Today’s New York Times follows up on yeterday’s kerfuffle over the New Yorker cover satirizing various attacks on Barack and Michelle Obama by noticing the near total lack of jokes about Barack Obama on television:
Comedy has been no easier for the phalanx of late-night television hosts who depend on skewering political leaders for a healthy quotient of their nightly monologues. Jay Leno, David Letterman, Conan O’Brien and others have delivered a nightly stream of jokes about the Republican running for president  each one a variant on the same theme: John McCain is old.
But there has been little humor about Mr. Obama: about his age, his speaking ability, his intelligence, his family, his physique…
***
Why? The reason cited by most of those involved in the shows is that a fundamental factor is so far missing in Mr. Obama: There is no comedic “take†on him, nothing easy to turn to for an easy laugh, like allegations of Bill Clinton’s womanizing, or President Bush’s goofy bumbling or Al Gore’s robotic persona.
“The thing is, he’s not buffoonish in any way,†said Mike Barry, who started writing political jokes for Johnny Carson’s monologues in the waning days of the Johnson administration and has lambasted every presidential candidate since, most recently for Mr. Letterman. “He’s not a comical figure,†Mr. Barry said.
It is not clear to me that McCain is a comical figure in that sense, which has not stopped them from hammering home the political liability of his age. The joke of the NYT piece is the notion that a professional comedian could not come up with jokes about Obama’s inexperience, his silly gaffes, his resemblance to Urkel, how dorky he looks riding a bike with a flat tire, his hubris (e.g., the Obama Presidential seal), or even that he says nothing about the cult that applauds when he blows his nose.
Of course, the mask eventually slips among those quoted in the article. One wants to cut him slack as the “fresh face” (instead of seeing it as a comic target). Mike Barry admits a political bias: “I think some of us were maybe too quick to caricature Al Gore and John Kerry and there’s maybe some reluctance to do the same thing to him.â€Â
And ultimately, there is the issue of race — a particular unease, particularly among white comedians and writers, of running afoul of political decorum, as though that doesn’t kill comedy in the cradle.
Thus, we arrive where we left off with yesterday’s discussion of the New Yorker kerfuffle, with regular pw commenter happyfeet noting:
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, an independent who has supported Obama’s fight to debunk the rumors, said even humorists need to be careful.
“We all have to watch very carefully what we say – our attempts at humor, our attempts at informing people – because some of what we say can be misinterpreted and do real damage,†he said.*
The comment prompted our host Jeff G to reply:
See? This is completely ass-backward. We don’t need to watch our attempts at humor. We have to police our ideas concerning interpretation.
Unfortunately, the former is the easier of the two to scold about. So naturally, lazy fucks like Bloomberg go that route.
Completely at odds with we want, however. Frankly, it was refreshing to hear a few liberals say as much today. But then, they were circling the wagons around one of their own.
Classical liberals like Jeff will try to stop us from renovating the Tower of Babel, but otherwise the number is few indeed. Most of those who flipped out over White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer’s comments in response to Bill Maher’s September 2001 assertion that members of our Armed Forces who deal with missiles are cowards, while the armed terrorists who killed 6,000 unarmed are not cowards (that Americans “need to watch what they say”) will likely say nothing about Bloomberg’s comment, except to support it (despite the obvious distinction that the CinC might be expected to defend his troops, whereas Obamaphiles are freaking over a satire targeted at Obama’s opponents). And as Jeff previously noted, there are any number of people right of center who are also immersed in this incoherent idea about “democratizing†interpretation, refusing to judge the speaker by his or her plain meaning and handing power to the lowest common denominator of society, the ignorant and the dishonest.
Either the media bosses are in the tank for O and do not want to offend in the least or many of the comedians are funning scared.
Remember how the O! acolytes responded to Jon Stewart who ribbed Obamallah (PBUH) over the public financing bit.
Don’t say there is nothing to mock O! about, “humorists”, it’s just that the mocking is verbotten and you all got the memo.
He blew his nose, then he blew my mind.
o crud, my link didn’t come thru
http://hotair.com/archives/2008/06/25/huffpo-blogger-warns-jon-stewart-jest-not-at-the-messiah/
There’s no shortage of material (Doogie Howser riffs?). There’s no shortage of fear, either.
SNL managed (briefly) to find humor in media fawning over Obama. But the usual chorus of humorless scolds couldn’t enjoy a chuckle.
Does that mean John Steward would be excommunicated from Obamaism?
