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The Limits Of Satire

 Stand-up comedian Dan Cummins has a brilliant bit about getting out of jury duty. In it, he says, "I get paid to make snap judgments about people, and stickin' to 'em, and I plan on doing that here in this courtroom." It's funny, but it's true. Pay attention to how often ignorance is part of a bit. Nate Bargatze is the absolute master of, "I'm so dumb, and it's funny." Smart people have to turn off their gift to enjoy it sometimes. Because if they colonized a planet, it would be called "Well, Actually." Deep knowledge kills a lot of jokes, and so does nuance.

I remember the day I stopped enjoying Stephen Colbert's Trump humor. It was in the midst of the Russian collusion narrative, and maybe something Tom Darrow posted from an official report got read by me. And I happened to catch Colbert's monologue that night. Let's put aside the fact that if Trump were as bad as Colbert and his audience thinks, it wouldn't be funny at all. But the set-up for the "joke" was some sketchy activities by a Russian agent. And that our guys knew it, and helped him. And I went, "There's no way that US guy could have known that. None at all." It killed the whole monologue. And I check in sometimes, and I'm left with the same feeling: "Colbert can't tell the truth, because nuance is like vegetables, and this audience wants red meat." Again, I don't know why any or all of Trump's terribleness--real and alleged--is funny. But I'm in a place where I have registered every complaint, gut level and otherwise, that I can. I'm not interested in laughing at the downfall of either him, or our country. Nihilism is not actually cheerful. I don't want to sing "So Long, And Thanks For All The Fish." Nearly every time I hear a Trump idea now--presuming it's the actual idea--I think, "I hope that works out." Maybe the basic patriotism is taking over. Or maybe I always thought that laughing at the president was a byproduct of our confidence in ourselves.

Let's hammer this one home: If we govern ourselves, we don't need a Daddy in the White House. I think there are too many people who are barely functioning, because they somehow need the chief executive of our country to be Atticus Finch. It's still a real shame some days, when it seems he can't act a little more like literally every other president we've ever had. But I didn't say all that bad stuff about him, just to crawl into the fetal position in a therapist's office now. I have things to do.

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