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2006-03-06 Home Front: Culture Wars
Why Jon Stewart isn't funny
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Posted by Steve 2006-03-06 13:59|| || Front Page|| [1 views since 2007-05-07]  Top

#1 To put it another way, sarcasm and arrogant naivete don't mix. In a way, it depends who you are if you think Jon Stewart is funny or not.

It has been said both that humor has to have a grain of truth in it, or it is not funny; and that humor can have a lot of anger it in, but when it tips the balance and becomes more anger than humor, it is not funny.

That being said, if you can accept that grain of truth, you can get the joke built around it. If you deny that truth, the joke will never be funny.

Otherwise, the joke is constrained by the anger involved. Not just by the anger of the teller, but importantly, the anger of the listener. If either of them are filled with rage and hate, they have no room left for humor, and the joke will always fall flat. Unless it is not humor, just hate disguised.

And this is the humor of much of the left: nothing more than bitter hatred that they call humor. To someone not consumed with rage and hate, such humor falls flat, be it on Air America or in a Michael Moore movie.

And, not surprisingly, it also dies because it does not contain the essential grain of truth. And without that core, it is nothing from nothing.
Posted by Anonymoose 2006-03-06 14:55||   2006-03-06 14:55|| Front Page Top

#2 maybe it is because only the Democratic party is such a joke.
Posted by 2b 2006-03-06 15:19||   2006-03-06 15:19|| Front Page Top

#3 ...and doesn't Michelle sound like a fun date?
Posted by tu3031 2006-03-06 15:26||   2006-03-06 15:26|| Front Page Top

#4 1. Stewart's show gets very good ratings by the standards of the comedy channel - and it is relatively cheap to produce.

2. So what if Stewart's show has left wing demographics. It's a niche show. If it weren't it might get better ratings but then again it might not.

3. Stewart's poor performance last night wasn't the result of 'lefties can't sustain comedy'. It was the result of 'almost no one can sustain comedy at the Oscars; the big egos and the puffed up medocrities who get awards suck the energy out of any host'. The job of Oscar host is very tough; that's why it was tough to recruit anyone.
Posted by mhw 2006-03-06 16:09||   2006-03-06 16:09|| Front Page Top

#5 Hmmm... Rather like Bill Cosby's humor, where the joketeller uses common experience and self-deprecation which allows everybody to identify with him - and laugh at themselves... versus Don Rickles' "humor" where someone else is always the butt of the joke - and half the audience laughs, while the rest cringe.
Posted by .com 2006-03-06 17:25||   2006-03-06 17:25|| Front Page Top

#6 I like the Daily show and the Cobert report. But after the opening monologues I kind of lose interest and change the channel. Trust me, the first 10-12 minutes of every show are great but the interviews or skits fall flat most of the time. I didn’t watch the Oscars (I never do) and the only winning movie I saw was Wallace and Grommet.
Posted by Cyber Sarge 2006-03-06 17:25||   2006-03-06 17:25|| Front Page Top

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