What’s with this one-way comedy?
Matt Pearl
To prepare my mind to write about my observations of the world each week, I digest a lot of media. I read newspapers. I watch news clips online and pay attention to evening TV headlines. Many of you do the same, whether you take any occasion to express your opinions to others or not.
I consume pundit talk from both liberals and conservatives, and I watch the comedians, including everything from the “news program” style of political commentary to sketch comedy like Saturday Night Live. But lately, it’s getting pretty one-sided.
Trump is a target for comedy. His hair, his speech, his gestures, his, well, everything seems to create an endless supply of comedy material. He’s the best thing to happen to late night comedy since Monica Lewinsky.
But SNL used to jab everyone. They used to pick on everybody. Now — aside from a token robotic Hillary Clinton impersonation, a benign mocking aiming generally toward her speech patterns rather than the more substantial content of her ideas — the late night laughter basically just panders to the humor needs of the modern liberal.
They use Larry David to make fun of Bernie Sanders’ speaking style and gesturing — again, far less of a comedic dig than suggesting, as SNL did this past weekend, that Trump’s political chops are based solely upon the inciting of violence and general hatred of women.
The skit was funny, for sure, and it worked the way comedy works: exaggeration and over-the-top mimicking of real life.
But do you think SNL will ever go after Hillary or Bernie in the same aggressive way? They haven’t yet.
What about a Benghazi sketch?
Liberals reading right now are rolling their eyes at my even mentioning it. You’re not supposed to mention the State Department leaving soldiers behind to defend an American ideal without backup — at least not to folks to whose party the President and former Secretary of State belong.
How about a sketch where Bernie’s policies of wealth redistribution are enacted in an absurdly humorous way? I don’t expect to see that one. Maybe the show will prove me wrong.
The Republicans have provided plenty of comedic material for any show seeking to do a politically topical sketch — and what’s more, I laugh every time. But have we finally arrived at a time when a sketch comedy show only goes after one side, and lets the other scamper along with an agenda of major socialist reform in its briefcase, unscathed by the leading satirical program of the age?
Even if the writers and producers agree with Hillary’s establishment progressivism or Bernie’s democratic socialism, how do they get by with giving the Left a free pass?
Perhaps it centers upon the absurdity of The Donald himself. If I’m writing for TV, I go after him: he’s universally known, outrageous in his speech and actions, and he quite possibly has the worst haircut I’ve ever seen. An Elvis wig would look more distinguished.
I suppose I expect more from a generation of smart comics taking on political issues. I’m sure that if they were forced to defend the political one-sidedness of SNL and other issue-driven comedy programs, they would say that the Republicans are throwing too many easy pitches straight up the middle, and the home runs are irresistible.
But when absurdity exists on both sides, particularly in an election year, I’d rather laugh at two parties — both of whom have equal claim in the problems our land faces.
