What makes political jokes funny?
October 03, 2008 By: almostgotit Category: Sarah Palin, Tina Fey, Tina Fey videos, Uncategorized, feminism, humor, motherhood, mothers, parenthood, politics, stay-at-home-parents
Humor is highly subjective. I know this, but it still surprises me how often I think something is funny when someone else doesn’t, or vice versa.
It’s impossible to avoid the political world at all these days, nor the humor that goes with it. Personally, I think humor is one of the things that saves the human soul, and I’ve greatly enjoyed many of the political jokes I’ve heard lately:
Sarah Palin and McCain are a good pair. She’s pro-life and he’s clinging to life.” –Jay Leno
Q. Why did Joe Biden get a hair transplant?
A. To hide the mark of the beast.Q. Why is Barack Obama so thin and scrawny?
A. If he were any heavier he wouldn’t be able to walk on water.Sarah Palin right now is training for tomorrow night’s vice presidential debate in Arizona. And she says it has really helped her on foreign policy, because from Arizona she can see Mexico. –David Letterman
I’ve seen both of SNL’s Tina Fey parodies of Sarah Palin, too, and thought they were brilliant as well as funny.
The “Sarah Palin Disney Trailer“, however, I’m not quite so sure about. I doubt Sarah Palin was ever a woman who stayed at home making lasagna and sharpening her kids’ ice skates, for one. So why set up this particular image of her, and then make fun of it? What are we really making fun of: Palin, or stay-at-home mothers? Palin, or women who seek (or enjoy) power?
I’d hate to live in a world where it was no longer acceptable to make fun of public figures. I have never been a soccer mom, and never wanted to be. I think politicians are funny. I think people in general are funny. But making a joke of the skills and relevance of stay-at-home motherhood hits me wrong somehow, particularly as “stay at home mother” probably isn’t even a category which ever included Sarah Palin to begin with.
I am suspicious when something is so easy to make fun of that we change a real person to fit the joke, rather than vice versa. In other words, in this video, I’m afraid Sarah Palin may not be the real target.
Could be I’m making too much of nada, though, and it’s all just good, clean fun. What do you think, readers?
—–
Related Posts:
Sarah Palin’s email and a couple of goats
Palin V Obama: Which one makes me evil, again?
October 3rd, 2008 at 11:43 am
I recently came across a skillfully photoshopped picture of Sarah Palin in a bikini holding a rifle. I thought it was funny and made a valid satirical point, and I very nearly posted it on Korrektiv. But then I balked at it a because I thought it was a bit too titillating. Verging on porn. Or maybe not even verging on. And therefore crossing a boundary that violates Palin in an uncivilized way.
October 3rd, 2008 at 12:07 pm
October 3rd, 2008 at 1:31 pm
Let’s be honest: making fun of George Bush and Sarah Palin (and Jesse Jackson and Michael Moore) is not exactly the most difficult thing in the world to do–there’s a pretty low degree of difficulty, if we want to think of it in Olympic terms. These people have embraced narrow, politicized, one-dimensional public personae that quickly become so absurd that they almost satirize themselves for us. And this makes it easier for them to simply become manikins on which we paste our own anxieties and axes to grind. When comics do this, I think they’re just pandering.
The really great ones–like I Tina Fey who is absolutely brilliant–somehow manage to transcend this, I think because they manage to transcend narrow political ranting by showing us some of the humanity of the people they make us laugh at, even if, as in the case of Bush and Palin, they have aggressively politicized their very selves.
October 3rd, 2008 at 1:35 pm
Yeah. Maybe I’m a prude.
October 3rd, 2008 at 1:38 pm
I love political satire, when it is done well. What’s not to like about skewering public figures? Dana Carvey was brilliant in his George H.W. Bush persona—I will never forget his SNL sketch after Hurricane Hugo (”Not. My. Fault. Natural disaster.”). I enjoy all of it—including and maybe especially the stuff that pokes fun of my own candidates. I think we’re really in trouble if we take ourselves so seriously that we can’t guffaw once in a while. I think the main problem with this sketch is that it’s just not all that funny. Tina Fey, on the other hand, is a genius, as is Amy Poehler. Send in more clowns!
October 3rd, 2008 at 1:55 pm
She seems no more or less qualified than Reagan. And, in his case, the (then) Soviets blinked first.
I don’t even know what the qualifications of running the most powerful nation on earth would be. Does anyone? Of course not. If you want someone who advocates only peace, pick a member of the clergy (or a coward, not to equate the two). If you want someone who has experience bombing another country, pick a member of the military. If you want someone who understands every facet of the government system, select an educator. If you want someone who can thoroughly understand every detail of a pending bill, select a lawyer. Finally, for someone that fully groks the economy — pick an economist.
So, because no one person can possibly be an expert on each of these topics, we fall back to a popularity contest and who strikes us as the most “parental” figure. The figure that most *appears* to get these really tough issues that we as citizens will never really fully understand. Matt Damon’s comment at the beginning of the video demonstrates this very clearly. He doesn’t think “folksy stuff” has a place in international negotiations. He wants someone “qualified” and yet I’ll bet he can’t clearly articulate what that means.
Maybe a lawyer is most qualified? Not necessarily. A lawyer never has to be judge and jury in this country. They exist because there is a “rule of law” that allows them to work effectively. They can argue effectively, but what happens when they need more than that? What if they have to bomb the other party? There has to be that potential for violence in any negotiation at an international level.
