After Two Weeks, Still No Late Night Obama Humor
by Tim SlagleSo I get a call from my old buddy Louis. Apparently there was a video of Nancy Pelosi on YouTube, and he wondered whether anybody at the Late Night shows would notice. Pelosi claimed that without the stimulus package, America would lose 500 million jobs a month. Wow, that’s two hundred million more jobs, than America has people. Apparently the illegal immigration problem is a lot worse than anybody thought. But it seemed a great excuse to check back on America’s premiere satirists and see if they’re doing their jobs. Since we’re now two weeks into the new administration, I reviewed David Letterman, Jay Leno, Jimmy Kimmel, Craig Ferguson, Conan O’Brien, Jon Stewart, and Stephen Colbert.
The Pelosi video never made the mainstream press, but it did make YouTube. Today, the Internet is a great place for comedians to find set ups. The Christian Bale video was such a hit on TMZ that six out of seven Late Night shows used it for jokes last night (Ferguson abstaining), as was the story of Sheyla Hershey, the woman with the 38KK breasts (Ferguson, Letterman, Conan and Leno all bagged this one). Letterman was so smitten with those pumpkins he used them as an excuse to tell another George Bush joke (Texas now has the world’s three biggest boobs).
The old ways are dying hard. Colbert went into the vaults, all the way back to 2000, for a Bush/Gore joke. Jon Stewart did a Bush joke, as well. Ferguson set a record for Day 15; going way last century with a Bill Clinton joke (Clinton will lead the investigation into the accidental showing of porn during the Super Bowl). Stewart and Leno did Joe the Plumber jokes, Letterman did a couple Dick Cheney jokes and a Sarah Palin joke.
The tax situation has been a godsend to Late Night writers. Now they can make fun of the administration without having to actually go after Him. Six out of seven hosts (Kimmel abstaining) found humor in the tax problems of Obama appointments. The funniest was Conan, who suggested the stimulus package could be cut by $50 billion if Obama’s cabinet just paid their taxes.
Also, Joe Biden is shaping up to be a favorable target for the Late Nights. Jon Stewart dropped a line (”How can Obama be any more embarrassed over his appointments? He picked Joe Biden as the Vice President!”), and Craig Ferguson did an extended interview with a Joe Biden impersonator who couldn’t help but make politically incorrect remarks, one of which was a joke about the size of the President’s ears. This was one of the few jokes made about the President that night.
Kimmel did a sight gag about Obama trying to quit smoking (and failing miserably). The boldest attempt at an Obama joke was Letterman’s “A Day in the Life of Obama,” a formula bit, where he breaks down the President’s day, hour by hour: ”1 PM: Smokes in bed. 2 PM: spends forty -five minutes, just being cool. Man that guy is cool. He’s the new Steve McQueen!” The strangest part of Letterman’s take on the President’s day was “11:30 PM: Checks out Late Show’s lame piece: ‘A Day in the Life of Obama,’ and concludes comedians still can’t write a decent joke about him.” I congratulate the writers for at least acknowledging their deficiencies.
So what about the Pelosi video, the one that originally forced me to sit through six hours of Late Night “entertainment?” Leno’s was the only show that noticed it. He said it was obvious that someone must have shot the Botox a little too deep. Congrats Jay, you get the star.
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Why are you surprised by this?
Anyone who wants a really good laugh should compare the academic performance of some of the comics to President Bush’s. Will Ferrell, for example: Not only does he have a string of “classic” movies, he graduated from USC with a degree in Sports Information. I had no idea such a thing even existed. Then there’s Letterman, a proud graduate of Indiana’s Testicle Tech, oops, sorry, I mean Ball State. I could go on, but I’m getting more laughs thinking how follish these guys are who make fun of a man far smarter than they are.
In a way I can understand the gutlessness of the shows right now on Obama — if you’re working for NBC or Viacom, and your boss is one of the Obama pod people and you’re also well aware of the professional protesters out there just ready to play the race card on Barack’s behalf, you might come up with a dozen jokes in private about Obama’s latest screw-up that won’t get any further than your personal e-mail to people you’re sure aren’t informers.
But to avoid going after Nancy Pelosi? Jeez, that shows Letterman, Stewart, et al. must have all-female writing staffs, because they’ve got no balls whatsoever (though if they keep it up it will be a boon to Gutfeld over on “Red Eye”, which apparently will be the only place on TV were jokes directly making fun of Democratic Party leaders are allowed. I mean, even if they do it, how much more can the left hate Fox News than they already do now?).
