POLITICAL HUMOR
Political humor is as American as apple pie. As American as — well, Will Rogers, who if he didn’t originate it, gave it its first great popularity.
But Rogers’ humor was designed to make us think as well as laugh. That of Bob Hope, the great comedian who came along a few years later, was unique in that it struck quickly like a drive-by gang-banger or a lightning bolt, then zoomed on to something else. And sometimes you had to go back and think about his gags later to see that there was more there than just humor in his, too.
Political jokes are being kept alive and well by our late-night comedians nowadays — Jay and Conan and Dave, principally. But have they lost the little kernels of wisdom that Rogers and Hope included — the medicine that the spoonsful of humor helped go down — and replaced them with malice? With the desire to have a personal target who can be humiliated — often over and over again?
Here are a small selection of Will Rogers’ one-liners, chosen at random off the Internet:
“The more you read and observe about the Politics thing, you got to admit that each party is worse than the other. The one that’s out always looks the best.”
“The income tax has made more liars out of the American people than golf has.”
“Politics has become so expensive that it takes a lot of money even to be defeated.”
“Diplomacy is the art of saying ‘Nice doggie’ until you can find a rock.”
“Everything is changing. People are taking their comedians seriously and their politicians as a joke.”
Nowadays, that last one especially is too true to be funny.
But notice the solid common sense in Rogers’ jokes? They make you laugh — AND think.
Now listen to Bob Hope, with a different style but the same goals:
“I always like to go to Washington, D.C. It gives me a chance to visit my money.”
“It’s so cold here in Washington, D.C., that the politicians have their hands in their own pockets.”
“(Bill) Clinton loves to make long speeches. In fact, this will be the first inauguration with an intermission.”
“(Dan) Quayle thinks Roe vs. Wade is two different ways to cross the Potomac.”
“Eisenhower admitted the budget can’t be balanced and (Sen. Joseph) McCarthy said the communists are taking over. You don’t know what to worry about these days — whether the country will be overthrown or overdrawn.”
Rogers never made any secret of the fact that he was a Democrat, and Hope was well-known in Hollywood as a Republican. But it would have been very hard to tell from their humor, which way they leaned.
Johnny Carson, “king of the night,” kept his political views close to the vest. Listen to these:
“There is a power struggle going on between President Reagan’s advisors. Moe and Curly are out. Larry is in.”
“Yes and no, pro and con, for and against.” Carson as Carmac the Magnificent, giving the answer to, “Describe Jimmy Carter’s position on three major issues.”
“Only lie about the future.” (Giving advice to politicians.)
But in Carson’s day, the tendency to take potshots at favorite targets had already come into vogue. Carson told so many jokes about singer Wayne Newton, with the implication that Newton was, shall we say, somewhat lacking in masculinity, that Newton stormed into Carson’s office one day and threatened the comedian with bodily harm if he didn’t cool it.
Now listen to some of our resident late-night comedians on the current presidential race:
“McCain came out this week with a listing of 20 possible running mates. He said they all share certain traits, like knowing CPR.” — Bill Maher.
“John McCain is now crisscrossing the United States campaigning. Or, as they’re calling it, Antiques Roadshow.” — Jay Leno.
“Senator McCain, running for president, is in Iraq. Of course, he remembers Iraq when it was known as Mesopotamia.” — David Letterman.
In other words, the point all these wise guys want us to get is that John McCain is very, VERY old. Apparently they hope we think that disqualifies him from being elected president.
Leno did not let up on Hillary Clinton from the day she announced for president, and he hasn’t yet. And of course, no “Tonight Show” is complete without its collection of “President Bush is a moron” jokes, “Sen. Larry Craig in the restroom” jokes, and “Dick Cheney shot a guy” jokes. There is also an occasional “Ted Kennedy is a drunk” joke, but Leno uses those much more sparingly.
And there are very few “Obama” jokes on the “Tonight Show.” Leno may fear being called a “racist” if he does any on the Democratic nominee; or — more likely — he, his writers and most of his youngish studio audience are rooting for Obama and don’t want to do anything to upset his apple cart.
Has our society changed that much since Will Rogers’ day? He made us laugh, and think. Our present-day comedians make us laugh, condescendingly, with jokes that are meant to demean and embarrass their targets. The way I look at it, that may be “change,” but it’s sure not progress.
Old Corporal <corporalko@yahoo.com>
Political gagging, – Sunday, June 22, 2008 at 18:55:03 (EDT)
