Fox is allegedly putting on a conservative half hour news satire. The blurb is below. By the way, it is not completely true that liberals don't know how to poke fun at themselves. I hope you are watching 30 Rock, one of two current television shows based on producing Saturday Night Live. 30 Rock, not despite but because of the participation of Alec Baldwin and Tina Fey, is hilarious, particularly Baldwin. The other one, whose name escapes me, but which stars mostly West Wing veterans, is dedicated to the proposition that running a comedy show is much harder than running the country, and much less funny.
Ann Coulter Conquers Hollywood?
Posted 02/16/2007 ET
Updated 02/16/2007 ETOkay. Confess. Even though Stephen Colbert is really funny and Jon Stewart may make you cringe, you want more. You want a conservative satire on the news, and haven’t seen one since, well, since time began. Why?
We all know that conservatives have a better sense of humor than liberals. That's why Rush, Laura and Sean are conquering all and why Minnesota senatorial candidate Al Franken needs a job. Liberals are incapable of poking fun at themselves. Conservatives produce endless humor in writing and on radio. And now, this Sunday, our appetite for televised conservative humor is apparently going to be satisfied.
It’s called "The Half Hour News Hour" and is produced by Joel Surnow (creator and exec produce of "24") and Ned Rice. But the best part is that Ann Coulter -- yes, our Ann, HUMAN EVENTS legislative correspondent -- is in it. Is it funny? One gent e-mailed me to say that, "Critics are already calling it 'the funniest show ever produced by the FOX News Channel, not counting Geraldo.'"
Pop the corn, pour the wine, sit back and watch. Step aside, libs. It’s our turn.
"The Half Hour News Hour" premiers Sunday, February 18 at 10 p.m. EST.
John
I thought everything Ann Coulter does is satire...
Dear anonymous,
Because she is usually writing about liberals, it could seem like satire.
John (not that there is anything wrong with being liberal) Bramfeld (unless being mistaken about almost everything morning, noon and night is wrong)
very clever.
your wit reminds me of second-graders.
"You stink!"
"no, you stink"
I think our clever second-grade retort was, "Same to you but only more of it!"
everything you say bounces off like rubber, but sticks to you like clue -- or something like that
everything you say bounces off like rubber, but sticks to you like clue -- or something like that
Oh, man! [falls off chair] I'm .. barely ... able to .. type, that was so g ... g ... good. Must ... stop ... [drinks swig of Tab] oh, I think I've got control of myself now. Hehe. Hehehe. "sticks to you like clue". Dude, that's funny stuff. And you act like it's something everyone's heard!
Well, I'd never heard that one before, and I spent a lot of time in second grade. I'd always head "sticks like glue". Wow, that one little change, what a difference. I guess it's like chicken pox, not as big an effect if you get it when you're young.
(I thought this would be funny, but since it isn't and I wasted my time typing it, I think I'll waste your time reading it, too.)
Have a good weekend, all, and Go Illini!
I think it's fairly obvious that very little clue is sticking to John.
I just thought I'd go ahead and answer the question asked in the title.
I laugh at Gordy.
I watched the pilot of The Half Hour News Hour last week -
It was dismal.
There were a few laugh lines, but a lot of canned laughter and mugging for the camera. The two "anchors" reminded me of Jimmy Fallon and Tina Fey on an off day. A lot of conceit and back-and-forth banter but not really funny.
The funniest segment was a T-shirt salesman-- T-shirts with historical figures and one-liners. Except the hosts felt the need to explain each gag -
e.g. (picture of Kim Jong il)
"No Fat Chicks" written underneath.
and the host has to explain "It's funny because N. Koreans are starving to death!" (cue laugh track)
The humor was really like appealing to the lowest common denominator of liberal-bashing - Barack Obama is funny because his initials are B.O.!
Really, conservatives can be funny - Dennis Miller, etc. But these guys weren't.
The best one-line response I saw was "[The Half Hour News Hour] combines the timeliness of Newsweek with the incisive wit of Mallard Fillmore."
"I laugh at Gordy."
So do I, my friend. So do I.
More often, I laugh at this site, and not in a good way. Too many tired comments from tired people with no ideas or purpose other than to keep things from changing.
"Critics are already calling it 'the funniest show ever produced by the FOX News Channel, not counting Geraldo."
That's like saying George W. Bush is the most honest American president of the 21st Century, not counting Bill Clinton. Or, Hillary Clinton is the most charasmatic Senator from the State of New York, not counting Chuck Schumer.
I saw this show, and it really, really sucked. I won't argue with any of you GOPers who thought it was great comedy, since you conservatives -- like Rush, Laura, and Sean, apparently -- have better senses of humor than we dour liberals. But still, that show sucked.