I think Prince Humperdink said it best when he said, “I would not say such things if I were you.”
It’s that race card. When I worked in academia, I rarely told one of my favorite jokes — Who was Alexander Graham Kowolski? The first telephone Pole — because after the first few times I either got lectured about “ethnic prejudice” or felt a sudden chill in the air.
This is how I connect with Jeff G.’s posts on meaning and intentionalism. Try twenty years of having your words and good intentions twisted into clubs that are used to beat you up. And mostly by people who are doing it to gain moral power.
meh
Reihan linked Tim Krieders send up of Obama (Now Ill Eat Anything-06/04/08) at the American Scene and a horde of conservos started screaming anti-semite!!!! and Reihan deleted the link.
Either it is all ok to make fun of or none of it is.
btw, there are no “classic liberals” anymore.
only cudlips and cudlip-panderers, as evidenced by Jeff making himself into intellectual pretzelshapes over IDT and same-sex marriage.
One word: breathalyzer.
One word: Zyprexa
The comedy world — the one that feeds TV, at least — is a tiny, closed one. You’d be amazed how tiny it is. Couple hundred people, maybe. And being closed, the Fear rules it. No one will go first. The first person to make a real Obama joke will be utterly alone — and stay that way.
Jon Stewart, in a couple flare-ups of comic integrity, or maybe thinking he’s built up the Fear-cred to say some obvious things he thinks of, has almost made that first joke, twice, and he had to “buy it back” immediately, both times. So that shit’s over. If he can’t do it, no one will.
(Prediction: Fred Armisen will never work in “this town” again if Obama wins. He’s trapped in that role and he’ll have to stick to it, find something real in it over all those years. Even treading as lightly as SNL has, he’s already taken a heap of shit. One good joke, one true thing mocked, even by accident, and he’s done. No one will say he’s done, decide he’s done, make him done. He’ll just be done.)
I have heard one not-pro-Obama, anti-identity-politics non-joke from a professional comedian during the campaign — an off-the-cuff counter-Obama-cheer remark that went about like this: “If he’s the President, will the cops stop pulling you [black guy in the audience] over? No.” But that was Doug Stanhope, who’s not allowed on television anymore, intentionally operates at the margins of the business, and plans to quit it altogether soon. So he’s free. But he’s only that free. That’s a heavily hedged observation, met with mostly silence.
There’s never been a more laughable Presidential candidate, and there’s never been less humor about one. I said it as soon as the nominees were clear: This election will be — has been, now — entirely shaped by what’s not allowed to be said about which candidate. The nominees and their proxies are competing primarily to close off examination, even — or especially — comedic, of these two people.
In that light, McCain is the only Repubican who has a chance, the right “Don’t you question me!” shields to maybe squeak out a win. Sucks for us.
I gotta stop with the long-ass comments.
Fuck off, nishi. Nobody gives a rat’s ass about your pre-school level “thinking”.
Of course, that’s what really pisses you off, isn’t it? That we don’t fawn over your supposed “brilliance”?
jenn, please link to the Cato Institute again. I forgot why Jefferson would have voted for Obama.
Make the Bobcat do it.
Everybody hates him anyway.
Nope – have Gilbert Gottfried do an interview with O!
Pauly Shore? Carrot Top?
I think Mike Barnicle nailed it, though he was talking about Hillary Clinton at the time (trying to get her out of the race). He said– do you really want to be the one that stops this fabulous story, this historical moment? Do you really want to be the one that keeps the first African American from being president?
No, they don’t want to be that one. Too many are terrified of taking that blame.
If this satire isn’t ok- when will be the right time? At what point in his administration would we be able to see New Yorker covers of him and his VP as the Brokeback Mountain poster, or the oval office flooding? Will there be a switch that flips on, or will we be forever tentative?
Maybee
I think that’s right, and I think it’s why McCain isn’t hitting Obama for all the stupid things he’s saying. He doesn’t want to be painted as the one in the white sheet who killed the dream. If Obama loses, it won’t be because of anything McCain did.
I wonder if the humor floodgates will open once Obama is elected.
That should be MayBee, and not Maybee. Sorry.
Psycho,
Please more long-assed commentary.
I remember back shortly after 9-11, a congressman from Louisiana, I think, made a derogatory statement about Arabs, something along the lines of calling them diaper heads. When asked about the quote Bush Press Secretary Ari Fleischer warned that people should “watch what they say,” i.e., try not to increase racial and cultural tensions during an already difficult time. Some individuals on the left, of course, twisted his words to make it seem as though this was some sort proof of the administraion’s thuggishness, a nascent attempt to outlaw free though.
