The Obama Administration vs. Political Comedy

Is political comedy in trouble? Will there be no funny in the future with an Obama administration? Is Barack Obama bad for comedy?

Disregard all the non-comedians' fears that Saturday Night Live will go the way of Circuit City. Ignore all the yammers about how Barack Obama is bad for the professionally funny. Forget them all. These are the same prognosticators who said irony was dead after 9/11. Yes, they said that. The terrorists killed irony. Try even saying that without utilizing sarcasm.

"Where's the funny in Barack Obama?", asked the Canadian Press on November 9th. Politico asked the day after the election, "Can 'The Daily Show' survive Barack Obama?" Gawker called the Obama presidency a "Crisis of Comedy".

So Barack Obama, about to be the most powerful man on the face of the planet, just wiped out all human stupidity? There's the joke right there.

George W. Bush was bad for comedy. First, he hated dissent. Dubya said that the terrorists on 9/11 were cowards. Bill Maher, noting it was absurd to say that flying yourself into a building was cowardly, said so on television. Maher was fired from single digit channels for pointing that out. Banned to pay cable for eternity. Bush's then press secretary, Ari Fleischer, told the nation they needed to watch what they say. And people took note - they started watching what they said. Was that good for comedy?

Ron Suskind's piece in Esquire had a chilling disclosure of the way Bush operates:

According to senior administration officials who learned of the encounter soon after it happened, President Bush looked at the man. "I don't ever want to hear you use those words in my presence again," he said. "What words, Mr. President?" "Bad policy," President Bush said. "If I decide to do it, by definition it's good policy. I thought you got that." The adviser was dismissed. The meeting was over.

Questioning Bush was banned within his inner circle and anywhere else it popped up. His dissenters were taken down. Former Ambassador Joseph Wilson wrote an op/ed questioning Bush's statement in the 2003 State of the Union Address about Iraq's desire to purchase yellow cake uranium in Africa. Then as a repercussion his wife Valerie Plame was outed as a CIA spy by longtime Karl Rove crony Bob Novack. And thus ended her career. They went after an op/ed author's wife? Was that good for comedy?

There was a notion among people in the United States that no matter how dumb Bush appeared to be - he was the only one who was going to keep us secure so criticizing him was an affront to our safety. I was touring the country as a stand up during the first Bush term. It was not good for comedy. Bush jokes were not welcomed. Not just in the red states - but in general. He was what everyone was going to the comedy show to escape: the know-nothing boss with your livelihood hanging in the balance of his incompetence.

But it was the fumbling of Hurricane Katrina that broke the levee of criticism. It was just shortly after Bush's narrow re-election and suddenly ineptitude and cronyism looked like a bad thing. Then it was over. Bush's number's never recovered. Congress was lost to the liberals and Bush was a punchline. Every dumb thing he said was a gem. The whole country was waking up from a stupid stupor. And they wanted Bush jokes and they got them. Late night television, comedy clubs, blogs - bathroom stalls - they were everywhere. Bush was good for comedy for a couple minutes but then he still had three and a half whole years left in office.

Two years after Katrina, George Bush became akin to airline food and Viagra jokes: cliche and overdone. But we were given a gift - the longest presidential campaign in history. A full two years of Bush-free (the Democrats) and Bush-lite (the Republicans). Think of all the Kucinich and Mormon jokes we had. Fred Thompson! Remember Fred Thompson ran for president? His whole campaign was like Darth Vadar sleeping through his alarm, "Wake up Darth! There are millions of voices crying out in terror that could be suddenly silenced - but you have to wake up!" Tom Tancredo ran for president after saying we should bomb Mecca. Nice foreign policy dude! These guys were gold. There was a candidate named Huckabee, a governor from Arkansas that lived in a triple wide trailer when the governor's mansion was under construction. Gold!

Currently, as I write this, Bush jokes are stale. Most of the country has forgotten he's still in power. Last April, I was at a book conference and one of the speakers without realizing it referred to Bush as 'our former president'. That's nine months before his term in the White House expired. He's not good for comedy.

Comedy - or at least political satire - speaks truth to power. It's much better when that power isn't tapping your phone without a warrant and suspending habeas corpus.

The Bill of Rights: Good for Comedy.

So relax, don't believe the hype - political comedy won't suffer under an Obama Administration. The question is: Will an Obama Administration suffer under political comedy. That'll test mettle.

