Where Are All The Funny Conservative Bloggers?

I am not usually a funny writer.  Bitter and cranky, yes; funny, sometimes.  But I do like to read funny, smart bloggers, if for no other reason than it relieves the feelings of depression one experiences being a passenger on the USS America with a crew of drunks and fools steering us at the rocks, at full speed.  But during my recent researches into the squalid waterfront bars and seaman's whorehouses known as the right side of the blog world, the question hit me:  Why is it there are so few funny conservative bloggers? 

On the left side, there are probably a half-dozen top bloggers who are consistently funny and provide excellent commentary and criticism.  In no particular order, and just off the top of my head, we have Fafblog!, The Rude Pundit, World O' Crap, Alicublog, Fanatical Apathy, Sadly, No!, Tbogg, The Poor Man, and James Wolcott.  All consistently funny - often brilliantly so - without devolving completely into the silly. (Occasional diversions into the silly are fine.)

In addition, many top bloggers who don't write humorously all the time often display brilliant flashes of it - just for example, the farmer at Corrente with The Devil is Dead. Me and Pete Killed the Devil, Belle Waring's If Wishes Were Horses, Beggars Would Ride ... A Pony!, and Michael Berube starring in Blogging From The Republican National Convention.

I  am sure there are others that I am missing, but that's the point.  It's a pretty substantial bunch. 

On the right, though, there is a noticeable absence.  There are IMAO, Scrappleface and, I suppose, Lileks.  Outside of them, it's all self-righteousness and persecution complex, all the time.  And outside of the three listed above, when a conservative blogger does employ humor, I find that usually it's in retelling a joke they read somewhere else.

Is there a genetic link between humor and political outlook?  Is there just some birth defect that prevents right-wingers from being funny? In my apology yesterday, I sarcastically asserted there was such a connection, but now I think I may have been right at that.  Perhaps people who are born with a natural disposition to see the humor in life, and to be able to laugh at themselves, may develop a sense of empathy and compassion that leads them to liberalism.  The key to successful humor, after all, is to be able to see things from other people's perspectives - a liberal trait that conservatives deride variously as "relativism" or "objectively pro-terrorist".  So conservatives may have a genetic makeup that makes them less able to appreciate what's funny, and consequently take themselves very seriously and see the world as a dour, threatening place, with all these other people having a good time and laughing - sometimes at them.  This explains a lot, I think, and deserves further research.

Comments

[ShermBuck]

So Shecky, Mark, and Hubris show up to further prove the point that Conservatives are too focused on the lack of size in regards to their genitals to come up with something even remotely funny.

Way to go, folks. Oh yeah, you three suck!

[posh]

Thinking John Kerry stood a chance...

Too funny.

[gus]

You forget the very important field of unintentional hilarity, for which conservatives have a virtual monopoly.

[megisi]

How bout that time that Armando at K(a)os put up a story about how irresponsible the military was for letting a American soldier be captured, discussing the ramifications, only to have it revealed that it was a dummy from a kit? Took the funniest post ever down, 2 minutes later.

[Hubris]

Shermbuck,

Wow, a small genitals crack! Hi-LARIOUS!

In case you haven't read one of the dozens of "why aren't (liberals)(conservatives) funny?" posts in the past, it's considered bad form to pop into the thread and say "look at how funny I am!" Instead, it's more appropriate to point out how idiotic it is not to recognize that there are plenty of funny people of all political persuasions.

But I hope you had a good spank session regarding your tough-guy comment. Thanx for the laffs!

[Word]

No wonder we love the Daily Show.

[Samurai Sam]

Both Attaturk and Watertiger are quite funny, especially for great photo captions.

[megisi]

watertiger @ http://derenegade.blogspot.com/

Her knife is sharp and her wit sharper.

She may be the best snarker out there.

[posh]

"John Kerry, reporting for duty..."-actually reporting for an asswhipping.

"Seared, seared in my mind..."(X-mas in Cambodia, fighting the Khmer Rouge, getting vd from a small vietnamese barn critter)

Using Shrum for his lucky 7th campaign(now 0-7. Never bet against a streak.

Yes, the dems keep putting out the 'jokes'. And their 'jokes' are far more funny than the Republicans.

