Are there any funny "conservative" comedians?

[Cary]

When I think of "conservative" comedians I think of seriously unfunny Dennis Miller. I give Miller credit because he takes unfunny to another level. That takes skill.

Not a useful skill, but skill nonetheless.

Anyway if I have ever seen a funny "conservative" comedian then that comedian never let on that he or she was "conservative." It is kind of like their "conservatism" was their crazy uncle in their attic, perhaps?

Is there a funny "conservative" comedian? Or do I put that category with Superman, Santa Claus, and low priced lawyers?

[hatrack]

1. Nope, you're in unicorn territory

Good comedy inverts reality, it asks "why?", it punctures pretension and gores sacred cows.

Conservatives don't like any of the above, and are accordingly reduced to name-calling and bullying. Hence Dennis Miller, Victoria Jackson and Fox's short-lived Half Hour News Hour.

[Cirque du So-What]

2. Punching up is funny

Punching down is just mean.

[Wounded Bear]

22. Pretty much this...nt

[Hugin]

3. No. n/t

[BumRushDaShow]

4. In the past

you had some like Jon Lovitz, who created an iconic character - Tommy Flanagan (where memes from his SNL days occasionally get posted on DU) but otherwise, the few out there do more RW editorializing then comedy.

[Kid Berwyn]

5. Henry Kissinger

“The illegal we do immediately. The unconstitutional takes a little longer.”

[Malmsy]

6. Dennis Miller walked the line, but as he became more independent of SNL, he really sucked.

The smug jerk character didn't work.

[Cary]

7. Yes, he is downright painful

[RhodeIslandOne]

32. Dennis Miller got accused of being a liberal

By drug addicted Rush Limbaugh, who coveted that Monday Night Football job. Miller was not a good fit, but he was basically sandbagged out of the gate. He decided to join them instead of beating them.

[tirebiter]

8. Lenny Bruce defined himself as conservative

Inasmuch as he felt he was using his first amendment rights as the fathers of our country intended it.

[Cary]

10. "Conservative" is not conservative

"Conservative" is to the right of conservative.

Coincidentally fascism is to the right of conservative.

[Cary]

9. Is there a link between humorless and mean-spirited?

That might make for an interesting study.

[Initech]

15. I'd say that it's a "they hate us cause they ain't us" kind of deals.

They're not good at comedy so they take it out on those who are.

[Cary]

16. IMHO that explanation is too conscious

I don't see a lot of executive functioning from most of them. I think the answer is probably a lower level, lizard brain thing.

[TidalWave46]

11. I thought Seinfeld was a conservative.

Some of his stand up is original, witty, and really funny.

Not sure where I heard he was a right winger. I might be wrong.

[Cary]

13. My brief Google was inconclusive.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

17. Nah, just a creep.

[RhodeIslandOne]

33. He's not

But comedians of his generation grew up on guys like Carlin and Pryor who’d be criticized heavily today.

[TidalWave46]

35. Pryor is played regularly on some of the comedy shows I listen to.

Sirius XM's lineup of comedy.

[uponit7771]

12. Comedy has a sense of reality associated with it, conservatives don't do reality well

[ChoppinBroccoli]

14. They're Only Funny When They Stay Away From Political "Humor"

For example, I always liked Tim Allen's stand-up, and I liked "Home Improvement" too. Then I found out he was a raging Republican, and he became very unfunny. He started injecting his politics into his new shows after "Home Improvement" and they sucked. I enjoyed Dennis Miller and his erudite routines until his act strayed off into right-wing bullshit. Now he's not funny at all.

The reason why right-wing political humor falls flat is because when you boil it down, right-wing politics is all just mean-spirited and aimed at propping up the rich and powerful. Comedy is meant to poke fun at the rich and powerful. How many "Hitler was a good guy" jokes do you know? How many jokes do you know where, "Billionaires are better people than us and deserve more of our money" is the punchline?

Comedy pokes fun at the powerful. Right-wingers poke fun at the powerLESS, and that's not funny.

[WhiteTara]

18. not intentionally

Sometimes I laugh when there is no punchline because they are so ridiculous.

[Coventina]

19. I think Norm MacDonald is conservative. I have to confess, I find him hilarious.

I think it's the kind of updated Bob Newhart thing he's got going on: bumbling and dead-pan.


On edit:
Also, his humor is usually not political, and I think that helps tremendously.

[TidalWave46]

34. Nooooooo!!!!

I get clips of him on Sirius XM's comedy line-up and he is hilarious.

[melm00se]

20. I find funny as funny

their politics don't really worry me as long as they are funny

Some comedians who are conservative:

Jeff Dunham
Jeff Foxworthy
Tim Allen
Larry the Cable guy

But, comedy is a personal thing. There are comedians who are lean or are left who I find unfunny and there are ones from the right who I find hilarious.

One additional observation: Political correctness, especially on college campuses, is killing comedy.

[customerserviceguy]

21. I don't know specifically about their politics

but the original "Blue Collar Comedy Team" members, including Jeff Foxworthy, always made me laugh.

[Caliman73]

23. Humor is subjective. It is difficult to define who is funny and why?

Someone mentioned Norm McDonald who has mentioned that he is a conservative, but McDonald's comedy is not necessarily about conservative topics and usually focuses on personal experience, and the mundane.

The topics that comedians who identify themselves as conservatives and whose conservative ideology influences those topics are typically not funny to me as they are mean spirited and appear to simply ridicule.