I don’t think we’ll get similar protests to Bloomberg’s, “We all have to watch very carefully what we say,”–an actual attempt limit thought, criticism, and expression. Thethought police are good if they’re on the side of the Obama and all the other angels, I guess.
What’d I do?
Knock Knock
My take is that the professional comedians are wary of making jokes about him because of the political nature of the entertainment industry. He is the annointed one and any belittling him will face consequences. Since the on-line left is now getting disappointed, and Sen. Obama is tacking to the center, that may change.
I will note that this isn’t completely true – Saturday Night Live did that one skit where he was calling Hillary Clinton at 3 a.m. to find out what to do. But this seems to be the exception that proves the rule.
Salesman…
A quote from a piece on Obama at Belmont Club:It’s not fair to accuse BHO of a “bait and switchâ€Â. The hook was never concealed and even the worm was always labeled as fake. For anyone who was prepared to listen, Obama was always brutally honest to his …
Oh great, matoko’s back again with another false name.
Girl, stop playing around and just use one name? Your…unique…take on things and your select group of issues to cry over give you away every time.
I ain’t a-skeered.
I keep saying it: we’re living the Emperor’s New Clothes here. All it is going to take to end the mass delusion is that one, 40 second youTube clip going viral — one that skewers Obama and, in a flash, beats back 25+ years of the kind of PC training we’ve been experiencing en masse in this country.
Anybody got a camera?
And psycho said my #24 comment better than I did.
Good work.
Oh, and nishi? It’s “panders,” not “panderers.”
I think I learned that from a heterosexual married couple who were reading the Bible and urinating on a poster of Richard Dawkins.
“So then, mmfff, hee hee, Der Fuehrer sez to Goebbels, ha, ha, ha, ha – ‘Acht! Mein penis ist gerfuchte, mit meinem mit der Pisse eingeweichten Fuß!’ Ha, ha, h….hey! Who are you guys? Wait! I got other stuff
WHACK! Mumble {dragged off stage)
It’s called “White Guilt”.
The left will give him a free ride because of it. The right tip-toes around on eggshells in hopes that they won’t be branded with the dreaded “racist” tag.
Obama is the the ultimate affirmative action candidate. He will be president because the African Americans are owed it, nothing more. His Presidency will be the same, no criticism or satire allowed. God help us all.
I think we’re going to have to pick up the slack for the pros here. Here, I’ll start:
Q: Why did Barack Obama cross the road?
A: RACIST!
Knock Knock
Who’s there?
Barack Obama
Barack Obama who?
RACIST!
Q: How many Barack Obamas does it take to screw in a lightbulb?
A: Fuck that. That’s what Whitey’s for.
Q: Why did Michelle Obama cross the road?
A (1): Because it ain’t just Whitey’s road no more.
A (2): A bitch gotta eat.
A (3): The road started it by subjecting her to 400 years of oppression.
Q: Why did Barack Obama stand on the marshmallow?
A: He didn’t want to fall into the hot chocolate.
A Jew, a Mexican, and a catholic walk into a bar…
What — can’t a black man get a drink?
Q: What do you get when you cross Michele Obama and a baked potato?
A: A baked potato that hates your white ass.
Q:What happens when an Obama voter actually looks at his ever CHANGEing positions?
A: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HY-03vYYAjA
That’s it, folks! Jump right in. I need to go take a shit.
RACIST!
So Yasir Arafat, Ahmadinnajacket and Barack Obama are in a synagogue and one says …
***FOOOOOOM***
Q: What’s black and white and red all over?
A (1): Uh, Barack Obama holding something red?
A (2): Barack Obama
Q: How many Obama’s does it take to screw in a lightbulb?
A: That’s not funny! Cracker.
I just heard him say “We cannot afford four more years of a foreign policy that is so far out of step with [here’s where it gets strange] this defining moment.”
It seems to me it would be easy to exaggerate this kind of empty rhetoric for humorous effect.
There once was a man from Chicago
Showed poor people how to embargo
Their complicity
in their own misery
To carry the hope and change cargo …
***FOOOOOOM***
Q) What’s Barack Obama’s new nickname for John McLaughlin?
A) Cracker Jack!
Q: Did you hear Obama is so fantastical that he can speak with the dead?
A: Yeah they like him so much that about 2 million of them voted for him in Chicago.