"I was for the 87 billion, before I was..."

watching the dems Deciphering the Democratic nominee is far more entertaining than any discussion of the GOP.

[Innocent Bystander]

Posh-

Since you want to drag Kerry into a discussion about bloggers, you really want to us to drag up Dimson's inability to string 2 coherent sentences together? I try not to laugh at the boy-king, though. I pity his self-induced brain damage that the coke and alcohol has wrought. Unfortunately, we are all paying the price of his overindulgences.

[n.o.t.l.f]

oh SNAP posh!

You see what it's doing right? It's "mocking" Kerry by using quotes the candidate actually said and then, aside, commenting on them in a 'humorous' fashion!

[Boronx]

You left out Tom Burka at Opinions you should have, geez.

[jay]

Not a blogger, but PJ O'Rourke is consistently funny.

[Anaxagoras]

P.J. O'Rourke. Definitely funny.

William Buckley. Love him or loathe him, he has a cutting wit.

However, I agree that there are general differences between conservatives and liberals.

Generally speaking, the humor on the conservative half of the web-o-sphere is the equivalent of the liberal, "Bush is stupid-ha-ha." However, the liberal equivalent of "Hilary is really a man and Chelsea is a dog-ha-ha." is merely a subset of a much more expansive and creative repertoire.

Conservatives tend to be more literal-minded. Liberals work better with the subtle distinctions that pave the halls of humor.

But what about those funny guys I mentioned above?

O'rourke is really a libertarian with a contrarian spirit.

Buckley is a libertarian as well and his genuinely conservative impulses are, more often than not, aristocratic.

They can have him.

[jakester]

busybusybusy.com!

[jimboro]

I've been quietly nurturing this very theory. Most obviously, there is simply no correspondence on the right to Jon Stewart or Al Franken. Witness the quick impending failure of Dennis Miller's dumbass TV show. And for the sheer domination (cmplete until recently) of the AM radio talk show genre by conservative Republicans (e.g., O'Reilly, Hannity, Limbaugh), there's not a funny one among them. These guys are the opposite of funny. If they venture into irony, parody, etc. it's always with the same hate-laden, mean-spirited, ad-hominem style attack and ridicule that characterizes everything else they say. Ben Stein may be some type of TV exception but his appearances have been mostly non-political.

[merlallen]

Sadly, No makes me crack up everyday. They've recently introduced a very funny Marie Jon', who isn't trying to be funny, but is.

[posh]

"want to us to drag up Dimson's inability to string 2 coherent sentences together?"

If it will make you think you are funny, feel free.

"Unfortunately, we are all paying the price of his overindulgences."

But at least you're funny.

Funny? You lost to this guy. That is too funny. God forbid that you have to run against a Republican that 'can string two sentences together'.

In terms a dem can understand:
Kerry lost to a Special Olympian. IT is not possible...but it is true.

[bitchphd]

LOL.

[Hubris]

It seems I've inadvertently stumbled into the David Brooks StereotypeCon 2005.

The program does look interesting. Can someone point me to the room for the "Black Guys Dance Like This, But White Guys Dance Like This" discussion group?

[posh]

jimboro-

Al Franken has an audience of ...70,000. This is in NYC. A bum pissing on the street has a bigger audience. If he's funny, it must be in some egalitarian manner that a majority just doesn't get.

[Arne Langsetmo]

I guess there's also that cartoonist guy, Day by Day.

Hey, there's Bruce Tinsley and his silly duck, trying to be a G.B. Trudeau, but instead resorting to bringing down RNC talking point memos not of his own provenance into a format suitable for the reading level of his target audience.....

Cheers,

[posh]

Proof that Conservative-leaning blogs are funny...

http://dogsnot.net/mt/archives/000287.html

Thanks for reminding me of you Arne...

[Innocent Bystander]

"Funny? You lost to this guy. That is too funny."

There's that RW humor for you. It is "too funny" that we lost to Bush. What's funnier is that we've become a one-party state. In the paraphrased words of that world-class comedian, Joe Stalin, "It's not who votes that counts, but who counts the votes."

The jokes on you, posh.

[md]

hey, here's funny

picture a black oval

put the letters F and W inside the oval

now put it on your car, so everyone knows where you're from

now, get stuck behind me, and imagine the expression on my face as you stay stuck behind me.

