{"id":2234507,"date":"2024-05-01T12:16:02","date_gmt":"2024-05-01T16:16:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/the-jokes-on-they-them-why-leftists-arent-funny\/"},"modified":"2024-05-01T12:19:57","modified_gmt":"2024-05-01T16:19:57","slug":"the-jokes-on-they-them-why-leftists-arent-funny","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/the-jokes-on-they-them-why-leftists-arent-funny\/","title":{"rendered":"The Humor Gap: Exploring Leftist Comedy"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">12<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fthe-jokes-on-they-them-why-leftists-arent-funny%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2234507&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The article discusses the incompatibility of leftism and comedy, highlighting recent\u200b instances like the White House\u200c Correspondents&#8217; dinner. It \u200dcontrasts comedians like \u200cNorm Macdonald and Conan O\u2019Brien, known for their\u200d humorous yet politically \u2064incorrect jokes, with modern comedians unable to navigate leftist sensitivities. The piece emphasizes how leftism&#8217;s\u200c emphasis\u2063 on political correctness hampers genuine humor.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<header> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/commentary\/\">  Commentary <\/a>   <span> <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/author\/washingtonstand\/\">  <\/a> <\/p>\n<p> <span>   By <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/author\/washingtonstand\/%20\"><span>S.A. McCarthy, The Washington Stand<\/span><\/a> <\/span> <span>   May 1, 2024 at 8:48am <\/span> <\/span>  <\/header>\n<section>\n<p>Comedy is incompatible with leftism. For evidence of this maxim, one need look no further than the most recent iteration of the White House Correspondents\u2019 dinner.<\/p>\n<p>Since the early 1980s, it has been almost <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/kentucky-cop-placed-on-leave-for-praying-in-front-of-abortion-clinic-will-return-to-work\/\" title=\"Kentucky Cop Placed On Leave For Praying In Front Of Abortion Clinic Will Return To Work\">standard operating procedure<\/a> for a comedian to provide the night\u2019s entertainment, often by roasting the sitting president and his administration. This year, the task fell to \u201cSaturday Night Live\u201d writer and co-host of the show\u2019s \u201cWeekend Update\u201d segment <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=9c6uQrPLiZk\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Colin Jost<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Sitting just feet away from Jost was perhaps the easiest U.S. president to roast since Jimmy Carter, but the SNL host spent the lion\u2019s share of his time really stretching the definition of \u201cjoke\u201d with cracks about Trump, prominent Republicans, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/desantis-rough-patch-tests-conservative-and-donor-patience-with-top-trump-alternative\/\" title=\"DeSantis' challenges strain conservative and donor support for Trump's top alternative.\">conservative-leaning media outlets<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>He spent almost as much time hunching his shoulders and awkwardly smiling into silence as he did speaking.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s not to say Jost didn\u2019t have <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/watch-biden-gets-brutally-roasted-snl-comedian-white-house-correspondents-dinner\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">some good jokes<\/a> \u2014 he did. The self-styled comedian took a few solid shots at Biden\u2019s age and abysmal polling numbers. Referring to his black \u201cWeekend Update\u201d compatriot Michael Che, who was not present, Jost quipped, \u201cIn solidarity with President Biden, I decided to lose all my <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/the-anatomy-of-a-stolen-election-the-fraud-cannot-stand\/\" title=\"The Anatomy of a Stolen Election \u2013 The Fraud Cannot Stand\">black support<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He also joked that he was happy to meet Biden in person, so that he could figure \u201cwhere Obama was pulling the strings from.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>His handful of digs at Biden were the only funny jokes in Jost\u2019s repertoire, but he shied away from them, opting instead for the same contrived, politically-correct material that has led to the decline of SNL in recent years.<\/p>\n<p>Compare this with, say, the late <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=3U7AZIdalzM\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Norm Macdonald\u2019s Correspondents\u2019 dinner<\/a> appearance in 1997. The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/ap-comedian-curb-enthusiasm-star-dead-76\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">legendary comic<\/a> led the crowd in a rollicking good time. Commenting on the salmon served for dinner, Macdonald quipped, \u201cI thought it was refreshing to see Democrats serve something other than subpoenas for a change.