Another conservative Daily Show launches -- and divebombs

[rocktivity]

Last edited Fri Aug 25, 2023, 06:27 PM - Edit history (8)

The Flipside with Michael Loftus offers a fresh perspective by taking on the flipside of the news, commentary, and pop-culture that America now calls the status quo. Featuring interviews with thought-provoking and diverse guests, fearless satire poking fun at the powers-that-be, and loads of fun, The Flipside with Michael Loftus is a show not to be missed!

Left versus right-wing humor has been well-analyzed at subject at DU. From Plaid Adder:

...(D)isrespect for authority is the foundation of real comedy...Mocking the powerful has the positive effect of reminding everyone that though these figures may be powerful, they are not superhuman, and can be resisted/outwitted/defied... Mocking the vulnerable is just bullying, and all it does is pander to the audience's worst instincts...

From me:

Right-wing humor...can't mock its own power structure without holding it accountable. Left-wing humor is rooted in pointing out how dangerous, phony, hypocritical, immoral, or just plain illegal the inherent authoritarianism of conservatism is.

...(W)hen Stewart and Colbert claim to be in the fake news business, they're faking. The method in their madness is that they simply point out how fake the REAL news is. Last night's TDS featured a segment where CNN turned Anna Nicole Smith's "Fridge of Death" into an investigation of the contents of the CNN break room refrigerator, followed by a segment on a group who like to swim in the northern Atlantic in the winter. The story that's supposed to be "real" news feels fake; the story that sounds like it must be fake is real. And THAT'S why we laugh--even when it's the Dems who get skewered...

With these precepts in mind, how does The Flipside stand up?

I guess I'm supposed be impressed that Lotfus is willing to skewer Republicans, but does he really? He bemoans how the GOP had the White House and Congress but broke their promise not to make government bigger. But then he says that Obama came in and spent even more -- is that actually true, or is that part of the joke? Reagan led us into prosperity without the help of big media? He led us into trickle up prosperity and bag people, and big media was a LOT smaller back then. And he suggests that Republicans stop being power hungry hypocrites -- but that wouldn't fix the party, that would implode it.

Flipside seems to be about mocking a strawman conservative power structure ("Don't wear jeans! Fix your hair!") -- which preserves and respects the inherent authoritarianism of its real one -- and using that as the basis on which to pass itself off as being at least as "fair and balanced" as Stewart and Colbert.


rocktivity

[silverweb]

1. What a shame!

[font color="navy" face="Verdana"]I'm so [font face="Arial"]<chuckle>[font face="Verdana"] terribly sorry [font face="Arial"]<guffaw>[font face="Verdana"] that another new attempt at "conservative humor" [font face="Arial"]<snort>[font face="Verdana"] has bombed....

[Half-Century Man]

2. In Mr. Loftus's defense.

I have to say he does an adequate job poking fun of the stupid on "America's Dumbest.....", working along side of co-commenters Tonya Harding, Todd Bridges, and Danny Bonaduce. In the comedic spectrum of the regular commenters Mr. Loftus is falls somewhere between Gary Busey and Dustin Diamond.

[AwakeAtLast]

3. Ooh, ouch!

Would not want to be in between those two.........not exactly a glowing endorsement.

[Half-Century Man]

4. Could be worse.

Standing between them naked for example.

[OnyxCollie]

6. !

[AwakeAtLast]

7. Yeah, I re-read my post

Left myself open for that one. Not a pretty picture!

[AndreaCG]

9. Really? Those are his cohosts?

A criminal albeit without a conviction, a criminal with one and someone I once admired but unfortunately became a jerk? What, Victoria Jackson wasn't available?

[Half-Century Man]

12. The show is put on by the Smoking Gun organization.

They specialize in smoldering wrecks.

[rocktivity]

15. I thought the name seemed familiar

What's with the thick glasses and graying sideburns? Is masquerading as a tubby, crew-cut, middle aged (he's 49) "regular guy" supposed to be part of the joke?


rocktivity

[AwakeAtLast]

5. He use a fatal word: hypocrite

Mostly I heard a lot of half-baked ideas, nothing fully formed, no evidence. Or maybe he was half-baked.



Thank you! I'll be here all week.

[Prophet 451]

8. The problem with conservative humour...

...and really, this tends to be true for conservatives in all forms of art, is that they spend too much time trying to show-horn their political views in, and not enough time on actually crafting their artform.

[Rozlee]

10. His audience wasn't as enthusiastic as Jon's and Stephen's.

Too many conservatives seem to only laugh raucously when humor is used for the purpose of belittling and hurting others, especially when it contains misogynistic or racist content. Sorry if that comes out sounding like a generalization, but it's a perception I've developed from watching some of the crude comments and postings they put on their social media and FB pages. This guy was just pontificating, not not really parodying, which is the biggest humor tool that The Daily Show and The Colbert Report utilize.

[MrModerate]

11. Well, at least the city on the moon made sense . . .

Seriously, did anyone associated with this project (audience included) believe that this was:

1) Funny
2) Engaging
3) Worth watching
4) Anything but utterly doomed?

I can remember better executed sketches from my Junior High School Talent show, and most of the audience walk out on that.

[rocktivity]

13. The city on the moon joke would have had a chance of being funny

Last edited Sat Oct 18, 2014, 01:01 PM - Edit history (3)

if Loftus had followed it up with the suggestion that all libertarians be sent there since their Galts' Gulch project worked so well. But wouldn't a city on the moon be yet another big-spending boondoggle that republicans are supposed to be against -- speaking of which, are republicans against libertarians this week?


rocktivity

[progressoid]

14. Wow. That was uncomfortably unfunny.

[AndreaCG]

16. Hmmm. Not quite as wretched as I feared

Some of his advice to Republicans was ok, like stop being hypocrites and why the bad hair. And the statement that Bush and co blew up the deficit is true. But the assertion that Obama did worse economically just isn't borne out by the fact that the deficit is shrinking and he didn't even attempt to prove it. So that was disingenuous. The Reagan worship was predictably shallow - Yay! We invaded Grenada! I don't know why but we did it and they won't forget it! And overall the preening egotism seemed more glaring than with a typical comic. So no, I think Stewart and Colbert have nothing to fear.

[OrwellwasRight]

17. Just not funny.

One funny joke -- about the matching shoes. The rest of it was light Reagan worship, light liberal bashing, and comedy that fell flat. I actually feel bad for the audience that expected to hear something funny, even if they were a bunch of Republicans.

[boatsnhose]

18. There will never

be a conservative Jon Stewart.