Posted on 09/01/2004 2:13:17 AM PDT by kattracks
How many Republicans does it take to fill up a comedy club?Twelve: One to concentrate on the show and 11 to fend off all the reporters asking them how it feels to be a Republican with a sense of humor.
At least, that's what it looked like Monday night at the Laugh Factory in Times Square, where three conservative comics were promising an evening of GOP comedy. This sounded every bit as appealing as an evening of lefty comics promising an evening of Abu Ghraib thigh-slappers. Which perhaps explains the low turnout.
But humor is - by definition - a funny thing. And darned if folks like me didn't find ourselves laughing at jokes about the very things we hold dear, like gay marriage and social activism.
In between growling about the low blows and lies, natch.
Comedian Chris Warren's take on same-sex marriage was understandable, even to a hooray-for-Massachusetts liberal: He's against it, from experience. "I was married for eight years," Warren grumbled, "and we always had the same sex."
Julia Gorin, the only female in the group, railed against celebrity activists like Sean Penn and Drew Barrymore. "Can't these people go back to doing what they do best?" Gorin asked. "Like drugs?"
Jeff (Big Daddy) Wayne, a TV vet and the show's emcee, got the audience chuckling by explaining how he knew from the start that Arnold Schwarzenegger was going to win in California: "The man's got an accent, he's married to a Kennedy, there are naked pictures of him out there and his father was a member of the SS. That's something for everybody!"
While it was almost a guilty pleasure to hear the jokes about political correctness ("ACLU stands for All Criminals Love Us") and self-righteous animal activists ("When they ask at the grocery, 'Paper or plastic?' I say: 'Mink!'"), the night turned creepy when the comics stopped ridiculing silly Democratic foibles and lit into core Democratic beliefs, like decent education for everyone.
"There are some kids that don't want to learn and some kids who are just dumb. Give them coloring books!" said Big Daddy Wayne.
Similarly, Gorin wondered why Democrats are so upset that the No Child Left Behind Act hasn't worked. If everyone got a good education, she asked, "Who would teach in the public schools?"
That joke shot itself in the foot.
So did her joke about Bush not signing the Kyoto treaty on global warming: "I don't see why the Democrats are so worried about the environment. They're not living on this planet."
And when Warren called any political activist who drives a car to a no-war-for-oil protest a hypocrite for using gas - as if there's some great alternative fuel out there - it became clear why there just aren't that many conservative comics.
They're all in office.
Originally published on September 1, 2004
I thought the education line (if everyone got a good education, who would teach in the public schools) was funny. I could see the environment line falling flat though. That needs a bit of work.
Jokes seldom read well. But I think I can hear the sound of crickets chirping over some of these.
Yeah, and this goober probably thing Michael Moore is a barrel of laughs
LOL! There actually *is* a cricket in the room here somewhere, chirping away as I read this.
The Kyoto joke was quoted. The other comment about cars was paraphrased; it reminds me of the officers' logs of Lenny Bruce's comedy routine. It is possible to report "what" was said but to break it down so it doesn't sound like a joke.
LOL. Those are some funny lines. Since my wife is a public school teacher who tells everyone to "home school", my favorite is: "If everyone got a good education who would teach in the public schools?" </p>
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