Comedy on the right
A lot of people on the left might think the phrase “conservative comedy” could only be either (1) a sarcastic description of everything the right does, or (2) an oxymoron.
I once had an argument with an acquaintance on the left who swore that the right was completely devoid of humor. After feigning insult because I like to think of myself as both conservative and at least occasionally intentionally funny, I insisted that there’s plenty of humor on the right, and that my friend just didn’t know enough people on the right to realize the truth of that. I did.
But that was before Greg Gutfield had appeared on the Fox News horizon. If our discussion had occurred after that event, I would have referred my friend to Gutfield’s show “Red Eye,” which is not only genuinely funny but which features humor of the sort a leftie could appreciate—hip, ironic, off-the-wall, with lots of sexual references. It’s the sort of thing I’d think would appeal to the young, as well.
How do I know so much about Gutfield’s show, which appears on Fox at 3AM? Well, I said I was a night owl, and although I don’t watch it often, every now and then it just so happens that I do, if only for a few minutes. During the 2012 election I remember thinking that the right should promote the show heavily to young people, as an example of the fact that conservatives aren’t hopelessly and ridiculously out of touch, dull, and serious. Gutfield is in a sense the conservatives’ secret weapon, although they may not realize it.
And now I read that Gutfield is leaving “Red Eye,” although the show itself will continue with a different host. He’s leaving to start a weekend show for Fox that will air at a more reasonable hour than 3 AM, and I’m all for it. The odd thing is where I read this news: in a paean to Gutfield published in, of all places, the The New Yorker.
Two examples of Gutfield’s humor will suffice. I don’t know that this sort of thing will appeal to my reader demographic, but he certainly made me laugh:
Sometimes, Gutfeld tweaked cable-news conventions, as when he purported to address banking reform by convening a sixteen-person panel of experts, including familiar Fox News personalities such as John Bolton, and markedly unfamiliar ones, such as Rosie O’Donnell. As he introduced them, they appeared (or seemed to appear) live, forming a four-by-four matrix of pundit redundancy””by which point it was time, of course, for Gutfeld to thank them all, by name, and then end the segment…
…[I]n 2009…Gutfeld was obliged to apologize to the Canadian military, after a particularly irreverent discussion. The head of the Canadian land forces had said that the Army might need “a short operational break” lasting “at least one year” following its engagement in Afghanistan. Gutfeld had wondered whether this might not be “the perfect time to invade this ridiculous country,” adding, “The Canadian military wants to take a breather, to do some yoga, paint landscapes, run on the beach in gorgeous white Capri pants.”
Well, you had to be there. Or you had to be pretty young.
Gutfield was a good friend of Andrew Breitbart, and the latter was a guest on Gutfield’s very first show. Later, Gutfield said that the interesting thing about Breitbart was that “there wasn’t anything like him in the conservative movement.” True, and the same goes for Gutfield. Conservatives should pay attention.
Conservatives seem to feel an obligation not only to be sincere, but to be serious in their representations. Liberals, to be creative.
This is what makes talking to conservatives so dull, and to liberals so wearying.
One gravely drones on, while the other keeps shouting “look at me! look at me!”
Gutfeld is a regular on The Five which airs at 5 pm (of course) weekdays on Fox.
He’s consistently funny and great with banter, particularly with Dana Perino (another regular).
CV:
Yes, but on his own show he’s even zanier and funnier.
SNL head Lorne Michaels stated a year or two ago that conservatives by and large are able to laugh at themselves, while liberals are generally unable to laugh at themselves. Given that Michaels is definitely not a conservative himself, I think that’s a pretty good indication that conservatives have a sense of humor.
“During the 2012 election I remember thinking that the right should promote the show heavily to young people,”
Yes but then as now
They
Are
Just
Far
Too
Stupid
to do it.
Neo,
Agree, he’s even more fun on Red Eye but I only catch that during episodes of insomnia.
Gutfeld is one of the main reasons I tune in to The Five (or listen on Sirius during the commute home).
Other funny conservatives include Dennis Miller, who has more sharp edges these days. I enjoy Miller but find I can only take him in small doses, and usually have to listen to Bill O’Reilly at the same time. Which isn’t a plus.
There are funny conservative writers, of course. Like P.J. O’Rourke. Rob Long is great (his Conversations with My Agent is a fun read) and Jonah Goldberg is quite often a very funny writer. Although his demeanor is always serious when he appears on TV.
Krauthammer also has a charming and dry wit, and by all accounts is a complete gem of a person.
Do we need to set up a fund for all the DVR-deprived conservatorially inclined who — even knowing about Red Eye — can’t figure out how to watch it?
I like Gutfield too and breitbart.com regularly carries brief clips of him commenting on current events.
Here’s his latest: Gutfeld: Hillary ‘Always Above the Rest of Us’
For those interested, here’s a listing of his clips on breitbart.com: http://www.breitbart.com/?s=+Greg+Gutfeld+ Note: they are not in chronological order.
Finally, for those that have access to a ‘DVR’ there’s no need to stay up till later to catch his or any other program. Just locate the show on your service’s ‘TV guide menu’ and press the record button on your remote, a menu will pop up giving you the choice of,1) recording just that show, 2)all episodes of the show scheduled first time and repeats or 3) the show’s ‘first time shown’ option.
