plan to do a cartoon on stand-up cliches one of these days.
I think Letterman still cracks "Madonna is a whore" jokes, unless Paris Hilton has taken her place. Either way - sexist! Yaaayyyyy!
I would like to see more John McCain as warmonger jokes, or Bush as torturer jokes. Something, I dunno, relevant?
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