Quote:
Originally Posted by Tyrone Slothrop
I don't think this is mostly right. It depends so much on the context, and on the nature of the making fun. When jokes are clearly in the service of politics, people respond to them as politics. But when a comedian earns an audience's trust, he or she can go and will go after their own side. For example, Jimmy Kimmel makes jokes about Biden's age all the time. His audience laughs.
There are bad comedians out there. But good ones too.
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That trust is deemed necessary by so many is depressing as well. Comedy should be fearless. And a thing said that's funny should be funny in almost any context. "Eating the dogs and cats" is universally funny. It can't be anything else. Harris' word salads can be very funny. Some not so much, but others very much. And Biden staring into space, dazed, might be a mean thing to mock, but it's also comical when cited using the right comedic touch.
Greg Gutfeld is not very funny, IMO. Nor is Steven Colbert. They're both quite openly political and preachy, and so, as you note, their jokes fall flat. But there are a ton of openly anti-Trump comedians out there who are objectively funny, even with a clear agenda. And there are a number (far fewer, I think) conservative (or anti-woke... to which group the fewer caveat does not apply) comedians out there who are very funny. I'm not sure I need to "trust" the views of these people, or that they're on my side, to find them funny. I honestly don't care about their views. Their politics are immaterial. If they're out to smear a candidate and it's funny, it's still funny. Their inner beliefs should be of zero importance.
