Climate Change Humor

An oldie but goodie from The Onion on the cancellation of 3 billion seasons of the series known as Fall.. I'm glad someone is making climate change jokes, a subject too depressing for me to find much to laugh about.

I Knew David Brooks Was Square, But This is Ridiculous

Wow.

Can I go on record as saying that I think Dennis Miller is funny … and P.J. O’Rourke and Chris Buckley and Andrew Ferguson and Matt Labash. Plus I see that the director of “Airplane!” and “The Naked Gun” is conservative, movies that include at least two of the 10 funniest scenes in recent Hollywood history. Overall, I think conservatives are at least as funny as Al Gore, and I say that with all due respect and affection for Gore.

Dennis Miller is funny? OK then. And clearly his stint on Monday Night Football was a highlight in the history of American broadcasting!!!

Of course, conservatives are not as funny as liberals. They may be more evil and thus more effective at winning elections. But funny, no. I mean, unless you think the Half-Hour Comedy Hour was comedy gold!

The best part is his discussion of Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert later in the discussion:

I also wonder if you think there’s a jump-the-shark danger here for Stewart and Colbert. After all when comedians stop being jesters they are notorious for jumping all the way over and becoming preachers, with no middle ground.

Which of course doesn't describe Dennis Miller at all. 

As for the Al Gore comparison, that's useless even for Brooks. I mean, I might argue that liberals are at least as shallow as Jonah Goldberg, but that obviously wouldn't be true, even if I could find one or two who might be. Of course, they would be pot-smoking college students and not millionaire columnists, but there's conservatives for you.

Soupy Sales, RIP

His career here.

As a remembrance, everyone should smash a pie in the face of someone they love.

Awards are weird

I'm not a huge TV/film person-- I only ponied up for cable last November for the first time in my adult life-- but I do watch an ample amount of TV, especially during the school year while I grade stacks of papers. This is something of a disclaimer, because I am about to tread into waters in which I'm not completely comfortable swimming.

The Emmy nominations came out, and I was surprised to read that Family Guy has been nominated in the Best Comedy category. This would not have been terribly surprising, except that it is the first animated series to be nominated for Best Comedy since The Flintstones in 1961.

This I don't get. The show is based on the simplest, most elementary kind of post-modern juxtapositional shock jockery. The plot lines are completely stock, a feature I'm not entirely convinced the writers intend ironically, and the endless stream of referential pop culture non-sequitors seems over-played to me. Not to mention the show goes to the "take-a-moderately-funny-moment-and-make-it-funnier-by-stretching-it-out-so-it-isn't-funny-but-then-keep-going-so-it's-funny-again" well too much for my taste. For this kind of compulsive pop-nostalgia, I'll take Robot Chicken any day, in no small part because 11 minutes of this kind of schtick is enough.

I wouldn't care so much, save the fact that The Simpsons was never nominated, even in its greatest stretch of seasons in the early 90's. Or South Park, which is often incisively topical, completely fearless, and spot-on (the South Park where Butters is sent to a Christian camp to rid boys of homosexuality is a work of art).

I suppose if the Emmy's track to public sentiment, the nomination makes sense, since Family Guy seems to be airing on some channel for at least 4 hours a night. For my money, though, I'd rather watch South Park or classic Simpsons.

Stiller

Remember back when Ben Stiller was a respectable comedian?

Yeah, those days are long, long past.

Not to mention Robin Williams.

Harvey Korman, RIP

I was sad to read about the death of Harvey Korman. While I was pretty young when Korman was active, the first comedy show I really remember watching was the Carol Burnett Show. That show contained some fantastic comedians--Korman, Burnett, Tim Conway, Vicki Lawrence. I think it was the first time I realized what comedy was. I have always remembered the show fondly. Of all these people, Conway is really the only way even remotely active these days, but they are all pretty old. I hadn't heard anything about Korman for a long time so I wasn't that surprised. Still, it's sad.

Also, his role in Blazing Saddles was awesome.

Historical Image of the Day

Harold Lloyd