*People are talking about a New York Times article published Tuesday that points out how difficult it is for comedians to make jokes about Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama.
"Jay Leno, David Letterman, Conan O'Brien and others have delivered a nightly stream of jokes about the Republican running for president — each one a variant on the same theme: John McCain is old," the article states.
"But there has been little humor about Obama: about his age, his speaking ability, his intelligence, his family, his physique. And within a late-night landscape dominated by white hosts, white writers, and overwhelmingly white audiences, there has been almost none about his race."
The following are excerpts from the Times article:
• When Jon Stewart on "The Daily Show" recently tried to joke about Obama changing his position on campaign financing, for instance, he met with such obvious resistance from the audience, he said, "You know, you're allowed to laugh at him." Stewart said in a telephone interview on Monday, "People have a tendency to react as far as their ideology allows them." Despite audience resistance, Stewart contended, his show had been able to develop a distinctive angle on Obama. Noting that the senator seems to emphasize the historic nature of his quest, Stewart said, "So far, our take is that he's positioning himself to be on a coin."
• "We're doing jokes about people in his orbit, not really about him," said Mike Sweeney, the head writer for O'Brien on "Late Night." The jokes will come, representatives of the late-night shows said, when Obama does or says something that defines him — in comedy terms.
• "Anything that has even a whiff of being racist, no one is going to laugh," said Rob Burnett, an executive producer for Letterman. "The audience is not going to allow anyone to do that."
• Black comics are not having any trouble joking about Obama, said David Alan Grier, a comedian who, starting in October, will have a satirical news magazine show on Comedy Central, "Chocolate News." "I tell jokes on stage about him," Grier said, reciting a few that would not ever get onto a network late-night show (nor into this newspaper). But he said of the late-night hosts, "Those guys really can't go there. It's just like the gay comic can do gay material. It comes with the territory." Still, he said, he has no sympathy for the hosts. "No way. They've had 200 years of presidential jokes. It's our time."
"Jay Leno, David Letterman, Conan O'Brien and others have delivered a nightly stream of jokes about the Republican running for president — each one a variant on the same theme: John McCain is old," the article states.
"But there has been little humor about Obama: about his age, his speaking ability, his intelligence, his family, his physique. And within a late-night landscape dominated by white hosts, white writers, and overwhelmingly white audiences, there has been almost none about his race."
The following are excerpts from the Times article:
• When Jon Stewart on "The Daily Show" recently tried to joke about Obama changing his position on campaign financing, for instance, he met with such obvious resistance from the audience, he said, "You know, you're allowed to laugh at him." Stewart said in a telephone interview on Monday, "People have a tendency to react as far as their ideology allows them." Despite audience resistance, Stewart contended, his show had been able to develop a distinctive angle on Obama. Noting that the senator seems to emphasize the historic nature of his quest, Stewart said, "So far, our take is that he's positioning himself to be on a coin."
• "We're doing jokes about people in his orbit, not really about him," said Mike Sweeney, the head writer for O'Brien on "Late Night." The jokes will come, representatives of the late-night shows said, when Obama does or says something that defines him — in comedy terms.
• "Anything that has even a whiff of being racist, no one is going to laugh," said Rob Burnett, an executive producer for Letterman. "The audience is not going to allow anyone to do that."
• Black comics are not having any trouble joking about Obama, said David Alan Grier, a comedian who, starting in October, will have a satirical news magazine show on Comedy Central, "Chocolate News." "I tell jokes on stage about him," Grier said, reciting a few that would not ever get onto a network late-night show (nor into this newspaper). But he said of the late-night hosts, "Those guys really can't go there. It's just like the gay comic can do gay material. It comes with the territory." Still, he said, he has no sympathy for the hosts. "No way. They've had 200 years of presidential jokes. It's our time."
No comments:
Post a Comment