Tim, thanks for taking one for the team by watching all that stuff!
I guess we can’t have expected the comedy writers to have used the transition to, well, transition to making Obama the focus of their barbs. Then again, and far be it from me to actually defend these guys, I suppose they have to wait until Obama does something they actually disapprove of. That, combined with their general belief that The One can do no wrong, suggests we’ll be waiting a long time.
Have you actually watched the Daily show of late?
I’m pretty far right, but even I have to give Stewart his props for hitting BO in the Al Jezziera (sp?) interview and making merciless fun of Gibbs.
It’s nice to have the Daily show funny again.
Why would they do Obama jokes? The east and west coast audience reaction would be jeers and disapproval with a smattering of timid applause. Move the shows to red states and get a different reaction.
Late night mooncalves placate to their liberal audience.
I’m liberal, and I’m with Mobius… Daily Show has been making fun of Barack pretty much every day.
Henry Waxman represents Hollywood. Between his revolting physical appearance and his revolting Congressional inquisitions, he has never been a subject of ridicule or satire in Hollywood. I have neever seen entertainers leave such a target rich environment untouched.
Let’s face it, folks. The Messiah is just not funny. At all. Listen to him whine about opposition to his “stimulus,” and it’s like listening to nails on a chalkboard. Don Rickles might be the only guy capable of making B. Hussein Milhouse Obama–”I am death the destroyer of the U.S.”–funny.
Succinctly:
1. They ridicule Obama, however mildly, they run the risk of being perceived, however wrongly, as “against” him.
2. They’re perceived as against him, they’re judged racist.
3. Judged racist, they are destroyed.
Massive, massive risk vs. puny reward. Do the math.
Why would this come as a surprise? It was the MEDIA that sold the country out to the money behind B. Hussein al-Obama. The Media is not going to bite the hand that feeds them. They see this empty-suited muslim bum from Chicago as their messiah. THe Media will not allow this socialist Golden Boy to be cast in any negative light. That would make them look like the hypocrites that they are.
OSweet. If only life were really that simple, then simpletons would run the television networks and our government.
There has been ridicule of Obama’s appointments — even the most liberal late-night writer can’t avoid seeing the Comedy Cold Who They Call Joe Biden — but they’re pretty much working around the edges, as if Biden, Daschle, Richardson, etc., were all nominated/appointed to their jobs by the Tooth Fairy. That’s the bridge too far for them to cross right now, though if Obama were to actually triangulate politically in the long term and do things that not just the right but the left gets irked over, then you will see the Maginot Line of non-humor about Barack be overrun and the late night shows will start treating him like any other president with problems (OK, any other Democratic president — even if he goes Clinton/Morris on them, Obama’s still not getting the full Nixon/Ford/Reagan/Bush 41/Bush 43 treatment).
MATH GUY:OSweet. If only life were really that simple, then simpletons would run the television networks and our government.
Exactly.
Reminds me of mayor.
“To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the SILENCING OF DISSENT, know that you are on the wrong side of history”
Barack Hussein Obama
January 20 2009
Comedians paycheques are signed by the leftist media bosses too.
In all fairness, I doubt conservatives crack many jokes about Jesus Christ either.
I AM SO ANGRY!
Tom Daschle, and Nancy Killefer are two of the finest, and most competent public servants you could possibly hope for in these appointments. They have been assassinated by the Washington healthcare lobby through their paid Bush Republican henchmen in congress. These Bush republicans are the same people blocking the economic recovery plan put forth by the Obama administration.
I am BURNING MAD America. And you should be too. Tome Daschle and Nancy Killefer were exactly what we needed to help turn this country around and fix our economy, and catastrophic healthcare crisis.
If I were their boss I would tell them to get right back to Washington. And dare congress to not approve them. How ridiculous is it to reject highly qualified people that this country needs just because they made a mistake on their taxes. Don’t stand for that anymore America. They apologized, and paid their taxes, and that should be it. Their country needs them. But President Obama has to do what he thinks is best. I understand that. I’M JUST SO MAD at the anti American Bush Republicans.
Like many of you I have been trying to enjoy the after glow of this Beautiful historic election. But I see that the republicans in congress and their cohorts aren’t going to be good sports, and LOSER’S!
