Is it the weekend yet? Can I talk about fluff for a moment?
Okay, I was at the bookstore earlier this week, and I flipped through this new book by Jackie Mason in which he attempts to insult people he doesn't like. He's a right-winger. And he's not funny. Never was.
Naturally, my mind drifted back to the old poser (call it the Dennis Miller Conundrum): Why aren't there any funny right-wingers?
Then I found one. Mike Nelson. He was the main brain behind Mystery Science Theater 3000. He did not originate the show; for the first four years, it starred series creator Joel Hodgson. But Mike was the head writer even before he took over the on-camera duties.
And he was funny as hell. No doubt he still is.
According to Wikipedia, Nelson describes himself as center-right. Fine by me. One should always welcome the exception that proves the rule.
So why aren't there any other funny right-wingers? And why doesn't someone bring back MST3K?
7 comments:
Two possible reasons, somewhat related. Bill Maher said the first rule of comedy is to not attack the weak. The first rule of being a right-winger is to attack the weak. The other reason is that right-wingers have an innate respect for authority. That ain't funny. Comedy has been about making fun of authority for as long as comedy has existed.
A recent study suggests that a deficit in sense of humor can be a marker for mental deterioration. From The Week, July 27:
(snip)
Researchers at Washington University gave humor-comprehension tests to 40 adults ages 65 and over, and to 40 young students. One test asked respondents to choose the proper punch line for a verbal joke; the other required that they pick the proper ending panel of a comic strip. The elderly were more likely to choose the wrong punch line and final comic strip panel than the study's younger participants. Older adults suffer a decline in their thinking processes, psychology professor Brian Campbell tells the AP, so they "may have a harder time understanding what the joke is about."
(snip)
Old age is not, however, the only cause of a failure to appreciate funniness. The cognitive capacity for recognizing metaphor--which in broad definition includes sense of similarity and difference, thus absurdity) is usually at the heart of a joke. The capacity is found in the right hemisphere. It isn't clear that the typical left brain even has a sense of humor, as far as I can tell. The left is, in a word, too LITERAL. And when you take everything literally, nothing is particularly funny.
So the lack of a sense of humor can also be taken as indication of inferior function of the right brain. Which is responsible for most artistic creativity, as well, apparently.
Who was that guy who wrote for the National Lampoon and then became an author. Was it P.J. O'Roarke (sp?)?
Anyway, I remember being surprised that someone I thought was pretty funny was a righty.
Satire is presenting a very sad fact infused with irony.
Like this one:
A cartoon showing a starving African mother and child sitting on the sand with the caption that says "We need fat friends". A newspaper with the headlines "Study says obesity contagious in social circles" is laying beside them.
Right wingers are left brainers(as Uni mentioned) which is all for me and none for you. The irony is lost to someone with no compassion.
Now let's see what Bill Maher does with this:
Democrats want to impeach Gonzales(he has lied, obstructed justice and acted illegally) but before they do, they want to give him oversight on wiretapping Americans(16 Democratic Senators voted for the bill).
Hey Joseph, thanks for reminding me of MST3K. That was indeed a very funny show, back in the day when I used to watch television. (Disclosure: in more recent times I have been known to watch a few hours of Comedy Central now and then.)
Joseph, just so you know, MST3K is very difficult to put into syndication because, as I understand it, it requires getting the rights to air each of the movies they lampooned, a daunting task. HOWEVER, the creative minds behind MST3K have been producing what are called "Riff-Trax" - cheap, downloadable MP3 files of MST-style commentary and wit that are to be played in synchronization with various movies, such as the first Matrix movie or Star Wars: Episode 1 - movies too recent or successful for them to have ever been available for airing under the MST3K umbrella. They are sold online, and should be easy to find.
PS: I appreciate your blog, am aware of your frustration with much of your readership and sympathize. I rarely leave a comment, but I appreciate your perspective and depth of knowledge of many of the issues you post on. I hope you keep up the good work.
Hey Joe and other MST3K fans: There's a new DVD series from Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy, and Bill Corbett, 3 of the Best Brains behind MST, doing essentially the same bit, but this time as "the Film Crew", assigned the task of adding the DVD commentary track to some really craptastic movies. The episode I have is one called "Hollywood After Dark," a truly awful piece of dreck, starring Rue McClanahan as "young actress who attempts to make her hollywood debut, but instead, falls into the seedy underworld of stripping." Yes, the Golden Girl as a stripper. The between-the-movie bits by the 3 are kinda awkward and not so funny, but if you need the MST3K fix, this'll do just fine. Shout Factory is putting these out, and apparently they haven't aired on the TV yet. (Don't have cable/sat, wouldn't know, really.) Looks like just 2 DVDs released so far.
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