Q: What do you get when you cross Michele Obama and the London philharmonic?
A: Lena Horns.
Yeah, I have no idea, either.
Q:How many Obamas does it take to screw in a lightbulb?
A:None, darkness will be declared the new energy conservation standard.
Q) What’s John McLaughlin’s new nickname for Barack Obama?
A) Um, Ah, secret muslim marxist Hydrox™ … Evelyn?
Lena horns
Yup. I laughed and then questioned why I was laughing and had no answer. Then I ordered a hoagie. NO ONIONS, BITCH!
Q:What’s the difference between Obama and a head of lettuce?
A:A head of lettuce has no ears.
Q: What do you get when you cross Michele Obama and the London philharmonic?
A: Centuries of musical scores to settle.
This post is terrifying. I don’t see how you people can make jokes.
Q:What did Michelle Obama say when she heard Jesse Jackson threaten to cut Barack’s nuts off?
A:You’ll have to pry them from my cold, dead hands.
Apparently the Obama-as-Urkel meme hasn’t reached critical mass yet, because I have yet to be called racist for using the word “irk.”
And that really irks me.
Barack Obama walks into a bar.
Bartender says, “what’ll it be, Sir?”
And makes him the drink he orders.
Q:How many comments by happyfeet does it take to kill a thread?
A:Obama!
Bartender says, “what’ll it be, Sir?”
And Baracky says “Where’s the teleprompter?”
Q: What’s the difference between Barack Obama and a weathervane?
A: The weathervane will not call you racist if you say it shifted positions.
Q – Why are Baracky’s ears so Dumbo-esque?
RACIST !!!!!
Q – who will surrender first, Baracky or France?
RACIST !!!!!!!!!
Q: What is the difference between the Obama campaign and a bus?
A: When you get run over by a bus you can press charges.
Knock Knock.
Who’s there?
Barack Obama.
Oh, I’m glad you’re here. Remember to serve a tray of finger sandwiches every half hour. And keep the drinks moving. Well? CHOP CHOP!
Q: Why did Barack Obama cross the road?
A: Barack Obama has always been on this side of the road.
I meant that as a joke.
Oh. Sorry. But for real it’s like the Stanford Prison Experiment already I think. Something’s broken.
Q: What is the difference between Barack Obama and a hooker?
A: The hooker won’t tell you she cares about you when she is f%cking you.
Q) What is the centerpiece of Barack Obama’s poltical philosophy?
A) His casserole dish.
….a joke that Howard Dean would favor.
…..see, a wholesome satire of how lefties think righties think of non-whities. Funny, huh?
Philistines
Knock Knock.
Who’s there?
BOOBIES !!!!!
So, Barack, McCain and Hillary are one a plane with engine trouble. It’s clearly going to crash, and there’s only one parachute.
Hillary argues that she should get the parachute, because she’s a former first lady and a woman.
McCain argues that he should, because he’s a long-serving Senator and a former POW.
Baracky argues that it’s his, because if it’s not, they’re racists, and they ought to die anyway.
alfuccinno – I thought it was funny.
I don’t get it Dan. What would Barack need with a parachute. With those “head-wings” he could glide to Chicago from all points in American airspace.
Then cynn comes along and says, “That’s not funny!” So they throw her off the plane and laugh uproariously at the practical joke.
that’s because you’re racist, JD.
alfuccinno – I thought it was funny.
racist
And then they sit around swapping funny ways to kill Iranians.
President Obama walks into a bar and orders a round for the house. The bartender presents him with a bill for $325. Obama puts 3 quarters, 7 dimes, 5 nickels and 12 pennies on the bar and turns away. The bartender says “Excuse me, Mr. President, this is only $1.82.”
Obama replies “CHANGE! Just like I promised.”
Q: Did you hear about the new Barack Obama alphabet soup?
A: If you know where I am going with this your a racist.
MayBee, you are a quick-fingered harlot. My type.
Q: Did you hear about the new Barack Obama Monopoly edition?
A: Yeah every time you pass go you get called a racist and the bank takes 200 dollars from you.
A Frenchmen, McCain and Obama are on a plane when suddenly the pilot announces on the intercom that the plane is too heavy and in order to avoid crashing they must lighten the load. All work diligently tossing everything not nailed down out the door, but alas the plane is too heavy.
The Frenchmen, realizing that a sacrifice is in order, jumps out the open door yelling “Viva la France!”. When it is discovered that the plane is still too heavy, Obama yells “Remember 400 years of oppression!” and throws McCain out the door.