SO BE IT!
In spite of President Obama’s repeated offers, and gestures of collegiality to Republicans. Bush Republicans have seized upon every opportunity to stab President Obama in the back. And by doing so they are stabbing you, and the rest of the American people in the back. Well, you don’t have to put up with that. And you shouldn’t put up with that. President Obama has only been on the job two weeks. And he inherited two wars, and the worst economy since the great depression.
We had an election. And president Obama, and the democrats won BIG. And Bush Republicans lost miserably!
The Bush Republicans are the ones responsible for the worst economic crisis since the great depression. And the Bush Republicans are responsible for the worst healthcare crisis in American history. A healthcare crisis that is killing hundreds of thousands of you every year. Rich, middle class, and poor a like. Insured, and uninsured. Men, women, children, and babies.
President Obama, and the Democrats should take back all the concessions they granted the Bush Republicans, and tell them to put up! or shut up!
Everyone, start calling and contacting these Bush Republicans and tell them to stop blocking President Obama, and the Democrats recovery plan. And stop trying to block, and corrupt healthcare reform. Tell them to get on board with President Obama and the Democrats, or GET OUT!!
If these Bush Republicans refuse to cooperate I want all of you to immediately begin the process of removing them from office by every legal means possible. Including impeachment, and recall. I want you to bring the full weight and power of the movement down on their heads that swept President Obama, and the Democrats into control of the whitehouse, and congress. Take no prisoners. Use all the techniques you learned over this past historic election. Be flexible, creative, adaptable, and relentless like you were in the past.
To my cyber warriors I call on you again. You are among the best and the brightest. I call on you to move this fight from the cyber world to the living rooms, dens, and work places of the voters these Bush Republicans misrepresent. I know I can count on you. This is a fight worth fighting.
To my fellow World citizens. As an American I invite, and welcome you and your advise, input, and help. By delaying Americas recovery, and healthcare reform, these Bush Republicans are delaying our commitment to your recovery, and to being the better America for you that we aspire too.
I had hoped it would not come to this after our historic election. I had hoped that the Bush Republicans would respect the overpowering will of the people, and the World. But I guess not. All the Bush Republicans really care about is them-selves. Well, SO BE IT! Lets finish the job.
Sincerely
jacksmith — Working Class
The real joke is that I wasn’t even remotely surprised to hear Pelosi say something that moronic.
p.s. this was on Drudge all day yesterday, so some might consider that somewhat mainstream since it gets about 4 billion hits a year….
I’m working on my stand up routine. Here a few jokes that I think angry conservatives want to hear.
Obama says the economy is in a recession. How would he know? Things haven’t changed on the south side of Chicago since the last recession.
Obama says that he wants to protect a woman’s right to choose in the case of rape. Aren’t most of those guys down there on the south side of Chicago a bunch rapists? Sounds like he is voting against the people who voted for him.
Obama said, I didn’t know that my appointees failed to pay their taxes. Where I come from, no one pays taxes. We only get food stamps and welfare.
In all fairness, I doubt conservatives crack many jokes about Jesus Christ either.
Yeah, most people don’t take kindly to mocking of their deity. I suppose the Media shouldn’t be considered any different.
One reason why I don’t watch David Letterman, Jay Leno, Jimmy Kimmel, Craig Ferguson, Conan O’Brien, Jon Stewart, and Stephen Colbert:
They are all imbeciles who’s intelligence is way below their pay grade.
B. Whoisinsane Obama unfortunately has issues.
He has a case of Oedi-Presidential Complex. This means he’s searching for meaning through identification with past presidents (JFK, FDR, Abe) while hating the most recent president. (Bush) In the meantime, he’s projecting his inability to lead and engage in productive, creative behavior onto the Republican Party. Traditional coping skills of one so diagnosed is persistent campaigning and speech giving, well after the election.
There is no cure so…we’re faced with a 4-year wake of dysfunction for the entire country.
Hey JACKSMITH…..is that a SNL skit?? Saying Bush Republicans each time does not add any extra emphasis to your stupid premise. You sure have your panties in a bunch.
RED EYE on Fox News…they are only one unafraid of Osama-mania
Math Guy – You said ‘There is all kind of Obama humor on late night television. There just isn’t any late night ridicule, which is the conservative idea of humor.’
