Friday, November 24, 2006

that joke isn't funny anymore.

Via Variety, we see the latest idea being floated to Fox after the O.J. mess is a show being hyped as a conservative Daily Show, and no matter what your politics, if it's being written about and hyped as such, mission control probably ought to call off the launch.

The reason the majority of comedy gets portrayed as "liberal" is because most of your comedians don't set a lot of arbitrary limits -- if it's funny, it's funny, no matter what the political sensibilities or implications of the target -- especially when it comes to sex, drugs, and other associated vices. Implying that there needs to be "balance" in satire in your show misses the point entirely. The creators of the show likely share a mindset with the folks that hired Stephen Colbert to perform at the White House Correspondents' Dinner, not knowing he would take the opportunity to mercilessly rake them over the coals.

They'll do fine with their built-in audience on FNC, but the creators might want to ask all those Christian rock bands how that "crossover" audience thing went....

2 comments:

The Almighty Ajax said...

"Everybody who is in power should get shots equally," Surnow said. "By January, we will have a whole bunch of new people to do material about."

So prepare to be "zinged", Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA)!

--- Ajax.

Signal to Noise said...

It's hard to zing representatives unless they're speakers or party leaders - over 400 of 'em limits the targets.

I expect a lot of Pelosi gags, most of them not actually funny but probably more about "GAH! A WOMAN IN A LEADERSHIP POSITION!"

Senators are more fun -- although they've been using the same Clinton jokes for years. However, I will grant them that Kerry is an eternal wellspring for funny, but the Daily Show is always all over him too.