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He also ribbed then-President Bill Clinton about claiming he had smoked marijuana in college but didn\u2019t inhale.<\/p>\n<div id=\"firefly-poll-container\">\n<p>Have leftists ruined comedy for us all?<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Late night talk show host <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=wnQxNwvjj2U\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Conan O\u2019Brien<\/a> had made a similar crack in 1995 and also teased Clinton for dodging the Vietnam War draft to instead \u201cgo to Russia and party with communists.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Of course, Macdonald is considered something of a legend in comedy, and O\u2019Brien is a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/patricia-heaton-scores-new-fox-sitcom-hilarious-premise-revealed\/\" title=\"Patricia Heaton Scores New Fox Sitcom \u2013 Hilarious Premise Revealed\">veteran comedy writer<\/a>, so it may be unfair to compare Jost to either. But Jost did prove, with his two or three Biden zingers, that he can be funny.<\/p>\n<p>The issue is much less that Jost isn\u2019t funny and much more that leftism isn\u2019t funny.<\/p>\n<p>Another comedy legend, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.newyorker.com\/podcast\/the-new-yorker-radio-hour\/jerry-seinfeld-on-making-a-life-in-comedy-and-also-pop-tarts\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Jerry Seinfeld<\/a>, explained why in a recent interview. \u201cNothing really affects comedy. People always need it. They need it so badly, and they don\u2019t get it,\u201d Seinfeld explained.<\/p>\n<p>He lamented that there are no funny shows on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/fans-actively-rejecting-modern-tv-turning-classics-analysis\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">television<\/a> anymore, asking, \u201cWhere is it? Where is it?\u201d He explained, \u201cThis is the result of the extreme left, P.C. crap and people worrying so much about offending other people.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>This is not to say that good comedy is inherently offensive, of course, but there is a butt to every joke. Macdonald and O\u2019Brien weren\u2019t mean-spirited in their humor, but they made sure that every joke had a butt, yielding uproarious laughter from their audiences.<\/p>\n<p>They weren\u2019t worried about making fun of the president because it was just funny to make fun of the president, and they were invited to the event to be funny.<\/p>\n<p>But leftism doesn\u2019t value funny. For the leftist, laughter is not a reaction to humor; it is a signal of one\u2019s political positions and one\u2019s perceived self-righteousness. As a result, leftists don\u2019t laugh at jokes that are funny; they laugh at jokes that they agree with \u2014 that is to say, they laugh when they dislike the butt of the joke, whether the joke was funny or not.<\/p>\n<p>This is also why leftists\u2019 attempts at humor are often spiteful, nasty, or mean-spirited, because it\u2019s all about grinding the butt of the joke into the ground like they just finished their last ever cigarette. (Think of self-styled comedienne <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/worse-kidnapped-biden-tailgate-kathy-griffins-trump-head\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Kathy Griffin<\/a> holding up what appeared to be the bloodied, severed head of Donald Trump.)<\/p>\n<p>And this is why leftists <em>don\u2019t<\/em> laugh at jokes when they <em>like<\/em> the butt of the joke, no matter how outrageous the butt is and no matter how funny the joke.<\/p>\n<p>Dave Chappelle stands as a prime example of this: Over the past several years, his stand-up comedy has won numerous awards and has earned him a reputation as one of the nation\u2019s premier comics, but leftists have still attempted to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/dwayne-rock-johnson-takes-swing-cancel-culture-woke-culture-really-bugs\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">cancel<\/a> him over his transgender jokes.<\/p>\n<p>Chappelle\u2019s humor is genuinely funny, of the laugh-out-loud-till-you-can\u2019t-breathe variety; but leftists cannot laugh because they like the butt of his jokes.<\/p>\n<p>Transgenders are a sort of protected species for leftists, and they see Chappelle\u2019s jokes as a form of violence.<\/p>\n<p>This is another crucial aspect of why leftists don\u2019t like funny: They view words (jokes) as threats. To them, if something can be the butt of the joke, then it must be ridiculous, and they cannot admit that transgenderism, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/woke-pastor-endorses-homosexuality-christians-bible-citing-fact-check-tears-pieces\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">homosexuality<\/a>, or a sleepy, senile president are ridiculous.