Great For The Country, Bad For Comedians

There could be a small minority of dedicated liberals in the US trembling at the election of Barack Obama--comedians. With a new national leader looking to be the intelligent, anti-war, eco-minded, class act an overwhelming majority of Americans wanted, others fear the next four years could be the worst times for satire.

Reuters writes:

Whether because he was the favorite of left-leaning comics, the historic nature of his election or that so far he has made few gaffes, comedians are finding little to joke about so far.

"Obama's election is great for our country but bad for comedy," said Michael Musto, a columnist for New York City's Village Voice. "He is an earnest, intelligent person trying to rescue a country in crisis and that's not all that hilarious."

"Comedy thrives when there are buffoonish targets," he said. "Traditionally shows like 'Saturday Night Live' have done best when dealing with people like President (Gerald) Ford, who couldn't stand upright all the time, or (Bush) who couldn't say nuclear, or Sarah Palin who didn't know Africa's a continent."

Left-leaning comic Bill Maher of HBO's Real Time and the recent film Religulous admitted that jokes about Obama could be hard to come by. "Seriously, here's a guy who's not fat, not cheating on his wife, not stupid, not angry and not a phony. Who needs an asshole like that around for the next four years?" he recently, in fact, joked on his show. But to his credit, he was able slip in another one, riffing off Obama's middle name, Hussein. "Americans were so sick of Bush that seven years after 9-11, they said, 'You know what sounds good? A black guy with a Muslim name."

Jay Leno of NBC's The Tonight Show also lamented, "I've got to admit, as a comedian, I'm going to miss President Bush because Barack Obama is not easy to do jokes about, he doesn't give you a lot to go on," he said the day after the November 4 election. "See this is why God gave us (Vice President-elect) Joe Biden."

There's no question about it--satire works best under oppressive circumstances. It's the relief and truth we turn to when our inner voices can't hear confirmation else where. But as Obama even admitted, "I was not born in a manger." With many tough issues bound to come up over the next four years, and with a set of many advisors guiding his decisions, mistakes are bound to happen. And I guarantee people like Jon Stewart, Tina Fey, Chris Rock, and David Letterman will be sweeping in whenever possible.

Still, it could be funny to see the first episode of the Daily Show after Obama's inauguration in January featuring the the writers and cast just waving goodbye to the camera.

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