A lot of people on the left might think the phrase “conservative comedy” could only be either (1) a sarcastic description of everything the right does, or (2) an oxymoron.
This is the second article this week I’ve seen containing the assumption “The left is funny, the right is unfunny.” I honestly have no idea where this observation comes from. If I had to generalize, I’d say the exact opposite is true.
Who is the left’s version of PJ O’Rourke, Andrew Ferguson, Dennis Miller, Ann Coulter (strident, but also very funny), Jonah Goldberg, Dave Barry (mostly apolitical, but I think he’s basically conservative), and Greg Gutfield (who is genuinely funny, not just smug-snarky like Jon Stewart)? Also, the guys on Glenn Beck’s radio show are often hilarious (usually not Beck himself).
The left specializes in maudlin victimhood, preening superiority and shrill self-righteousness. What could be more lame and unfunny?
The action/adventure series The Destroyer would lampoon liberals a lot. Frankly, I always thought it was better at comedy then action. Because the series was considered low grade pulp, but it could be incredibly incisive (and sometime vitriolic) about the liberal mindset.
While I would call South Park conservative (if I had to label it, I’d say libertarian but even that’s debatable), it is one of the few comedy shows that pokes fun at liberals. King of the Hill was pretty conservative too, but only the first few seasons were any good.
Does anybody know if Red Eye is going to continue with out Gutfield?
Gutfeld is a libertarian, not a conservative. There is a difference. And he knows that:
“I became a conservative by being around liberals (at UC Berkeley) and I became a libertarian by being around conservatives. You realize that there’s something distinctly in common between the two groups, the left and the right; the worst part of each of them is the moralizing.”
And his with-it sexual stuff, like the following in that New Yorker article, does not appeal to conservatives:
Gutfeld liked to introduce guests with absurd, sexually suggestive hypotheticals that were meant to be flattering. (On Greg Proops, the comedian: “If hilarity were a telethon, I’d do him in front of a bunch of sick kids.”)
“Red Eye” is the only television program I watch consistently. I DVR it and have watched almost every episode for years and watch almost no other television except for some news and sports. My wife and I end most days watching the prior day’s “Red Eye” together.
I’ll be curious to see how the show does without him, and curious to see what his new show is. I have been enjoying the show less over time. Since he’s been on The Five it’s obvious he is less involved with the writing on “Red Eye” and I think it has suffered because of his lack of involvement.
I thought Levy was brilliant as the Ombudsman (a really difficult role to perform), and is less interesting as a guest. I also wish they had not gone with Joanne Nosuchinsky as a permanent guest. She’s a good person and does a better job than most her age could do, but with the host, Levy and her as permanent fixtures there is only room for 2 or 3 others, and that hurts the show’s unpredictability. Also, the running joke of Nosuchinsky drinking too much is very stale. With Bill Schultz it was believable, but with her it seems contrived.
And, as much as Bill Schultz often bothered me and I sometimes hoped they would ditch him, I think the show lost something when he left.
But those first 5 years, or so, were lightning in a bottle. The (I believe) impromptu bit were Dana Vachon and Jessie Joyce started insulting each other’s socio-economic backgrounds was one of the funniest things I’ve seen on TV!
Best of luck to Greg Gutfeld in his new endeavor!
Ann,
I am a Conservative, not a Libertarian (as is my wife), and Gutfeld’s “with-it, sexual stuff” appealed to us, as I believe it would to all of the staff at the NRO.
Matthew,
It is supposed to continue on (2 days so far), and they will supposedly eventually announce a new host.
Well written, Gary. Don’t forget Jonah Goldberg, Charles Krauthammer, Kevin Williamson…
I think junior’s quote from Lorne Michaels is accurate. It’s like the old joke about the guy who gets into heaven. St. Peter walks him to a door. There is loud music and singing. St. Peter opens the door and it’s full of people having great fun at a party. St. Peter says, “These are the Baptists.” He closes the door, walks down the hall to another door. Same thing. He opens it and says, “These are the Methodists.” A further walk, another door, another party, “These are the Jews.” Then he asks the guy to be very quiet and they walk a long way down the hall, taking care to not make a sound. They finally reach another door and St. Peter quietly opens it to reveal a crowd of people quietly listening to hymns played by a choir of harps. He closes the door and the guy asks why they had to be so quiet? “Oh,” St. Peter answers, “Those are the Catholics. They think they are the only ones up here.”
Conservatives watch all kinds of entertainment, read all kinds of authors, but Liberals do not, so Liberals have no idea Conservatives are funny.
James Lileks, Rob Long, Pat Sajak… all the folks at Ricochet are erudite, witty and clever as heck but most Liberals wouldn’t be caught dead on their website.
@ Rufus:
>>most Liberals wouldn’t be caught dead on their website.
Many liberals or non-conservatives, or my favorite “non-political” (though their tone and views espoused clearly are favoring modernistic liberal leanings), tend to troll popular non-‘progressive’ sites like NR, Breitbart (particularly the Hollywood section), dailycaller, townhall and, depending on the article, American Thinker.
Neo’s site is an example of liberals finding their way to topics near and dear to their hearts (say the infamous Iraqi War). Liberals were present on her “conversion” story as well.
What’s interesting is that there’s at least one daft idiot/liberal on even the most obscure conservative/libertarian site that I have visited or stumbled upon. At least one.