Okay, back to “folksy…” It is largely defined as being “friendly” or “social” but I think Mr. Damon meant it to mean “naive” or “useless” in the context of international negotiation. I think that the correct definition of “folksy” is perfect for negotiations. You want to be friendly and social but even your mother would back this up with the potential for a good thumping. In fact, if you are not only folksy but also appear a little insane, you would probably be even more effective. A polite meeting might occur as such: “Mr. Putin, it is a pleasure to meet with you today. Behave, or I’m going to thump you on the head. Have a pleasant afternoon.” Then, call back a few minutes later and repeat the same conversation as if it never happened.
Am I wrong here?
October 3rd, 2008 at 2:05 pm
Oops. I forgot the perfect hire. The liberal arts major. They get all that stuff. And, they should ideally be left handed. http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08056/860162-294.stm
October 3rd, 2008 at 5:59 pm
I agree with A Little Tea. The problem with the sketch based on the Matt Damon quote is that it’s not very funny. Not even close to the Tina Fey bit — but part of what made that sketch so funny was the pairing of Palin and Hillary. The woman who played Hillary was brilliant, too.
I thought this was another brilliant piece of political satire on SNL a couple of months ago (will it work to embed this? I don’t know):
October 3rd, 2008 at 6:01 pm
Here’s a link to the clip I tried to embed in my last comment:
http://www.korrektiv.org/2008/04/democracy-part-2.html
October 3rd, 2008 at 7:23 pm
What was so brilliant about Tina Fey’s impersonation is that she didn’t just make SP look foolish. She embodied Palin’s essential cheerfulness (a big part of her appeal) and also managed to convey her intelligence (whatever your politics, I think it’s safe to say that SP is very smart). The closer to real life, the funnier it all gets….
October 4th, 2008 at 11:16 am
Thanks for the link, Yep!
October 4th, 2008 at 12:33 pm
@Rufus: Actually, quite aside from everything else, I find it quite nice that there are folks out there who consider this sort of “normal woman” body titillating! But I also think it’s okay to laugh at the photo. I give my permission, for whatever it’s worth.
And thanks also for the link to the further bit of brilliant SNL satire! Very funny, I agree.
@Mr. Budd and Working Girl: I think you’re both on to something. Satire that grabs something real about a person (or situation), and (trickier yet) even manages to show some affection or appreciation for the subject being satirized, makes it all the funnier.
@ Little Tea (and Rufus): Maybe you’re right… this video “just isn’t that funny.” But why? And why do some folks think it _is_ funny? This is what I’m wondering.
@Yep: Thanks for the very thoughtful and interesting comment. Interesting observation that some people disliking “folksy” and believing it inappropriate for a VP candidate… without being able to articulate WHY or what specific personality type IS “appropriate.” Not to mention what appropriate personality type and appropriate expertise even have to do with each other…
So all the prezes and candidates have been lefties, hunh? (as in- left HANDED). Interesting. Rules me out then, thank *GOODNESS!*
October 5th, 2008 at 2:00 pm
Regarding woman in the bikini, the problem isn’t with the body type, it’s with the gun. Like those motorcyle calendars, it really doesn’t matter what the woman looks like – a scantily clad woman on a hog just isn’t sexy. Nor is a woman with a gun. Take away the gun, yeah, it’s great. Could be it’s a cultural thing. Obviously, a lot of those calendars are popular.
Tina Fey and Amy Poehler certainly are brilliant, and it’s worth noting that they’ve set the bar very, very high. Who now remembers an George H.W. Bush parody besides Dana Carvey’s?
The very premise of the video above is off the mark. As the lead-in quotation indicates, it isn’t based on Sarah Palin, but on Matt Damon’s opinion of Sarah Palin. People who agree with Damon might think it’s funny, but the more discerning among them will recognize that it’s funny because they agree with him, not because there’s much in the video itself that’s funny.
The greatest of all SNL parodies, imho, was the great Phil Hartman’s Bill Clinton. Unfortunately they’re not available on YouTube, but here’s a brief bit from the much underrated NewsRadio. If you watch to the end, there’s a kind of apologia for the time-honored tradition of satirizing our presidents.
October 5th, 2008 at 4:06 pm
@ Quin: Try again? My html feature may be unfriendly to commenters… sorry! I did find this video of Phil Hartman as Bill Clinton on SNL’s own site, however.
October 5th, 2008 at 6:20 pm
The Tina Fey parodies are scathing; the college humor video was just kind of silly, though I liked the bit about slap-shotting the Bill of Rights.
The resemblance between Tina Fey and Sarah Palin is almost creepy. It’s like this whole thing was preordained …..
October 5th, 2008 at 6:46 pm
Quin: No, man, the gun is precisely what pushes the image over into the realm of porn. The message is: sex acts punctuated by violent explosions are imminent.
Here’s another good’n: http://charleswarnold.blogspot.com/2008/08/al-gore-places-infant-son-in-rocket-to.html
October 6th, 2008 at 9:35 am
@Dennis: SNL screened yet another Fey-as-Palin parody [click HERE to view] over the weekend, prompting the Associated Press’s comment today that it seems Tina Fey is the one running for VP. Perhaps that was the plan all along.
@Rufus & Quin: Guns aren’t sexy, or else guns EPITOMIZE sex. Which is it? I’d never thought of guns in either way before. Hmm… sort of puts Sarah Palin in a whole new light for me. What do the big, hairy moose she hunts represent then, d’ya suppose?
October 6th, 2008 at 5:33 pm
Sorry! Here it is; well worth watching!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r7MQAkDjYDM
October 8th, 2008 at 10:54 am
Here’s a Palin joke I like:
So Sarah, I understand you spent about six hours at the Bronx Zoo when you were in New York recently. Why on earth were you there so long?
Well, it takes a lot of time to stop and reload.
October 9th, 2008 at 11:02 am
Thanks for the good stuff, Quin and David! My stomach hurts now..