IT HURTS TOO MUCH TO LAUGH
Stephen Colbert was brilliant last night at the White House Corrrespondents Association dinner, and I couldn't be more pleased that Dubya was finally exposed to some pointed reminders of just what he's brought upon this country and the world. It was also gratifying to see the sick expressions on some of the correspondents' faces as Colbert told them just what so many of us think of their craven performance of their duties during this administration.
But unlike others, I didn't think it was particularly funny. When you tick off one by one the grievances we have against this president (and time constraints didn't permit Colbert to list them all, only a select few) and his administration, the effect is so depressing it holds little opportunity for humor.
It's easier for me to laugh, as I did just a few minutes ago, at Bush's malpropisms and mangling of the English language -- my little grandson was playing with my Bush doll, which speaks some of Dubya's more ridiculous remarks. I'm reminded of what Robert Heinlein wrote in Stranger in a Strange Land: "Man is the animal that laughs." And why does he laugh? "Because it hurts so much." That doesn't go far enough, I think. Sometimes it hurts so much you just CAN'T laugh.
Maybe that's what some of the correspondents were feeling.
FURTHER THOUGHTS: I had to roast a colleague of mine a couple of months ago who was being forcibly retired at a very young age, and I got a lot of laughs. The subject of the roast laughed as loudly and heartily as anyone there. But then, I was joking about his personal idiosyncrasies, his love of fast cars and boats, his hair stylings, his speech patterns (he was always saying every five minutes, "Are you following me?" etc.). If I'd tried to poke fun at the times he made disastrous business decisions it wouldn't have struck anyone as so very humorous, since the company and thus all of us in attendance suffered because of them. It would have been TRUE but not funny. That's what I felt watching Colbert skewering Bush and the press corps.
Tags: Stephen Colbert, White House Correspondents dinner
posted by Motherlode at 11:57 AM
2 Comments:
"At the recent Washington Correspondents' Dinner, master comedian Stephen Colbert performed magnificently. With the rapier of wit and the mace of truth, he respectively skewered and censured the presidency of "dum'ass botch".
Talk about wonderful lagniappe! Mr Colbert made that nincompoop's lap dogs in our national conventional media run for cover with their tail between their legs. And that's not all our man accomplished.
Tucked away in his address to the dinner's flabbergasted attendees, like a ticking time bomb, there was an 'easter egg', which we had absolutely . . . here 'we' is a polite nod . . . NO right to expect. Like the Easter Bunny in a mischievous mood, Mr Colbert camouflaged a bon mot, so profound as to approach philosophical.
oh, before I reveal Mr Colbert's casual accomplishment, I should like to preface with a caveat. The appropriate interpretation of that remark requires sagacity an-- . . ."
oh, alright (!) already, I'll admit it. The above text is meant to serve as "bait" for the dear Reader's curiosity. Yes, I would like people to visit my blog. And why not?! The average visitor is bound to find one or two startling insights. What's more, it's a good bet that more than a few visitors will discover that I evoke with the written word thought, hitherto more, well, tantalizing than articulated.
toodles
...../
.he who is known as sefton
http://hewhoisknownassefton.blogspot.com/2006/04/rehabilitation-of-and-by-and-for-right.html
. . . oh, yeah, I should add that the full title for that post is "rehabilitation of and by and for the right wing" . . . by the bye, depending on visitor's essentiality, one might be either heartened or dismayed by one, or two, of my easter eggs.
Hardy clothing
has really took the Louis Vuitton Speedy sketch and made a different yet horrific edition. It seems that ED Hardy Shoes
mens Hoodies was trying to touch new heights with feet. The tattoo designs work lovely on the hardy shirt
. The hardy shirt
mens Jeans La Dolce Vita Bianca Satchel features flag.
Post a Comment
<< Home