the comic's comic

Comedians weigh in on the 2008 election

Many comedians are using their offstage time to sound off on the 2008 presidential election, now less than two weeks away. The Huffington Post, in particular, appears to be a platform for several comedians...

Larry David doesn't know if he can handle watching the election returns come in on Nov. 4: "I believe I have big jinx potential and may have actually cost the Dems the last two elections. I know I've jinxed sporting events. When my teams are losing and I want them to make a comeback, all I have to do is leave the room. Works every time. So if I do watch, I'll do it alone. I can't subject other people to me in my current condition. I just don't like what I've turned into -- and frankly I wasn't that crazy about me even before the turn."

Michael Showalter wonders why "Sarah Palin's favorite word is "Ahmadinejad"."

Paula Poundstone asks: Is Anybody Listening to Bush?

Will Durst has something to say about all of this Joe the Plumber business that came out of the final debate.

Lee Camp is mocking the McCain-Palin ticket on a daily basis on 23/6, as well.

Max Silvestri and Andy Blitz each have access to new McCain Robocalls.

And on his own blog, Michael Ian Black realizes he must not be a real American, by Sarah Palin's definition.

Two comedic takes on the 2008 DNC in Denver

Yes, yes, The Daily Show has its own irreverent cable TV "news" spin on the political conventions, but in this groovy new media world, it's all about online video and blogs and vlogs and going low-budget, low-key, low-tech. At the first convention I covered as a reporter (Democrats, New York City, 1992), we didn't have no Internet. Al Gore was just a vice presidential candidate, remember? Memories. Anyhow. Back to the future present. Here are two different takes from the start of this week's Democratic National Convention in Denver. First up is Eugene Mirman, on the scene with the big online kahuna Huffington Post's 23/6 (236.com) team, and his first report is, well, NSFW but safe for fun-time viewing:

236.com: DNC '08 Breaking Inside the Behind
Uploaded by twentythreesix

Will Durst, on the other hand, takes his political comedy quite seriously. So he attempts to sum up Mama Obama's speech and spin in 60 seconds. Take a deep breath, and click!

Look for more from both Mirman and Durst over the course of the next week in Denver, then with the Republicans next week in St. Paul/Minneapolis.

Will Durst, off-Broadway

After six years, comedians don’t even have to write jokes about President George W. Bush.
To them, Bush seems to write his own punchlines into the daily headlines.
Which makes being a satirist tougher than ever.
“You can’t parody a parody,” Will Durst tells me.
“I actually had a Republican come up to me and say I’m really disappointed in you. Bush is low-hanging fruit right now.”
Durst has brought his one-man show Off-Broadway to the New World Stages complex. It’s called “The All-American Sport of Bipartisan Bashing,” but it’s really a summation of this San Franciscan satirist’s career. After all, a clips package precedes his entrance onstage, highlighting Durst’s TV appearances dating back to the 1988 campaigns.

Then Durst appears, wearing a light summer suit and seated among stacks of newspapers; a pair of boxing gloves to one side, a large Starbucks cup on the other.
“This is about me and my abandonment issues,” he says.
He claims his show is about questioning how and why politicians have gone to polarizing extremes, abandoning the political center. “We’re all purple people,” he says.
Most of his barbs come at the expense of the current Republican administration, and after a preview show, he tells me that his act is a culmination of “the last six and a half years bubbling up -- that’s what it is, because it’s fermented, and the cork is going to pop pretty soon.”
He also gets in digs at the Clintons, John Kerry, even Michael Dukakis, plus many of the 2008 presidential contenders.

What makes this new, though?
Audiences may feel they’ve heard this all before, whether they’ve seen Durst already, or just by turning on the TV.
David Letterman easily fills a segment on his late-night show with mocking clips of Bush’s public speaking debacles.
The Daily Show with Jon Stewart likewise has no shortage of material.
And then there’s other satirists such as Bill Maher (who just recorded a new HBO special and has a new season of his talk show starting Aug. 24) or Lewis Black.
Here in New York City, too, you can see Lizz Winstead (co-creator of “The Daily Show”) and her crew skewering the news in her latest live venture, Shoot the Messenger, Monday nights at Ace of Clubs.
Durst acknowledges it’s not easy.
“I think the audience has reached a point of saturation,” he says. “Unless you have a unique take on it, they’ve heard the Bush-bashing before.”
In comparison to the other satirists, Durst says he likes to take his time to find a larger laugh point.
“Leno, Letterman, Maher...those guys all have 13 writers, so they can turn around and do it the next day,” he says. “Compared to them, I’d be a little boutique in Soho. I hand-stitch every joke.”
So far, he’s stitched together an 80-minute routine that wraps up with a self-described “drum solo” that also could be described as a ranting riff that combines the best elements of vintage George Carlin and Dennis Miller.

For more information about Durst's show, click here.