First of all, the point of this article is that there *isn’t* the kind of poking fun at the left that there is at the right. Tim used numbers to prove his point – something you failed to do. You just said there is ‘all kind’ (general, non-quantifiable statement).
Second… ridicule? Have some intellectual honesty. Taking cheap shots is a bipartisan exercise. It’s liberals that:
1) Bombarded us with jokes about the parentage of Palin’s son
2) Joked about incest within the Palin family (SNL)
3) Made jokes about the President getting shot (Randi Rhodes)
4) Made a movie about the assassination of the President
5) Joked that Bush was grateful to the 9/11 terrorists because 9/11 overshadowed his tax cuts, ANWR, etc. (Doonsebury)
I’m not defending things conservatives say that cross the line. Just interested in the fact that despite the above examples, you seem to think that ‘ridicule’ is the conservative idea of humor, not liberal.
How can you not make fun of Obama. The guy can’t complete a sentence when there’s not a teleprompter around. The left made fun of Bush for lots less than the way Obama speaks. I can’t keep track of Obama’s um’s and ah’s when he’s not told what to say. Should be plenty of material with this guy. He and his circus of a cabinet and his loud-mouth idiot VP should provide years of entertainment. Hopefully only 4 years.
Jacksmith – Thanks for the satire. I’m sure we’re going to hear snippets of that for the next 4 years. I’m depressed.
Leno disgusts me almost as much as Letterman.
Once upon a time he at least tried to pretend he wasn’t a partisan leftist hack, but he gave up that charade long ago.
I can’t even stand to watch his “Jay Leno’s Garage” web videos anymore (and I’m a car nut).
Biden’s really running the administration – Shows, doesn’t it?
JackSmith
Put down the Koolaid and back away from it
Imagine if GWB had a half-brother and he was arrested for doing drugs. Or, if his auntie was hiding in the country after being ordered out. Or, or or,
You get the picture.
Pure and simple – they’re afraid of being labeled “racists”!!!
If there’s any president who is funny, it’s Barack O’Drama. The world is going to end every fifteen minutes.
Jay leno is the only late night show I will watch. I got sick of Letterman’s nightly Bush jokes years ago – the man has a pathological hatred of him.
I’ll have to say this of Leno – I don’t know how he votes and couldn’t care less – he lampoons both left and right with equal zeal.
And that’s the way it should be…
Zundfolge –
(what an interesting pen name – cylinder sequence auf Deutsch) – I don’t see any bias in Leno at all – everyone sees things differently – there is no right or wrong here – but if you want to see real overt bias watch Letterman -
>>OSweet – February 6th, 2009 at 1:17 pm
In all fairness, I doubt conservatives crack many jokes about Jesus Christ either.>>
Not sure where he stood in the political spectrum, but Sam Kinison’s takes on the true Messiah still make this conservative laugh…a lot. Jesus and God hitting the links also chuckle-worthy. I’m sorry, OSweet what was your point?
East Coast, West Coast Late Night talk shows, “2 & a Half Men,” “SNL” or “How I Met Your Mother” – it doesn’t matter, they all portray Hollywood Values. We didn’t really expect ‘better’ or ‘fair & balanced’ did we? Liberals have frothed at the mouth with their HATRED of Conservative values, for 8 long years and now they want to portray themselves as bipartisan – only for votes. Liberals want to rush through a stimulus package before anyone can realize what is in it, while acknowledging that it won’t stimulate the economy for 2 long YEARS – as a BEST guess. We had 6 years of Republican PORK spending, before they lost the House and the economy sucks. Now Obamination wants to kosher PORK again. Republicans fall short on their morals and Democrats have perverted theirs. To poke fun at Obama would only cause the Messiah complex and the ‘economic bubble’ to burst, sooner than planned. Sodom & Gomorrah are so GREAT that G-D need not come out of HIS habitation, to know what we have allowed. Brace yourself and pray…
A few of Jay Leno’s political quips from this past week:
There was a huge scientific breakthrough today. Researchers say they are very close to finding someone from Obama’s Cabinet who’s actually paid their taxes.
Tom Daschle, whom President Obama wants as secretary of health and human services, apparently did not pay $128,000 in taxes that he owes the government. Did you realize President Obama hasn’t had a cabinet member with an embarrassing tax problem like this since the last guy he appointed?