All you racist jingoistic xenophobic misogynistic homophobes are crackering me up.
Q: What’s bi-colored, has big ears and is popular in Iowa?
A: Sweet corn.
Ethanol-ist !!!!!
Q: What is the difference between Barack Obama and sweet corn?
A: Sweet corn can’t read a teleprompter.
Hahahaha.
One joke Barack needs to hear:
The parts of the body get to arguing over which part is most important and therefore ought to be president of the collective. The lungs make their case: we oxygenate the blood, without us you’ld all die of asphyxiation. The heart pipes up, yeah, but I pump that blood. Without me that oxygenated blood won’t be distributed. The legs claim they carry the body to food, the stomach claims to digest the food, the brain claims to direct the perception of and choices of what food to go after, the eyes to see it, the ears to hear, etc.. On and on it goes, round and round, each part of the body in turn speaking up for their respective importance in keeping all the rest alive. The argument seems never ending. (Like this joke.) Until the sour mood is broken by the squeeky protestations of the anal sphincter, “I ought to be president”, it says. All the other parts of the body break out in gales of laughter, side splitting merriment it is, at the thought of the anal sphincter as president. And the anal sphincter thinks to itself, I’ll show them. And plugs itself up, passing not another turd, forever amen. Three days later the rest of the body parts give in, so delirious are they, swarmed with unvoided toxins and positively fearful for their lives. The anal sphincter had won and was duly ‘elected’ president.
The moral of the story? You don’t need to be perceptive, have special skills, possess particular strengths or virtues, Barack Hussein Obama, you merely need to be an Asshole.
Q) Can Barack Obama give a speach?
A) Only when prompted.
alpuccino: I still don’t get it.
“Make the Bobcat do it.”, “Nope – have Gilbert Gottfried “, “Pauly Shore? Carrot Top?”
You’re all wrong.. This is a job for The Ghost of Sam Kinison….
O! OOOO! OBAMAAAA!!! PRESIDENT!!??? HOW THE FUCK DID YOU GET THIS JOB??!!
For real isn’t this South Park’s job? Something’s broken.
Ah, Sam Kinison. A comedian who started out hysterically funny and then got less funny over the years until he died.
Seriously though, “MOVE THEM TO WHERE THE FOOD IS!” made me weep with laughter.
Gee. That reminds me of something out of The Courtier.
Why did the monkey fall out of the tree?
He was dead.
Why did the chicken fall out of the tree?
He was stapled to the monkey.
Why did the squirrel fall out of the tree?
Peer pressure.
GET OUT OF THE DESSERT !!!!!!!!! MOVE WHERE THE FOOD IS !!!!!! AH AHHHH AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
Heh. Dessert.
Hey Sdferr,
Didn’t Fonzie set that joke to music when he went back to school? I think Potsie sang it for him.
MayBee, you are a quick-fingered harlot.
I don’t think Karl’s dad wants to see me called such names, alfuccino.** Not on his birthday.
**what was that, JD?
Oh. That was Coriolanus, The Parable of the Belly, prolly from Camden, but maybe not.
Q: What is the difference between Barack Obama and a fart?
A: You actually will know what the fart will do in Office.
You know, despite laughing at these jokes? There still ain’t much funny about the guy. Except maybe hmm-funny, not ha-funny.
Q: How are Abe Lincoln and Barack the same?
A: They’re both honest, except for Barack.
hf,
Totally for reals this the job of at least South Park.
Dead Guy on a Slab: We’ll the election is over.. I voted for Obama.. Now I’m dead.. Well, at least I’ve faced death and now I can just enjoy my well deserved rest..
Dead Guy on a Slab: ….
Dead Guy on a Slab: Hey.. Wait.. What is that? WHAT IS THAT?? IT FEELS LIK SOME GUY’S DICK IN MY ASS !! IT’S THE PROGGIES!! OOO!! OOOOOOOOO!! IT NEVER ENDS!!!
Did you hear Barack Obama is set to star in a remake of “To Sir, With Love”?
It’s true. Only this time, he doesn’t have to earn the love. Instead, anyone who doesn’t love him is shot by the Secret Service and dumped into a storm drain.
Recycled, but a good one:
Q. What do Obama and Osama have in common?
A. They both have friends who bombed the Pentagon.
Trey & Matt: F— Yeah!
Jeff G,
That’s a Lulu.
…and I’m saying he’s not funny after I sent a few of them to my sister and a co-worker.
