Seriously Funny: Satirists play enhanced role during contentious election season

Kirk Baird

Monday, Nov. 1, 2004 | 8:25 a.m.

Politics and comedy make for strange bedfellows.

During a recent guest appearance on "Crossfire," "The Daily Show's" Jon Stewart opted to play it straight.

It was a strange position - stern lecturer - for the comedic anchor of a faux news program, a stance that Stewart maintained even as the show's conservative co-host, Tucker Carlson, tried to goad him to "be funny."

Stewart refused.

"I'm not going to be your monkey," he told Carlson.

Instead, the comedian sounded off on what he called "partisan hackery" of political talk shows such as "Hannity & Colmes," "Crossfire" and "Hardball."

"You have a responsibility to the public discourse, and you fail miserably," Stewart said.

The comedian maintained that position a few days later during a "60 Minutes" segment, telling reporter Steve Kroft: "You know ... what has become rewarded in political discourse is the extremity of viewpoint. People like the conflict. Conflict baby! It sells. TCrossfire'! THardball'! Shut up! You shut up!" It was a surreal moment, especially coming from Stewart, whose "Daily Show," as he pointed out on "Crossfire," has as a lead-in a show about puppets making crank phone calls.

Meanwhile, Stewart and other late-night hosts are quickly becoming some of the most trusted news sources among young viewers.

According to a Pew Research Center survey, half of 18- to 29-year-olds say they regularly or sometimes learn news from late-night comedy shows.

And in a sharply divided political season, where most polls have the presidential candidates in a virtual deadlock, can comedians sway voters?

"I think (our influence) may be exaggerated," said humorist Andy Borowitz, a frequent contributor to the New Yorker, The New York Times, Vanity Fair, National Public Radio's "Weekend Edition Sunday" and CNN's "American Morning," as well as author of the just-released "The Borowitz Report: The Big Book of Shockers" ($9.95, Simon & Schuster).

In fact, Borowitz said his fans are already informed.

"I certainly get e-mails that say people get news from me rather than the straight news media," he said. "But I think people who like to read political satire are also news junkies. They wouldn't find (the jokes) funny unless they read the news."

And Carol Kolb, editor in chief of the satirical newspaper the Onion -- www.theonion.com -- which often creates outlandish stories about politicians ("Republicans Urge Minorities To Get Out And Vote On Nov. 3," "Kerry Unveils One-Point Plan For Better America") said readers aren't swayed by satire.

"I think people have already made up their minds and enjoy the articles that poke fun of whatever candidates they are not behind. But I don't think that we are changing anyone's opinion," she said. "And furthermore, I would be frightened if someone did take political advice from the Onion."

While Kolb said she and the Onion staff try to spread out the humor equally among the left and right, what really matters most isn't being fair and balanced, but if the story is humorous.

"The main thing is we want to be funny," she said. "If we have an article that makes a point but we don't find funny, we don't run it."

Still, even politicians realize the power of humor to influence.

In the late '60s, Richard Nixon appeared on "Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In," uttering the show's catchphrase "Sock it to me" as proof to young voters that he could take a joke.

In 1992 then-presidential hopeful Bill Clinton was a guest on "The Arsenio Hall Show," playing the saxophone, helping usher in a new wave of politicians appearing on late-night talk shows.

Perhaps most famous of all is the 1976 appearance of Ron Nessen, President Ford's press secretary, on "Saturday Night Live."

After Ford had been mercilessly skewered by a Chevy Chase impersonation of him as a bumbling baffoon, Nessen guest hosted the show to convince voters that the president was in on the joke.

Nessen even appeared in a sketch with Chase as Ford. Nessen's appearance on the "SNL," however, ultimately backfired, with Chase's subsequent impersonations of the president becoming even more spiteful than before and Ford still losing the election.

"Satire reinforces a certain impression people have of a candidate, like Chevy Chase's impression of Ford as a bumbling idiot," Borowitz said. "It may not be fair, but it readily influences it.

"I don't personally think I have that much influence. Maybe I'll change a mind or two ... (but) I only take shots at targets when I think they've done something that deserves it."

Political riffs

Andrew Alexander, executive producer of the Second City improv comedy groups, including the troupe that performs at Flamingo Las Vegas, said political humor has featured heavily in Second City's comedy since the days of President Eishenhower in the 1950s.

"They just mentioned Eisenhower onstage and there was a gasp," he said. "It was new and fresh."

With a controversial war and upcoming presidential election Tuesday, it seems audiences are again polarized, and often uncomfortable, with political humor.

In the Las Vegas show, however, the political commentary is often kept to a minimum.

"People who come to Las Vegas are looking to get away from everything, so you can't overdo it," Alexander said.

Meanwhile, in Chicago, politically minded jokes are nearly expected in the performance. Even then, it can still be risky.

Two weeks ago, for example, Alexander said a patron at a Chicago Second City performance became so enraged by jokes made at Bush's expense he spat in the face of the show's manager.

"It's a reflection of the country," Alexander said. "There's an anger now that's palpable. People are very, very divided."

David Brenner agrees.

In the 30-plus years he's been doing stand-up, the comedian says he's never seen the country so politically split.

He points to Linda Ronstadt given the boot at the Aladdin for voicing her support of Michael Moore. Or the fallout from the Dixie Chicks' lead singer Natalie Maines' onstage comment about President Bush.

Such polarization only makes it more difficult for a comedian to rely on political material.

"You're not tiptoeing through the tulips, you're tiptoeing through eggs," he said.

Over the years, though, Brenner has formed one simple rule when it comes to political comedy.

"You can make fun of any liberal candidate and get laughter," he said. "But if you make fun of a conservative you've got to be careful. Their laugh meter doesn't run very high. It's got to be one of those rippers that's so funny you can't help but laugh."

Still, he's not about to shy away from taking shots at both political sides.

"There should be a balance," he said. "Our job is not to change (audiences') minds. Our job is to open their minds and let them change their minds if they want to.

"I don't impose my beliefs on other people."

Other comedians, however, have let their political persuasion be known. Dennis Miller, for example, is an avid Bush supporter, while comedian Janeane Garofalo and satirist Al Franken are perhaps now best known now for their left-leaning politics.

But Brenner, who performs at 8 nightly (except Thursdays) at the Las Vegas Hilton Shimmer Cabaret, prefers to remain nonpartisan in his material.

"I have strong opinions, but what does that mean? The person sitting across from me, they have strong opinions, too," he said.

Meanwhile, Borowitz is proud of the fact that none of his fans know on which side of the political spectrum he falls.

"I look at my vote as a personal matter. I do not try to be partisan," he said. "As a professional satirist, it's my job to find stupidity wherever it lurks. Fortunately, it lurks everywhere."