Why White Comics Don’t Get Barack

A black president. Now that’s funny!
So why are so many political satirists crying about how unamusing the Obama presidency will be? The standard reasoning is that, unlike Bush, McCain, Palin, the Clintons or even Nancy Pelosi, Barack Obama is “too perfect” and does not provide material for good jokes. But the inability of “Saturday Night [...]

Saturday Night Live Gets Laughs To Sketch About Abuse

It’s no big secret that we find physical anguish hilarious. Slipping on a banana peel (or some such) will always get you a laugh. A pie in the face? Painful and humiliating–a double yuck. And although I never quite got Steve Martin’s arrow-through-the-head bit, clearly it worked.
But a nine iron to the head, a broken [...]