But here’s the kicker: I’m wondering now if sending them to a Repub co-worker was such a great idea.
Like I said. Hmm-funny. happyfeet is right, it’s terrifying in a lot of ways.
St. Peter was finally going to take a vacation so he went to God to see if he could get someone to watch the pearly gates. God said, “Get one of the apostles to fill in for you.” Peter answered, “They’re all at the apostles convention in Tahoe.” So God said, “I’ll get Barack Obama to do it.”
So Barack comes to see Peter and Peter tells him, “This job is a snap. You just have folks tell them a little about their lives, and then let them in. Easy as that.”
So Barack had been processing the new residents for a while when he heard the voice of an old man. Barack said, “Tell me about your life.” The old man, with a quiver in his voice said, “I lived a meager life. But I had a son, well, there wasn’t really a mother involved, not as far as I was concerned, you know how it is, but…he was special. He was unreal. He taught us all that even fake people can do great things.”
“Dad?” said Barack as he excitedly looked around the gates.
And the old man answered just as excitedly, “Pinocchio?”
Q: What’s the easiest way to make Barack Obama more black?
A: Find a second one, add the two together, then throw away the white guy — or at least, have him fetch you a sandwich.
MayBee – For some reason, I always think of ALF when I see alpuccinno’s name. I was confuzzled. You can haz forgiveness for me?
Q: What’s the easiest way to make Barack Obama more black?
A1 : Have Hamsher do a picture of him in blackface.
A2 : Porter flat black paint.
Q: Are we going to hell for this thread?
A: Nah. Jail, most likely.
Oh, hell is calling too. But I already had a reservation.
Ha ha ha ha ha!
MayBee,
Since you mentioned it, I note that my Dad checked in on the birthday thread.
Q: What’s the difference between Barack Obama and Jesus?
A: Jesus let the Jews kill him.
(That one is just in case Mel Gibson is reading. Hiya, Mel!)
Wow, 114 comments and no ritual denunciation from cynn or a cloying lecture from SEK. Wait, wait! No Semantics-clueless snarky insults, either!
What is the world coming to when a group of obvious racists and bigots can’t be criticized?
Oh and denounced, blah, blah conmdemned, yadda, yadda… especially you, JD, with the double secret highly toxic twice brewed over and above board denunciation for inherent and overt bigotry.
You may now weep with sorrow!
Q: What’s Barack Obama’s great plan for embracing multi-lateralism?
A: Taking over Iran negotiations and shoving NATO aside in Afghanistan.
ba-dum-bum
Obama so stupid, he thought “Wu Tang” was an African orange drink!
BJ – Redundant. When I get up in the morning, I say an Our Father, a Hail Mary, and I pre-emptively denouce and condemn myself. It is nice to start the day with a clean slate.
Q : Why are Baracky’s ears so damn big?
A : Michelle had to have something to hold on to.
Q: Did you hear Obama cancelled his trip to a Nascar race?
A: Yeah he didn’t want his campaign staff to realize most people will resist being run over by an automobile.
Q: What’s the difference between Barack Obama and Jesus?
A: Jesus actually is GOd.
Q: What’s the difference between Barack Obama and Jesus?
A: People that follow Jesus actually read and remember what he said.
Late night white TV talk show hosts finding it difficult to joke about Obama…
The NYT published a story today that should be considered a must-read. The focus of it is the fact that white late night TV talk show hosts are finding it difficult to joke about Barack Obama, and even though they won’t admit it outright, readin…
Q: WHy does Obama’s grandmother stay home all the time?
A: All she can afford is busfare, but now she’s scared to death of them.
JD, have you heard of the new powdered viamin drink, PruneTang™?
Q) How many committed Zionists work on Obama’s campaign team.
[….]
BA-BUMP! … BA-BUMP! … BA-BUMP! … BA BUMP!
A) Um … none.
Q. How many committed Islamists work on the Obama team?
Q. Here or offshore?
[…] read Karl’s post for the […]
What do you get when you cross Barack Obama with Quaker Oatmeal?
…’cause I really need to know.
Q: What’s the difference between William Prescott and Michele Obama?
A: Prescott said don’t fire until you see the whites of their eyes.
Whatever it is, I never should have given it the keys to the bus.
McGehee – A black Bill Smithberg?
Just don’t interrupt his breakfast, McGehee.
I declare #136 the WINNAH!
Obama is so stoopid he had to study for a drug test.
A: afroturfing.
Create your own joke.
