Do Politics and Humor Make Poor Bedfellows?

We, the crack young staff of “The Hatemonger’s Quarterly,” enjoy comedians. And occasionally, we might add, comediennes. Although our high regard for stand-up comedy may bring about visions of a fellow circa 1987 clad in an ugly sweater, acid-wash jeans and clutching a microphone, we don’t much care. Some of these wise-crackers are funny.

Even so, dear reader, we must admit that most political comedians rankle. For some reason, their political yuks usually serve only to demonstrate their failure to grasp nuances in matters of policy and government. Further, these political gags tend to be less funny than comedians’ non-political material.

Take Bill Maher, for instance. We submit that he isn’t exactly a deep thinker. (A daring conclusion, that.) In addition, we must say that, despite his truckloads of smugness, he’s about as funny as War and Peace. In Russian. And a heck of a lot less insightful regarding the human condition, we might add.

Now, we must hasten to inform you that this is not some lame Left-Right issue. If you ask us, Dennis Miller was funny before he turned to political comedy.

Though a few folks do a comparatively good job with political gags—one thinks of John Stewart and Stephen Colbert—their jokes soon tend toward the ponderous. We might laugh at one Lewis Black line, but we eventually find ourselves bored by his dimwitted political hectoring. Yes, yes, Lewis: We get it—you’re the only smart person in America.

All the above reflections—although, you’ll note, not funny in and of themselves—led us to some frightening soul-searching. After all, “The Hatemonger’s Quarterly” is typically a humor “weblog” (as difficult as that may be to recognize at times). Further, much of our humor—such as it is—pertains to matters political.

Uh, oh: This is what you might call a pickle. Are we Bill Maher without the relief pitcher haircut? Gosh, we sure hope not.

Perhaps it’s time for us to start warming up our Polish jokes?