[aphid]

"there were absolutely NO funny Marxists."

alexi sayle, who played the landlord in the british tv series "the young ones", was (is?) a funny marxist.

[skippy]

wait! what about skippy the bush kangaroo? the blog mentioned twice on the daily show?

now that's funny!

[Arne Langsetmo]

After demonstrating Mithras's point to a "T", Posh ventures:

God forbid that you have to run against a Republican that 'can string two sentences together'.

LOL. Now that would be funny. Like the ubiquitous "talking dog in the bar" jokes.... What's even better, it humour on two levels; it's not just the punch line, it's that the critter can actually talk!

Cheers,

[Arne Langsetmo]

Ummm, Posh:

Still having trouble trying to figure out HTML tags?

But thanks for the further reminder of what passes for humour amongst at least the most cerebrally challenged on the RW fringes, like Gordon....

Cheers,

[posh]

"What's funnier is that we've become a one-party state."

"Funny" is blaming your enemy for why your are losing.

Funny is blaming a loss on everything under the sun, except YOUR PARTY MESSAGE, or lack thereof. Watching you guys believe that you speak for all America, when you haven't cracked 50% in a presidential election in the past 30 years, and the first name that comes up is Jimmy Carter.

A hearty Nelson Muntz guffaw.

It is really true that Dem websites are far more entertaining. Where else can I watch this train wreck called the democratic party daily? Where can I find Dean apologists? Where can I find hosts who are deluded in believing they have some impact in US politics? Evey week it is a new obsession, from Rove to gitmo-this is like Roscoe P Cotrain thinking, 'we'll get them Duke boys.'

This is like watching the Taliban in the cave, bumbing their heads because the entrance is to small, and cursing Bush everytime they hit their heads. In hindsight, I must admit, democratic(progressive) blogs are far more entertaining than anything you can find on a conservative blog.

[ArizonaTeach]

Ok, New Rule. People complaining that Dennis Miller isn't funny since he went right must also agree that Bill Maher isn't funny ever since he went further left.

But, anyway, since Mithras already got owned with his taxonomy, I think it's safe to assume that his blog will be cited in future "why aren't liberal bloggers funny" posts.

[Barry Champlain]

This has always been one of my strongest beliefs. All the funny people really are liberals; by definition, you simply cannot be funny, and still be uptight, hateful, insensitive to the common good, etc.

For starters, I can't believe this discussion of humor-deficient right wingers hasn't touched on the generically (genetically?) unfunny Mallard Fillmore strip by Bruce Tinsley (if someone did mention it, and I missed it, my bad).

Every Mallard Fillmore strip consists of broadly-overdrawn cartoon-y characters, gesturing wildly, suggesting aggressive animation, and culminating in what is obviously supposed to be a thigh-slappin' rim shot punch line.

Only problem is... a cold reading of the dialogue ballooons reveals nothing but dry boilerplate right-wing dogma, last week's GOP talking points and invective. To the tune of zany drawings. Not a damned yuk in the pile, ever.

Limbaugh: I noticed this in the late '80's, when El Rushbo first rose to prominence in his (ack) field. There were segments in his program where it was obviously time for "humor". It would invariably consist of Rush, imitating, say, Jesse Jackson in a Stepin Fetchit-type voice. You could just visualize the angry white wingnuts listening, forcing a phony laugh: "HAR HAR HAR!!". Sort of like when the playground bullies would beat the snot out of some poor dweeb, and go, "HAR HAR HAR!!"... yes, there was technically a "laugh" involved, but it was not necessarily an organic emotional hiccup, borne of a humorous interlude. It was just a mean "HAR HAR HAR!!", period.

Dennis Miller: No, I have a completely different take on Cha-Cha, than most folks. I think Dennis had already experienced enough career failures, by the time his epiphany happened, that he was just desperate. He needed a new "hook". So he bet on a horse. That's it. And what could be more powerful than the election-winning War Preznit?

Wrong horse, okay? Now he's trying to carve a niche as the court jester for the tyrant who likes to cut peoples' heads off. Say, how's that working out for you, o comic courtesan of conservativatism ? Har har.