#136 – Excellent!
Is 142 the answer to 134?
Q: How can we be certain Barack Obama will cut back on government spending?
A: Muslims don’t allow pork.
(That one is for all the New Yorker readers. See? We really didn’t get it!)
#134: Rev. Wright?
Tang is terrifying. I don’t see how you people can make jokes.*
A: afroturfing
Q what is a Kwanza chicken?
I’ll stay with “Fillings in the Blank”
for $400, Alex
Q: Who would win in a fight between Barack Obama and Superman?
A: Hillary Clinton
Tang is terrifying
I blame the juice.
That’s the best variation of that hoary Hugh Hewitt joke I’ve ever heard.
What is so terrifying about the Texas Air National Guard?
JD – the power of TIME TRAVEL, that’s what
You guys are crackering my ass up.
crackering is a great word, isn’t it?
They tested it on secretaries first. (Expendable low-level staff, and all)
Do crackers and Oreos go together?
While we are talking about Oreos, and it is entirely appropriate to call a Republican that, what is up with those Oreo commercials that Peyton and Eli did. They have to be some of the worst commercials ever. CUT THAT MEAT! CUT THAT MEAT!
And while we are on the subject of meat, since Baracky is most certainly not a Muslim, and how dare you ever say that his middle name is Hussein, he should not mind if you attend one of his events and throw bacon at him.
“We’re doing jokes about people in his orbit, not really about him,†said Mike Sweeney, the head writer for Mr. O’Brien on “Late Night.â€Â
Mike Sweeney is lying. I TiVO Conan every night, and the only people Late Night has been doing jokes on are people who are hurtful to Obama’s chances of victory — I guess what he means by “in his orbit” is actually “Obama’s enemies.” Hillary was good for a joke or two per night while she was attacking Obama (but not anymore), McCain is good for a couple terrible “he’s old” jokes a night (usually only met with weak chuckling, but dutifully trotted out to lead off the monologue most nights — turns out, agism isn’t that much funnier than racism!), Rev. Wright got hit when Obama was denouncing him, and Jesse Jackson has been the butt of a good running gag for the last week.
So Obama is never joked about (and, by the way, a creative, independent comedy mind could easily find many things buffoonish about Obama — they could even recycle the Kerry flip-flop jokes if they had any inclination), and if you attack Obama, you get ridiculed regularly.
Look, we know the writers are almost exclusively lefties. The hosts are almost exclusively lefties. Their business is to get laughs, and they do the late-night shows in NYC and LA in front of America’s most leftist crowds. Since leftists famously have no sense of humor about fellow leftists, and they will more likely laugh at crap jokes if the joke targets those further right on the spectrum, you have the embarrassingly transparent protection of the farthest-left candidate and skewering of those furthest to the right. That the writers can’t simply admit these basic truths, and instead cover it up with silliness like “there’s nothing buffoonish at all about Obama” (because, you know, the fact that McCain’s lived a long life is totally buffoonish!) is cowardly and insulting to my intelligence.
Um, JD? “CUT THAT MEAT” was Peyton’s Master Card commercial. Peyton and Eli did the licking and dunking of Oreos for theirs.
As a Colts fan, you need to go hang your head in shame.
I’ve got nothing. I guess I’m stuck between Barack and a hard place.
BJ – I am well aware of that. I was just trying to meld the two to erase the image of that horrific Oreo commercial.
Opening day of the new stadium is right around the corner !!!!!!!!
Do crackers and Oreos go together?
They’re in the same aisle in the grocery store!
can i play too?
Steve Sailer says McCain is an “elderly cartoon character”.
He is!
He’s Popeye right down to the lumpy jaw and cartoonish yam-wat-i-yam truculence.
Q: What’s the difference between Barack Obama and Nishi/Quiefcrust Falconer?
A: There is no difference. They’re both comedy dullards.
……….Oh, my sides.
Now that’s one funny fuckin’ falconer!!! HA!
true dat, holmes.
Oh, no! We’ve exclusively been doing Obama humor! Any minute now Mr. Falconer is going to denounce and condemn us for racism, bigotry and toe jam footballs!!
McCain! McCain is so old that he, uh, wrinkles. Yea, wrinkles! And he looks like Popeye! Except for, you know, the forearms! And the pipe … and the tattoo … and the spinach … and the cackling laugh … and the fact that Olive Oyl is a brunette … and poor …
Is it to the gulag with us, Mr. Falconer?
Shut up, nishi.