You have comedians like Chris Rock, who make fun of some of the things Black people do, or George Lopez with Latinos, but that comedy is about relating to cultural practices and pointing out some of the absurdity. We laugh our ourselves through their story telling. Conservative comedy appears to be about "keeping people in their place", which to me, is not funny at all, therefore anyone who uses that type of comedy is not funny to me.

[Cary]

25. Then you cannot tell me I am wrong to say "conservative" comedians aren't funny.

It seems that the consensus here is that they can be funny if they suppress their politics. That adds a layer of complexity.

I prefer to lump them all as humorless humorists because I am not in a mood to be generous towards any of them. If that makes me a bad man, so be it.

[Caliman73]

36. I could tell you anything, but it would just be an opinion like everyone else's

You can lump whoever you what into whatever you want.

Not sure where you are getting the idea that you are being told you are wrong or a "bad man".

[Cary]

37. It wasn't personal

I just surmised from your words that you couldn't tell me.

[Caliman73]

43. Cool.

Nuance is often lost on internet forums.

The only thing I can say with certainty is that I do not think that the premise of conservative humor is funny to me at all. I find it demeaning.

I love to laugh at myself and others like me. I appreciate when comics point out the absurdities in their personal lives and in parts of their own cultures. When Margaret Cho talks about her mother, it is freakin hilarious. When Cedrick the Entertainer talks about the stereotype that Black people can't parallel park, comedy gold! When George Lopez talks about sneaking food into Dodger stadium or sharing one churro with all your cousins, that was me and my cousins, "lick it and pass it, lick it and pass it, take a bite and see what happens..." ROTFL.

When comedians made fun of president Obama's idiosyncrasies, that was good. Amy Pohler's Hillary was awesome!

Conservatism is about protecting the status quo. The power structures that have oppressed women, minorities, the poor, and other marginalized groups, so any humor that supports that ideology cannot be funny in my book.

[TheFarseer]

24. Nick Depaulo

Dennis Leary? Does Adam Corolla count as a comedian? Not sure if he does stand up. Just off the top of my head.

[WhiskeyWulf]

26. Not that I'm aware of . . .

Conservative humor seems mostly mean-spirited and childish to me.

[Cary]

27. I hear you.

[CrispyQ]

28. Miller used to be funny.

I loved his misanthropic take on racism:

It's stupid to hate someone for the color of their skin, when if you spend just five minutes talking to them, you'll find plenty of valid reasons to hate them.

[Tarc]

29. Norm MacDonald and Colin Quinn are tolerable

But that's about it. Comedy really isn't a good venue for those with prejudices.

[Thekaspervote]

30. NO! They have no sense of humor

[Gothmog]

31. From Doonesbury

[Liberal In Texas]

39. Nice one. n/t

[uponit7771]

46. This

[GulfCoast66]

38. Ron White? Haven't seen his stuff in over a decade. Remember him as being funny.

Don’t know his politics but would guess he is conservative.

[uponit7771]

47. Ron White is from East Arlington DFW metro area, he could be middle left

[Tommy_Carcetti]

40. As in stand up comedians? I can't think of any off the top of my head.

There have been comedic actors whose work I have liked who unfortunately have turned out to be staunch conservatives and/or Trump defenders.

John O'Hurley, a.k.a. Seinfeld's J. Peterman for example. Or Craig T. Nelson from the television show Coach.

But I don't know of any conservative stand-up comedians I enjoy or find funny.

[LeftInTX]

41. Jeff Foxworthy is funny

I'm picky though.

I liked Jeff's self deprecating sense of humor. I even bought his book. (I think I paid $1 for it at Dollar Tree or Dollar General)

[Kaleva]

42. Norm McDonald

[Kablooie]

44. Here you go. SNL conservatives

https://ijr.com/snl-loves-to-slam-gop-but-heres-a-look-at-all-the-cast-members-whove-gone-conservative/

1. Jon Lovitz
2. Adam Sandler
3. Rob Schneider
4. Norm Macdonald
5. Victoria Jackson
6. Dennis Miller
7. David Spade
8. Colin Quinn
9. Jay Mohr

[Left-face]

45. The *poof* moment

Some are probably funny right up until I find out they're right wing and then there's that *poof*! moment when suddenly nothing they can say or do is funny. *poof*! Funny how that works, huh?

[mwooldri]

48. Donald Trump?

Not intentionally a comedian but at times he can be funny for all the wrong reasons.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

49. Greg Gutfeld's Fox News 'comedy' show only on for 'half a Scaramucci'

Conservatives are too stupid to do comedy. This show was worst than the Half Hour News Hour which is saying a great deal

Link to tweet

Greg Gutfeld's new Fox News show was expanded briefly to weeknights but according to reporter Aaron Rupar, it disappeared Tuesday night. In Anthony Scaramucci time, that's just half a "Scaramucci," he remarked.

Link to tweet

The former White House communications director spent just 11 days on the job. Former President Donald Trump was so infamous for his hiring and firing that Scaramucci became a unit of measure by which employment under Trump was calculated.

Gutfeld was preempted by former Trumpster Larry Kudlow, who infamously screamed at Dr. Anthony Fauci for disagreeing hydroxychloroquine was a cure for COVID-19. Fauci ultimately was proved right, and Kudlow got a Fox News show.

The show from Gutfeld was an attempt to craft humor over liberal policies or progressive statements, but it has frequently fallen flat with the audience.

Again, this show was not funny and is the second time that Fox News tried to launch a comedy show. The first attempt-The Half Hour News Hour was really bad

[LetMyPeopleVote]

50. Conservatives are too stupid to understand satire

Link to tweet