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The Comedian's Take On Obama

Here's an interesting piece describing the dearth of comedy out there in late-night television that involves punchlines at Obama's expense. Apparently, the McCain-is-old jokes still work, but it's hard to find a comedic angle in which to work in Obama jokes.

But here's Jon Stewart, who deserves credit, I think, for nailing what's going on, and also for being awesome all the time:

When Mr. Stewart on ?The Daily Show? recently tried to joke about Mr. 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.? Mr. Stewart said in a telephone interview on Monday, ?People have a tendency to react as far as their ideology allows them.?

Despite audience resistance, Mr. Stewart contended, his show had been able to develop a distinctive angle on Mr. Obama.

Noting that the senator seems to emphasize the historic nature of his quest, Mr. Stewart said, ?So far, our take is that he?s positioning himself to be on a coin.?

Exactly. As someone supporting McCain, I want to see Obama knocked around a little bit. But more, as someone who likes to think they appreciate good comedy, I want to see Obama treated like the comedy fodder he is. The angle Stewart puts on him is exactly right.

When Leno tells a joke about McCain being older than dirt, that's fine. But I think it's also obvious that he can make effective jokes about Obama being pompous, snooty, and arrogant.

Full post as published by Expressio Unius on July 15, 2008 (boomark / email).