Who Killed Comedy: Liberals, and not by accident

The Shinbone: The Frontier of the Free Press ^ | February 17, 2015 | Daniel Clark

[Ax]

I stand in awe of some of the intellects on this forum. I used to think I was up on history but compared to some of the people here, I’m like a 4th grader.

[ifinnegan]

Did you write all the things at Shinbone?

I thought the things iread were very good.

[Yardstick]

I think there’s more going on there than sophomoric mockery.

[Our man in washington]

Ain’t that the truth? The other day, cracked up because someone had posted this Salon.com piece by this guy named Elias Isquith, and the article was really stupid and juvenile. One freeper replied “Elias, your mother called. Your Spaghetti-os are ready.” Somehow, it was the best comment on the article.

One other time I laughed out loud was when someone posted “It’s Hilary’s birthday. And I didn’t send her a card.” Someone replied “You can still send a card to her butt. It didn’t finish being born until the next day.” Totally immature humor—but hilarious.

[free-in-nyc]

What leftists have is not comedy based on actual jokes, but a sort of ironic flippancy. In C.S. Lewis' Screwtape Letters, the senior demon Screwtape had this to say about flippancy (from a demonic point of view):

"...flippancy is the best of all [forms of humor]. In the first place it is very economical. Only a clever Human can make a real Joke about virtue, or indeed about anything else; any of them can be trained to talk as if virtue were funny. Among flippant people the Joke is always assumed to have been made. No one actually makes it; but every serious subject is discussed in a manner which implies that they have already found a ridiculous side to it. If prolonged, the habit of Flippancy builds up around a man the finest armour plating against the Enemy [God] that I know, and it is quite free from the dangers inherent in the other sources of laughter. It is a thousand miles away from joy; it deadens, instead of sharpening, the intellect; and it excites no affection between those who practice it."

[proud American in Canada]

I agree—there are some brilliant people who know a lot about things most people don’t, or aren’t allowed to.

[Inyo-Mono]

I agree, some of the comments on FR are some of the funniest things I have ever read in my life. My wife thinks I’m nuts sometimes as I sit in front of computer and laugh my head off. Some Freepers could have been writers for Johnny Carson.

[a fool in paradise]

Comics/comedy
Comic Books
Rock and Roll
SF movies
Hamburgers
Hot rods
Roadtrips
Home ownership
Marriage and the “nuclear” (binary) family

So much “Americana” that was the envy of the world (it even offered a dream of ‘escape’ to those behind the iron curtain; get your contraband recordings or clothing).

The ‘fun’ has been taken out of it all.

Sex is widely promoted but it's the perverted kind, men are to ‘blame’ and shouldn't be permitted to ‘enjoy’ it, and the hookup culture seems strangely unfulfilling to the public at large. Free love isn't free. rdquo; that was the envy of the world (it even offered a dream of

[Cowman]

Take a look at this clip from when comedy was good and ask yourself if it would air today.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Et19d8mEwnI

In my area there are no less than four tv channels that show nothing but old shows from the 70’s and 80’s. I think because that was the time before PC killed the laughter.

[a fool in paradise]

Unfunny at any speed. - Darth Nader.

[a fool in paradise]

Applause instead of laughter is a dead give away (oh and there is a delay before the applause to run it through the filter list you describe). Real laughter at a great joke is like a gut punch. The response is involuntary. No delay time.

I hear this reaction at the movies at festivals and museum screenings. Especially if they know someone from the production is in the audience.

It's not a traditional bellylaugh. The pregnant pause before they begin to chortle almost sounds as if they are gonna puke.

[PA Engineer]

Another reason is that successful comedy is supposed to contain an element of truth, whereas liberals reject the very concept of truth in favor of “competing narratives.”

"Competing narratives" is the end game of the deconstructionist. Interesting analysis and thanks for the post.

[boycott]

Most these clowns now are more obnoxious and classless than funny.

How many of these comedians would be considered funny now days without being so vulgar? Very few.

[elcid1970]

“It’s Hillary’s birthday...you can still send a card to her butt. It didn’t finish being born until the next day.”

I have named Hillary “The Flying Buttress”. Uncopyrighted and so feel free.

;^)

[TBP]

Stewart is dishonest, arrogant, mean-spirited, and not funny.

[minnesota_bound]

Comedy today is made of snide remarks.

[gaijin]

You couldn’t make Blazing Saddles today, and not 15 years ago, either.

Chris Rock announced he no longer performs at universities.

[Veggie Todd]

I lurk over at DU and those people have no sense of humor at all. And the Dims that I know in my life are the same way - dour, depressed, and have a horrible outlook on life.

[liberalism is suicide]

Give me the old timers like Red Skelton and Jack Benny any day

[wardaddy]

Yes

You’re an outlier here

Stewart is quick

Colbert smarmy

Gutfeld is quick but more odd

Dennis Miller is sharp