Brian Lambert interrupts his fair and unbiased entertainment column in the Pioneer Press for this promotion of a Democratic party fundraiser:
Other than Jon Stewart, few satirists have had as much fun at President Bush's expense as Garrison Keillor. Just think what he'll feel free to say when he speaks July 1 at a fund-raiser for the House DFL Caucus at the College of St. Catherine.
"Invitations" are being sent out next week. But if you've got political connections, hit 'em up now for a chance at tickets. I'm thinking Norm Coleman's ears are already burning.
Look out folks, it's Garrison Keillor, uncensored! ("It's been a quiet f*ck*ng week in Lake Woebegone!") Not sure what's going to go down at St. Kate's but it's hard to believe Keillor can get anymore partisan than he does during his weekly cornpone rants against George Bush on MPR's A Prairie Home Companion (and all brought to you by ... your tax dollars!).
One thing that is certain, it won't be funny. It will be a name calling temper tantrum, under the guise of humor. And that's close enough for a vengefully partisan audience just dying to laugh at the opposition.
Lambert's reference to Norm Coleman reminds us of the last time Keillor dragged his atrophied satirical muscles into the political ring. It was just after the 2002 Minnesota Senate race, Norm Coleman vs. Walter Mondale and the ghost of Paul Wellstone. Keillor's witty contribution to the dialog, a vengeful, name-calling temper tantrum. Hold on to your funny bones for corkers like these (original text from the subscription edition of Salon and ripped off in it's entirety by this blog):
St. Paul is a small town and anybody who hangs around the St. Paul Grill knows about Norm's habits. Everyone knows that his family situation is, shall we say, very interesting, but nobody bothered to ask about it, least of all the religious people in the Republican Party.
It was a dreadful low moment for the Minnesota voters. To choose Coleman over Walter Mondale is one of those dumb low-rent mistakes, like going to a great steakhouse and ordering the tuna sandwich. But I don't envy someone who's sold his soul. He's condemned to a life of small arrangements. There will be no passion, no joy, no heroism, for him. He is a hollow man. The next six years are not going to be kind to Norm.
Hee-haw. But, I have no doubt this will have them rolling in the aisles at St. Kate's on July 1, forced as it may be.
I also notice Lambert comparing Keillor's routine to the satire of John Stewart, which is perhaps the most laughable thing in this entire story. As opposed to Keillor's comedic stylings, Stewart is a real talent, a legitimately funny guy. Despite his liberal orientation, he's probably the funniest guy on TV right now (the only competition being Conan O'Brien).
One thing I've noticed over the past few years is that liberals love John Stewart. Talk to any of them about pop culture and soon their undying fealty to Stewart will be invoked. They say it with pride, like it's a line from their resume. They love John Stewart, adore him, cleave him tight to their bussoms (hell, the even based an entire talk radio show network on his image - poorly, I might add). Lambert's gratuitous reference to Stewart is his attempt to gain status by telling everyone he's hip to what the kids are doing.
But jokes alone cannot be the cause of this much ardor from the Left. No, I believe it goes much, much deeper than that. My intensive observations and knowledge of the human condition tell me they love him because he represents the ideal of how they'd like to view themselves. Younger, smarter, funnier, and hipper than the uptight, establishment "suits" in the Republican party. ("Suits" a term Lambert has actually used in previous columns). The problem is, that most Democratic humor isn't John Stewart. It's shrill, obscene buffoonery coming from the likes of Garrison Keillor, Al Franken, Michael Moore, Jeanine Garafalo, and Margaret Cho. These folks are much closer to typical Democratic party rhetoric than anything you'll get from John Stewart.
The reason being, Stewart's priority is the joke and not the political posturing. When he's performing, he doesn't care about influencing elections, he cares about influencing laughter. If it's funny, he'll zing Bush, he'll zing Kerry, he'll zing anybody. And that makes all the difference. (That, plus tons of talent, of course).
This past weekend C-SPAN broadcast live from BookExpo America. On Sunday morning John Stewart showed up on a panel along with Tom Wolfe and a couple of non entities hawking their latest anti-Bush tomes destined for the best seller's list. During the question-and-answer portion, some Lefty from the crowd got up and reverently asked Stewart: "If there were one person living or dead you could put on the Democratic ticket along side John Kerry who would it be?" Stewart's response (I'm paraphrasing):
"You want me to consider dead people? Isn't it enough that there's one dead guy on the Democratic ticket already?"
(Huge laughs)
"Well, if I had to choose one dead person, maybe it would be Abraham Lincoln. Then Kerry could point to him and say 'you thought I was grotesquely lanky, get a load of this guy.'"
(Huge laughs)
Suffice to say, you won't hear anything like this at a Garrison Keillor performance. And I'm not just talking about the huge laughs part.
No comments:
Post a Comment