The problem is that FOX is trying to use comedy as a political tool. The Daily Show & Colbert Report use politics as a comedic tool. It's a big difference, and people who don't understand that difference wind up making Soviet art or Christian Rock. Or The Half-Hour Comedy Hour. Yuck.
Whooosh.
I think it's good that John posted this. I'm always curious to hear about new developments in media and this certainly qualifies.
This is an honest question:
What is funny about Coulter? I don't mean this in a crass way, I'm actually curious. I have very limited experience with her. Basically, I've just seen people present compelling evidence that she's happy to completely make up stuff to make neo-conservatives angry at everyone else.
That's been more from people on the left.
From the right, I've had you all and other right-wing friends quote me stuff from her that doesn't pass the humor test for me. I mean, I see why people laugh, but in my opinion, there's two main types of humor--clever incongruity and mean-spirited knee-capping of others.
Or as Mel Brooks puts it, "Tragedy is when I cut my finger. Comedy is when you walk into an open sewer and die."
Can someone provide me of some Coulter which doesn't use this definition of humor? It will help me understand a lot.
Sincere thanks.
"More often, I laugh at this site, and not in a good way. Too many tired comments from tired people with no ideas or purpose other than to keep things from changing."
Would you please try posting without insulting someone?
Just watch her, or read something she has written. If you don't think it's funny, don't laugh.
The bigger joke is that in Minnesota, people will actually vote for him.
But actually, I'm not sure he wouldn't be preferable to our Nazi detector and the other one, who had better get his new tone back on the high road, or Hillary! will make him wish he'd stayed in Springfield.
Well, I thought since some folks around here find her funny, they could help point me to something redeeming about her material. I mean, part of being a wise person is being able to learn from other's experiences.
I don't need to experience "Norbit" to know it's something I probably won't enjoy. On the flipside, if you asked me why I find Chris Rock funny, I could quickly give you some examples.
Humor is very individualized, as I'm sure you know. My wife likes slapstick. I don't. I try, and sometimes I'll laugh if someone falls down or something in a particularly funny way. I don't have anything against that kind of humor, it just doesn't make me laugh much.
Sometimes Ann Coulter is funny, but she writes for, uh, a broad audience.
I believe it goes: "Comedy is when you fall down a manhole...tragedy is when I get a hangnail".
"Sometimes Ann Coulter is funny, but she writes for, uh, a broad audience."
That's not true, Loren. I think she writes for dudes too.
Who do I laugh at?
Strident know-it-alls. Self-absorbed pompous hubris-filled bloggers.
I believe it goes: "Comedy is when you fall down a manhole...tragedy is when I get a hangnail".
Nope. Do a boogle.com search on both quotes.
Strident helped clear my complexion and freshen my breath. Manhole is funnier, in any case.
Manhole is funnier, in any case.
Ann Coulter, is that you?
Geraldo is quite funny. Trying to pass him off as a journalist would be more than funny except for the fact that its so terribly pathetic. Even my 14yr- old son bursts out laughing at just the sight of him. We of course remember Al Capone's vault, the "thousands" of predicted dead bodies that would be floating through the streets of New Orleans after Katrina, and certainly not least, the location and time tables of our armed forces movements during the war. He's a classic.
almost all comedy makes fun of somebody. If you have sympathy for that person, it is not as funny.
So..............
libs don't think its funny when Hillary gets ripped, and cons don't think its funny when Bush gets ripped.
Ann Coulter is really funny ..... if you agree with her. She is not writing for libs.
Geraldo wasn't the only one who predicted the thousands of dead bodies after Katrina. The fine print media did the same thing, and we're still waiting on the corrections.
It'll probably be a long wait.
I am amazed that no conservatives took me to task for my praise of 30 Rock, Tina Fey and Alec Baldwin, an extremely funny guy.
John
At the risk of being labeled un-PC or...gasp...sexist by the band of conservatives out there, I submit that Ann Coulter is an oddity whose audience is attracted by the fact that she's an attractive, female arch-conservative.
Otherwise, she's just a mean-spirited, narrow-minded, insincere shrew. As a very funny conservative would say, "Of course, that's just my opinion. I could be wrong."
On the other hand, it's an undeniable fact that 30 Rock is hella funny.
I agree entirely. I think it's the Sarah Silverman phenomenon...
"I agree entirely. I think it's the Sarah Silverman phenomenon..."
If Sarah wants to learn funny, she can just observe her partner, Jimmy Kimmel.
I don't think I can accept comedy criticism from someone who thinks Jimmy Kimmel is funny.
John
"I don't think I can accept comedy criticism from someone who thinks Jimmy Kimmel is funny."
Maybe it's because he's on late and I'm sleepy by then...
Wait...why am I rationalizing? I only have to support the position that Jimmy Kimmel is funnier than Sarah Silverman.
No sweat.
OK, I have used google and now know to my sorrow who Sarah Silverman is. I will concede Jimmy is funnier, but so is Charlie Rose.
John