Follow Tina Dupuy on Twitter: www.twitter.com/TinaDupuy

Comments

[WritusMaximus]

Lots of material the comedians will have, for Obama is looking like the Bill & Hillary Administration 3. The last cabinet post to be filled is Secretary of State, and the media is all but assured us that it will be given to Hillary. With so many Clinton retreads and counting working on the Obama team, change is what we don't have when it comes to the powers behind the throne.

Would have been better had Hillary been elected prez, then it wouldn't be contradictory. She can do the job all right, and her/Bill's former staff members would have been natural picks to run things. Not so with Obama doing the same picks. All this nonsense about Obama needing some folks already versed in the ways of Washington and only finding them in former Clinton pals/staff members sure doesn't speak well of Obama. The man couldn't find them anywhere else? Come on now, it's more like he was intent on hiring them from the get go.

Then again Obama's leadership qualities, heck, just his presence will bring discipline and loyalty to his rivals, er, team of rivals. Hmmm, I see no difference.

Vote Hillary for prez!

[sandiegoAD]

The physical part is easy. Ears.
Obama also has a distinct speech pattern. Fred Armisen from SNL, I think, has it down pretty good. As far as content goes, can we do it? After all, it is hard to make fun of eloquence. Yes, we can! We need help from Dubya, though ... at least in spirit.
Imagine a group of insane reporters at an Obama Press Conference conspiring to elicit Dubya-Speak from Obama by asking completely deranged questions like, "How do you proof that you're not the Mesiah?" or "Is it true that Bill Clinton wants to intern for you because of your good looks?" -- only to be dumbfounded when Obama begins to address these questions in a grammatica­lly-correc­t, intricate and lengthy prose. You know, the way he would normally answer a question. Kind of like the reverse of Tina Fey doing Palin--the art imitating life deal.
Anyway, I know one thing for sure. Obama is human and he will occasionally goof up. It will be interesting to see how he deals with power in the WH. A pattern will emerge. Whatever that is, however, the comedy will be at a higher level, more intelligent and not the slapstick kind that we're used to the last 8 years.

[ohioan73]

"Kind of like the reverse of Tina Fey doing Palin--the art imitating life deal."

ROTFL! That would be great.

[ggm68]

Even if Obama is harder to make fun of than Bush, there's ALWAYS gonna be something to poke fun at - Michele Bachmann got re-elected, after all. And last time I checked, Sean Hannity still had a TV show.

Anyone else remember Jon Stewart's 2004 interview where he was asked if he wasn't secretly rooting for Bush to get a second term because it would be good for Jon's career? I cheered when he responded with a forceful repudiation of the idea that he, or anyone who loves his country, would root for more destruction at home and abroad, for the sake of a few cheap laughs. I'm not worried about the future of political humor. I'm just going to have to get used to seeing someone I actually like get skewered from time to time.

[MCpiano]

The term "truth to power" is one of the most annoying, meaningless terms to evolve in the past few years in our culture.

I defy anyone here to give a single intelligent definition to "truth to power".

[violettefemme]

The phrase is not easy to define, as it's part of a larger philosphy.

"The phrase "speaking truth to power" goes back to 1955, when the American Friends Service Committee published Speak Truth to Power, a pamphlet ii at proposed a new approach to the Cold War. Its title, which came to Friend Milton Mayer toward the end of the week in summer 1954 when the composing committee finished work on the document, has become almost a cliche; it has become common far beyond Quaker circles, often used by people who have no idea of its origins. (One current example: Anita Hill entitled her memoir of her sensational charges of sexual harassment against Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas, Speaking Truth to Power.)"

But better yet, read the entire article here http://www2.gol.com/users/quakers/living_the_truth.htm

The simple definition a professor once gave a class I was in: If they have all the power, you have nothing to lose by putting the truth, your truths, in their face. Truth is a power of a different kind, is all.

[MCpiano]

Very interesting. I think it has been misused so much it means whatever the person thinks it means at the moment.

[Polyphant]

The political satirist's job is to point to the hypocrisy of politicians, especially those who've managed to slither their way into positions of power.
It's always tough to criticize the guy everyone in your audience voted for, but that's the mark of a courageous comedian. So go for him and damn the consequences!

[kellygrrrl]

Dennis Leary on Hardball right now saying he could do a whole night's routine on just the Mother-in-law issue and the Dog issue.
I'm sure there will be plenty of material to make us laugh -- it just won't make us cry anymore

[alicetilden]

Kellygrrrl. I think your last line summed it up.