<\/p>\n<p>Seinfeld predicted that, since leftist thought-police have stifled comedy on television, the result will be an increase in stand-up comics, because stand-up comics are \u201cnot policed by anyone.\u201d He explained, \u201cThe audience polices us. We know when we\u2019re off-track. We know instantly, and we adjust to it instantly.\u201d Even leftists observe this comedy rule.<\/p>\n<p>During his White House set, Jost received some warm chuckles in response to his Trump jabs. The jokes weren\u2019t funny, but his audience didn\u2019t like <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/judge-threatens-trump-jail-time-hits-massive-fine-hush-money-trial\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Trump<\/a>, so they laughed. His jokes at Biden\u2019s expense were genuinely funny, but his audience adored Biden, so Jost got the signal and backed off.<\/p>\n<p>Comedy is incompatible with leftism because comedy is built on laughter.<\/p>\n<p>Laughter is the currency of comedy: A comedian or comedy writer who can earn knee slaps and belly laughs might trade those laughs for fame and fortune; a comedian who can earn guffaws and chuckles may manage to buy himself a seat in a sitcom writing room; a comedian who can only earn cringes and silence will likely find he has to supplement his income stocking shelves, selling cars, or pretty much anything else that isn\u2019t onstage.<\/p>\n<p>Leftists refuse to comply with the comedy laugh-barter system, choosing instead to use their laughter as a political message, equivocating their enjoyment and sense of fun with rainbow emojis and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/tv-host-schools-trans-guest-insists-pronouns-dont-get-require-use-incorrect-grammar\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">preferred pronouns<\/a> in their Twitter bios.<\/p>\n<p>In the end, leftism will be entirely driven out of comedy. Leftism has created a political and social ideology that is so outrageous, so ridiculous that it invites laughter almost without embellishment.<\/p>\n<p>Comedians and comedy writers will continue making leftism and leftists the butt of their jokes because it\u2019s easy\u00a0and\u00a0it\u2019s funny.<\/p>\n<p>Leftists will continue to boycott funny until either they get tired of being left out of the fun or until they forget how to laugh.<\/p>\n<p><em>This article appeared originally on <a href=\"https:\/\/washingtonstand.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Washington Stand<\/a>. <\/em><\/p>\n<div id=\"author-info-45743\">\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/author\/washingtonstand\/\">  <\/a> <\/p>\n<div>\n<p><label for=\"more-info-tab-radio-45743\">More<span> Biographical Information<\/span><\/label><label for=\"posts-tab-radio-45743\">Recent<span> Posts<\/span><\/label><label for=\"contact-tab-radio-45743\" onclick=\"if( typeof grecaptcha=='undefined' ) { let cap_s=document.createElement( 'script' ); cap_s.src='https:\/\/www.google.com\/recaptcha\/api.js?render=6LeJFcsUAAAAAPsIEqvB1EebWbZfqRUe6ebMpGy7'; document.body.appendChild( cap_s ); }\">Contact<\/label><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>  The Washington Stand is Family Research Council\u2019s outlet for news and commentary from a biblical worldview. The Washington Stand is based in Washington, D.C. and is published by FRC, whose mission is to advance faith, family, and freedom in public policy and the culture from a biblical worldview. <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/section>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Opinion By S.A. McCarthy, The Washington Stand, May 1, 2024, 8:48 am: Comedy and leftism don&#8217;t mix. The latest White House Correspondents&#8217; dinner is proof. Since the 1980s, comedians have set the tone, but a shift is apparent<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3112,"featured_media":2234508,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Colin-Jost-attends-the-2024-White-House-Correspondents-Dinner.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[548],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2234507","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-conservative-news-daily"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Colin-Jost-attends-the-2024-White-House-Correspondents-Dinner.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2234507","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3112"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2234507"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2234507\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2234508"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2234507"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2234507"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2234507"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}