Vanity Fair Satires the New Yorker's Satire

Vanity Fair, unwilling to let a bad joke die, recently unleashed a brand new cover — that they courageously have no intention of using as an actual cover — upon the world the satire-deaf world.

And it looks mighty familiar…

No, I don't mean the New Yorker's brilliantly unfunny misguided attempt at satire of a cover.

I'm talking about this equally unfunny David Horsey political cartoon.

I guess dull minds think alike.

Tags: Barack Obama, Cindy McCain, John McCain, Michelle Obama, New Yorker

Take That, New Yorker Cartoon Department!

I suppose this David Horsey cartoon of John and Cindy McCain is about as funny as the New Yorker's cartoon of Barack and Michelle Obama (or most political cartoons for the matter)…

How did McCain get dragged into this whole thing? He was actually defending Obama.

I'd like to highlight a point that nobody else seems to be making: It's really not an issue of whether the New Yorker was satirizing or disseminating Obama smears. It's that satire is a whole lot easier to recognize when it's funny.

By the way, in case you were confused, that Horsey cartoon above is satire. Trust me, it is.

(via Andrew Sullivan)

Tags: Barack Obama, Cindy McCain, John McCain, Michelle Obama, National Review, New Yorker

Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert Weigh in on the Provocative Cover From a Smarty-Pants Magazine

Like a lot of people, Jon gets his news from the Daily Show and cartoons, so it's understandable that a political firestorm erupted over the New Yorker cover with Barack Obama as a Muslim extremist.

And Stephen Colbert points out that the cover is actually quite funny… because it's true.

Should Barack Obama be outraged over a cartoon or can the media just let it go?

Tags: Barack Obama, Jon Stewart, Michelle Obama, New Yorker, Stephen Colbert, The Colbert Report, The Daily Show

(What's So Funny 'Bout) Hope, Change and Barack Obama? Apparently, Nothing.

In the wake of the New Yorker's hilarious cover image of black Muslim insurgents Barack Obama and his wife Michelle, the New York Times interviewed a bunch of comedy writers from a number of talk shows and stuff to talk about the proper way to make fun of the Democratic presidential candidate.

The general consensus among them seems to be that you just can't make jokes about the guy, because there's just nothing funny about him…

Why? The reason cited by most of those involved in the shows is that a fundamental factor is so far missing in Mr. Obama: There is no comedic "take" on him, nothing easy to turn to for an easy laugh, like allegations of Bill Clinton's womanizing, or President Bush's goofy bumbling or Al Gore's robotic persona.

"The thing is, he's not buffoonish in any way," said Mike Barry, who started writing political jokes for Johnny Carson's monologues in the waning days of the Johnson administration and has lambasted every presidential candidate since, most recently for Mr. Letterman. "He's not a comical figure," Mr. Barry said.

Tell me about it! What's funny about a guy who travels across the country making vague promises of "hope" and "change" and then turns around and supports a bill designed to rob us our 4th Amendment rights at the behest of the least popular president in the Earth's history?

I just can't think of anything! Gah! It's so hard being a comedy writer these days!

Jon Stewart — popular host of a little show you may have heard of called You Wrote It, You Watch It (amongst other less popular shows) –  says that audiences seem less than inclined to laugh at the self-important, Christ-like savior of liberal idealism…

Despite audience resistance, Mr. Stewart contended, his show had been able to develop a distinctive angle on Mr. Obama. Noting that the senator seems to emphasize the historic nature of his quest, Mr. Stewart said, "So far, our take is that he's positioning himself to be on a coin."

Yeah. That or a cross.

Tags: Barack Obama, David Letterman, Jon Stewart, Michelle Obama, New York Times, New Yorker, The Daily Show, The Late Show, Tonight Show

Barack Obama and John McCain Agree to Disagree with New Yorker

According to both Barack Obama's and John McCain's campaign the tasteless and offensive cover image on this week's New Yorker — drawn by satirist Barry Blitt — is both "tasteless" and "offensive"…

The Obama campaign quickly condemned the rendering. Spokesman Bill Burton said in a statement: "The New Yorker may think, as one of their staff explained to us, that their cover is a satirical lampoon of the caricature Sen. Obama's right-wing critics have tried to create. But most readers will see it as tasteless and offensive. And we agree."

McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds quickly e-mailed: "We completely agree with the Obama campaign, it's tasteless and offensive."

Well, at least they agree on something.

Obama reportedly first saw the offensively accurate portrayal of himself Sunday afternoon, when a reporter showed it to him a press event in Tehran or San Diego or someplace…

"Have you seen it? If not, I can show it to you on my computer, [said the very sympathetic reporter.] It shows your wife Michelle with an Afro and an AK-47 and the two of you doing the fist bump with you in a sort of turban-type thing on top. I wondered if you’ve seen it or if you want to see it or if you have a response to it?"

Obama, shrugging incredulously, replied: "I have no response to that."

Aha! Then he admits it! Admits that, um, he, uh, doesn't have a response to it.

Gotcha!

Tags: Barack Obama, John McCain, New Yorker