Nope, you people guessed it right, and you win the Amana freezer. Conservatives really DON'T HAVE a sense of humor. You're not nuts. It's literally the case.

[DavidLA]

Proverbially, there is much truth in jest. Conversely, there is probably much jest in truth, in that what is true is probably funny if you look at it a certain way.

Too much of what passes for conservative thought and analysis these days is mendacious and misleading, and therefore does not lend itself easily to humor.

Fraudulent behavior and living in fantasy land is not funny, and can be dangerous.

[posh]

"I'm Good Enough, I'm Smart Enough, and Doggone It, People Like Me! : Daily Affirmations By Stuart Smalley (Paperback)"

The ultimate irony. Stuart Smalley is a parody of the Democratic party. Penned by a guy who thinks it is funny in an individual, but will trnaslate it into reality in his own party.

You dems keep believing in yourselves, don't change a bit. Taxes? Love em. Can you please take more of my money?

Let me help you...get elected and you guys can do whatever you want.

try this message:

"In the past we have taken money from individuals and companies and squandered it without care of how much we took or what we spent it on. This time we promise to find the waste and fraud in the system, and will not seek to tax you further. From the waste and fraud (which undoubtably exceeds 5%), we will turn the money back into the programs that we have ignored. In saving this money we will create more than any tax raise could ever provide."

This is predicated upon you admitting you have a money problem...

[Eddie]

Could someone please pick out some of your favorite funny posts on one of the following blogs (Fafblog!, The Rude Pundit, World O' Crap, Alicublog, Fanatical Apathy, Sadly, No!, Tbogg, The Poor Man, and James Wolcott). I scaned though a couple of post on The Rude Pundit that did not seem particularly funny. Is it just that I am not getting the joke or are there serious posts in addition to the funny. For instance, the overwelming majority of the posts on Scrappleface are obviously at least attempting to be funny. Are the humorous posts on these other blogs analougous toneedles in a haystack , or the hay?

eddie

[DraconisRex]

The theory of humor seems to indicate that it is the state of mind of the person that makes humor. i.e., there are physiological & psychological barriers to humor. Both in appreciation and creation.

The conservative movement, over time, has shifted away from the country-club Republicanism of change slowly, leave me alone, don't take my money to one of right-wing, hate-based Christianity. As that hate has spread, I think it's obvious why the humor production of the right-wing has dropped. Hate-filled, dysphoric individuals are just not going to be funny. They don't have the tools.

[Den Valdron]

>God forbid that you have to run against a Republican that 'can string two sentences together'.

Well, speaking as a Canadian, I can say that we find it absolutely hilarious. George W. Bush, after presiding over the deaths of 3000 Americans, two failed wars, and trillion dollar deficits... your country thought re-electing this moron was a good idea?

You can bet the rest of the world is laughing its ass off.

[Humour Police]

CHALLENGE TO POSH

Write something funny.

Anything.

We'll wait.

[posh]

Humor is relative to the individual.

A dem would find the misfortune of a preacher getting caught with a hooker hilarious.

A republican would find Air America celebrity employees getting paid from a trust fund for children and Alzheimers pts, while their own party ignores it, equally as funny.

The generic "We are funnier than you" expresses the inability of the democrats to realize individuals and their tastes are different than theirs. So much for a party that expresses empathy but cannot demonstrate it. So much for the party of , "I feel you pain..."

[posh]

A canadian defending democrats? This is the same canada who wouldn't let Fox news into their country? Not exactly Al_Jazeera, although you had that before fox.

Free speech? Get real.

Some of the funniest things come out of Canada,

my favorite is the Beauty Pageant Winner who could say that she won a beauty pageant. Leftists, sucking off the US economy, telling us how good their health care system is, because they send their patients to the US.

But the McKenzie brother are alright with me...

[darrelplant]

Dennis Miller was never funny. Want proof?

Here's his lead-in to an A. Whitney Brown "Big Picture" piece from SNL in 1986. Miller's idea of funny? A lame rendition of "The Name Game" for Imelda Marcos. Compare and contrast with Brown (who I believe is writing for Air America these days).

http://www.darrelplant.com/images/central_america.html

[Amilyn]

I don't know why more people interested in the psychopathology of the right don't, you know, actually research this issue. Actual psychological studies and literature review do exist on the topic.