Because of a huge budget crisis, California is now going to delay paying tax refunds. To which Tom Daschle said, “That’s why I didn’t pay them in the first place.”
President Obama says he needs nearly a trillion dollars to help kick start the economy. That’s a lot of money. Do you realize with that money, you could give every man and woman and child in this country $3,300? Or you could buy shoes for everyone in South America for life. Or you could cover the New York Yankees’ payroll for a season and a half.
EPORVAZNIK: You’re right, plenty of conservatives would and do unabashedly crack jokes about Jesus Christ. My bad.
What I should have said was:
“In all fairness, I doubt worshipful Christians crack many jokes about Jesus Christ, either.”
For the libs saying that the Daily Show is ‘constantly making fun of Obama’ – you’re just lying. They will occasionally try an Obama joke but the audience doesn’t respond. So they revert to making fun of a Republican or generically mocking the ’stimulus’ package.
TDS painted itself into a corner by becoming rabid supporters of Bush Derangement Syndrome. They managed to whittle their audience down to nothing but ultra-left-wingers who can’t stand anyone mocking their Messiah. Plus, they LIKE Obama. They could barely keep themselves from drooling on him just like the rest of the MSM.
TDS may eventually gain back its respectability, but I doubt it. They have a niche and they’ll probably stick to the “100 jokes about Republicans, 1 joke about Obama that’s tepid and friendly” formula.
I don’t find anything the least bit funny about a fascist dictator who is doing his best to destroy our country and steal all our money to give to his marxist friends. What could possibly be funny about a demon usurping the presidency?
Do you honestly think those sieve headed morons are going to disrespect their messiah? C’mon!
Ai yi yi, the Birthers! This about sums up Big Ho. Obama’s birth certificate something something!! I can’t get work in Hollywood because I’m not very uh, I’m all up in their liberal pansy faces, bla bla…
Give it a rest kids, no one cares any more.
I’m with AtheistConservative on this one. I kept waiting for Jon Stewart to lampoon the disturbingly cultish behavior of some of Obama’s supporters during the Presidential campaigns, but to my knowledge he never really did. I missed some episodes, so I may not have seen him do it. Did he ever draw attention to Chris Matthews’ and Keith Olbermann’s open fawning over Obama? I figured that there was no way that “The Daily Show” would miss such an obvious media target, especially given the joy they take in making fun of other news shows (the one thing that keeps me from automatically changing the channel when TDS comes on these days). But, as far as I’m aware, Stewart was busy making fun of Sarah Palin that day.
Stewart’s audience has no stomach for mockery of Democrats. They’ve laughed at the Blagojevich jokes, because there are some targets who are just too big to ignore, but the few occasions he makes a jab at someone on the Left, the audience’s reaction is muted at best. Stewart’s earned his audience, and now he’s got to wrangle with them.
The thing that made “The Daily Show” such a phenomenon was its willingness to ask the questions no news show would; as a comedy show, Stewart openly admitted that they were not bound by the same rules that news shows hold themselves to. This is something that is attractive on both sides of the political divide, a pressure valve we all could benefit from. But he’s made it pretty clear who’s side he’s on.
In the end, I fear that Jon Stewart’s politics will completely eclipse his humor. Al Franken was never as funny as Stewart, but I worry that they may share the same destination.
Obama’s just not that funny. Give em’ time.
Working in D.C. will generate plenty of opportunity for laughs.
How the hayel did you happen on to this board Jack Smith…and obvious moniker you lifted from a hotel registration pad eh? That post just doesn’t sound like you, because I know Jack Smith…no wait …correction … I know Jack Sheeeet. Ah well if ya know one Jack, ya pretty much know them all.
Well, just go back and re-play the eight years worth of tapes of every Democrat (and every single mainstream newsperson) saying, “George Bush’s Huge deficits”.
In light of the current stimulus bill, it’s freakin’ hilarious.
I remmeber the one debate, BHO said, and this is a real knee-slapper: “Everyone has the right to free Healthcare, I will make sure that everyone’s college is paid for, and Damn George Bush and his huge deficits.”
Brings tears to my eyes every single time!
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[...] productions reverted to using: “George Bush (was only for now).” Funny. Much like the late night talk shows, the old ways are dying [...]
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"The funniest was Conan, who suggested the stimulus package could be cut by $50 billion if Obama’s cabinet just paid their taxes."
And then the audience booed. That's when I turned it off.
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