Ms! Ms Falconer!! Oh, crap! Misogyny and racism!
Tell my family I love them…
Q: What’s the difference between Barack Obama and Popeye’s nemesis Bluto?
A: Popeye can beat up Bluto without being accused of a hate crime.
#171: I heard Bluto was gay.
Popeye is animated homophobia!!!!
Nishit is a fucking fool. Sorry Karl’s Dad.
# 172: ANTI-BDSM-IST!
Q: Why did Barack H. Obama cross the road?
A: His handlers told him it would look “presidential”.
The definitive Obama joke:
Q: “Did you hear the one about — ?”
A: “RACIST!!!”
So if “Lift Every Voice and Sing” is the black national anthem, will there be a black “Hail to the Chief”?
For anyone that saw the Daily Show’s Clinton special right after or just before he departed the WH this isn’t a surprise. That ‘send up’ of Clinton seemed to be more about the big, bad Republicans than Clinton.
Gore was targetted by comedians in 2000. But, then, he was going to win it. Easily. What was the big comedic rift on Kerry? That he was French? That’s more of a riff on those that are bothered by it. But this time won’t even go ‘Kerry’ far. Obama should prompt feinting, not giggles.
Hey, guys! Did you know McCain’s really old?
BWAAAAAAAAAA HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!
In case it needed to be said, I denounce myself.
So if “Lift Every Voice and Sing†is the black national anthem, will there be a black “Hail to the Chief�
“Raise every tax…ching”
Sung to the tune of “Hail to the Chief”:
Now that I’m in you will open up your wallets,
clean out the bank accounts, hand over cash!
Go stand in line and the doctor will be with you.
He’ll treat your fungus by the innaug’rl bash!
Q: How many Obamas does it take to blacktop the White House driveway?
A: It depends on how thin you spread them.
Q: Why did Obama want to sponsor a NASCAR race car?
A: He overheard that they only make left turns in NASCAR.
Q: Why did Obama flip-flop on NASCAR?
A1: He found out if was not a gun and Bible free zone.
A2: Michele said: “Hooter’s Ho’s! Heeelll to the NO, BO!”
Barack and Michelle Obama were out walking on the shore of Lake Michigan one day when Barack decided to try walking on the water. He took a few steps and found, to his delight, that he could walk on the lake’s surface as easily as on dry land. He tried jumping up and down, even doing a few dance steps — no problem whatsoever. Excitedly, he called out to Michelle, “Honey, look! I’m walking on water!”
Michelle called back, “Hey, I want to walk on water, too!”
So she froze it with a glance.
“When asked about the quote Bush Press Secretary Ari Fleischer warned that people should “watch what they say,—
Fleischer was saying people should “watch what they do, watch what they say” because in the new post-9/11 world order, that’s how the Facism ball gets rolling. Ari meant that people should stop questioning the government and stop questioning the Big Lie (the WTC collapse) and show obedience to Our Great President.
Dr. Ted Baehr
Christian Film & Television Commission founder
You’re stupid.
Oh. He likes Karl’s Dad’s bible verse. Does he like google it every day or something? Freak.
It’s almost as though he’s got a doctorate in stupid from Stupid U.
This is all so offensive I am beside myself. And I don’t like sitting next to me.
I could sit between you to keep you from fighting…
…But then you’d have to sit on our laps, because we’re too cheap to spring for another ticket.
I won’t tell if you won’t.
America may be ready for a black president, but does that mean we are obligated to elect someone president, just because they are black? Obama has extremely minimal experience and minimal credentials, not to mention his 20 years joined at the hip with anti-American racists. Also, about 15% of our population is black, so in a democracy, why are the other 85% of us made to feel obligated to elect a black man? I think the problems confronting America today are too dire and too complex to elect someone who is less qualified, just because it is politically correct.
“Dr.” “Ted Baehr”, not only are you an insane idiot r*t-b*st*rd, YOU STEPPED ON MY JOKE!
[…] Yorker writer Ryan Lizza, whose Obama profile was the reason for the magazine cover Camp Obama complained about for days; excluding the foreign press; taking an “uncompromising approach†to when and […]
[…] Yorker writer Ryan Lizza, whose Obama profile was the reason for the magazine cover Camp Obama complained about for days; excluding the foreign press; taking an “uncompromising approach†to when and […]
Barack Obama is the best democrat president in my opinion. he makes the best judgment and foreign policies.. *
You are an idiot, and a spambot, Maya Brooks. That is all.