Jost, J. T., Glaser, J., Kruglanski, A. W., & Sulloway, F. J. (2003). Political conservatism as motivated social cognition. Psychological Bulletin, 129(3), 339-375.

[Den Valdron]

Well, the difference between Al Jazeera and Fox is that they do real journalism.

>Free speech? Get real.

Oooh, just because the nutbars don't get to control all the media, they're hard done by in Canada.

>Some of the funniest things come out of Canada,

Kids in the Hall, SCTV, half of Saturday Night Live (when it was good), William Shatner. Let's face it, without Canada your idea of yuks has been Ben Stein.

>Leftists, sucking off the US economy,

Yeah, well, the way you guys are running it into the ground, that's not going to last much longer.

Still, unlike certain countries, we aren't exporting all our jobs to China. And we're not running trillion dollar deficits, so I figure us 'leftists' will continue to do pretty well.

What the hell does America make these days anyway? Do you still manufacture anything?

>telling us how good their health care system is, because they send their patients to the US.

Why not? Obviously, you've got plenty of spaces since you don't bother to cover 40% of your population.

I do notice that Canadian prescription drugs and flu vaccine is popular down in Canada.

Of course, the flow goes both ways, what with America leading the world in crack.
And, well hey. Guess that answers the 'do you still make anything' question, doesn't it.

>But the McKenzie brother are alright with me...

Our beer is better.

[spacemonkey]

fafblog, I laughted at. The rest, not so much.

[idahogie]

Well, Humour Police, posh did it:

A dem would find the misfortune of a preacher getting caught with a hooker hilarious.

A republican would find Air America celebrity employees getting paid from a trust fund for children and Alzheimers pts, while their own party ignores it, equally as funny.

Get it? Conservatives think a preacher with hooker is 'misfortune' (as in, 'there but for the grace of God go I').

While a completely fabricated pseudo-story is funny.

Get it? No? Well, there's no help for you then.

[Laurence Simon]

I'm not sure of these so-called liberal/left humor blogs, but apparently they can't be bothered to sign up for the Humor and Satire Community within the Truth Laid Bear Ecosystem.

If folks submit them, I add 'em.

*whistles*

[K]

"Funny? You lost to this guy. That is too funny."

I guess we can where all the funny conservative bloggers are.

[posh]

Al-Jazeera more credible than Fox?
Got that Canadian wit going...

Running our economy into the ground?
You have plentiful resources, for a population of 32 million, but your gdp is only growing at 2.4%? Someone isn't spending wisely. Don't worry, you are tied with the European Union at that rate. Not like the US GDP is growing at twice the rate of your country, but 1.8333 times will suffice.

Allowing FOX news into your country will cause what...? It is called free speech, although, in socialism, speech needs to modified.

"Do you still manufacture anything?"
Pretty much every scientific advancement and intellectual property that you use...apparently Canada is long on resources, not intellect. (Don't worry, I bought a lot of Nortel-two weeks ago-how can it fail in a socialist state?

Don't cover 40%? No actually we don't cover 40% for elective hospital visits. I have never seen a patient at an emergency room turned away for inability to pay. If the dems could find one, they'd have their campaign commercials running.

How's the education system up there? No chance you send more of your intellectuals here than your own schools?

I like Canadian beer, and Japanese, and Mexican, and German, and it is all available here. Freedom of choice. Like FOX or MSN? The government is far less intrusive and more opportunities remain here in this country than anywhere else...if we are on our way down, how come everyone still wants to come here?

[ryan b]

I don't know, guys, posh sure has me pointing and laughing at him. Damn funny.

[Jimmm]

Gotta hand it to Posh: while Conservatives may lack comedic chops, none among them works as hard at being un-fucking-funny as he.

Re: Your free-association riff on what's wrong with Canada? Have you ever heard that brevity is the soul of wit? Yah, I didn't think so.

But I'll tell you what's funny: Posh coming to a lefty blog and arguing point-by-point with a virtual roomful of strangers, most of whom are just winding Posh up to see how far out on a limb he'll go. It's like he's intent on giving specific evidence of the (comedically convenient) broadside that Righties don't have a sense of humor.