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Entries in "Humor"
January 08, 2012
The Daily Show on god's mysterious involvement in the elections
January 06, 2012
If not for these people, Santorum would have won Iowa
January 03, 2012
How politicians began referring to themselves in the third person
From That Mitchell and Webb Look.
December 23, 2011
'Tis the season to be shopping
December 21, 2011
Congress forgets how to pass a law
As Congress goes through yet another of these phony crises and seems deadlocked, this time over passing the payroll tax cut extension, the Onion News Network wonders whether some other factor is at play.
December 17, 2011
Yet another stupid controversy
The Daily Show on the All-American Muslim silliness.
December 16, 2011
Newt Gingrich's solution to poverty
The discussions by Larry Wilmore and Jon Stewart on race on The Daily Show are always funny and insightful.
December 14, 2011
The Daily Show's analysis of the Republican debate
December 09, 2011
The Daily Show on pandering to Israel
Yesterday I wrote about all the Republican candidates (minus Ron Paul) falling over themselves to pander to the Republican Jewish Coalition. Jon Stewart has some clips from the event.
December 07, 2011
We will miss you, Herman
Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart bid a sad, sad farewell to the Cain campaign, one that held such promise in comedy potential.
The Colbert Report
Get More: Colbert Report Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,Video Archive
December 02, 2011
Who are you going to believe in?
Jesus or Dr. Who? [Link corrected]
(Thanks to reader Grace)
November 23, 2011
A small problem with the multiverse theory
(Via Tom The Dancing Bug)
November 21, 2011
How Iowans are choosing
Over the weekend, there was yet another Republican debate set in an Iowa church and organized by a group that opposes abortion and gay marriage. Mitt Romney and Jon Huntsman did not attend so with the two Mormons out of the way, the stage was set for some heavy-duty pandering to right-wing Christian evangelicals, with three of the candidates even crying during the event.
It is getting close to the time when Iowans will have to choose in their primary and you can't say that they don't have very clear choices before them.
November 17, 2011
Divine writing?
November 16, 2011
Discrimination against ugly people
Jason Jones of The Daily Show investigates.
November 12, 2011
Herman Cain on Herman Cain
The Daily Show and Stephen Colbert are having a lot of fun with Herman Cain, who thoroughly deserves the mocking he is getting.
The Colbert Report
Get More: Colbert Report Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,Video Archive
November 11, 2011
Today is Nigel Tufnel day
Because it is 11/11/11, that's why.
The Cain parody ads keep coming
Now Mike Tyson gets a turn at it.
November 09, 2011
Stephen Colbert on Alabama's migrant worker laws
The Colbert Report
Get More: Colbert Report Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,Video Archive
November 08, 2011
Rick Perry explains his New Hampshire speech on SNL
In case you did not see the clips of Perry's New Hampshire speech, here it is.
November 07, 2011
Oops
A fireworks show in Scotland to celebrate Guy Fawkes night on November 5th was scheduled to last 20 minutes but due to a timing error they were all released within one minute. As you might have guessed, it was pretty spectacular. (via Gawker.)
November 06, 2011
Stereotypes and racism
The accusations of sexual harassment brought against Herman Cain have generated discussions about stereotypes and racism. Those of us old enough to remember the Clarence Thomas nomination process are familiar with the whole dreary process.
Fortunately, we now have the The Daily Show to cut through the cant.
November 05, 2011
The Cain harassment story
Herman Cain has been dominating the news and not in a good way. The Daily Show and Stephen Colbert have some fun at his expense.
The Colbert Report
Get More: Colbert Report Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,Video Archive
The Colbert Report
Get More: Colbert Report Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,Video Archive
November 03, 2011
Tom the Dancing Bug
Cartoonist Ruben Bolling wonders who the real occupiers are whom the police should disperse.
October 31, 2011
The Daily Show on Pat Robertson
When even Pat Robertson thinks the Republican party's candidates and base are too extreme in their public rhetoric (although he agrees with their sentiments), then you know that the party has a problem.
October 30, 2011
The crazy anti-science people
The rejection of science by the Republican party and its rabid base is quite extraordinary. To reject evolution is to reveal oneself to be a pre-Enlightenment person living in post-Enlightenment world.
The correlation of pre-Enlightenment thinking with religion is clear. Religious people fear (correctly) that science undermines religious faith and so they can be easily manipulated by big business to reject science and devalue evidence and data because of their belief in the value of 'faith', which is merely a synonym for prejudice and gut feelings.
In this clip from The Daily Show, Republican strategist Noelle Nikpour seems to be even dumber than Lord Monckton, in that she never seems to catch on that she is being primed to say crazy things that will make her look like a fool. How can such a stupid person ever acquire the label of 'strategist'?
October 26, 2011
Crafting a political campaign ad
Stephen Colbert has a couple of funny segments with Republican pollster Frank Luntz about using focus groups to craft a message for his SuperPac.
The Colbert Report
Get More: Colbert Report Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,Video Archive
The Colbert Report
Get More: Colbert Report Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,Video Archive
October 16, 2011
A magazine is an iPad that does not work
Or so this baby seems to think.
October 13, 2011
When turkeys attack
Who're you gonna call? The USPS, of course.
That is one aggressive turkey. (Via Boing Boing)
Watch out for the tumbrils
October 07, 2011
The Daily Show on the response to Occupy Wall Street
October 05, 2011
Stephen Colbert on the Occupy Wall Street movement
To his credit, Stephen Colbert covered the Wall Street protests early on. On September 21, he sent someone to speak with the demonstrators and, rather than being some stoned, hippy-dippy, counter-culture goofballs, found an earnest set of young people who were able to clearly articulate what the problem was with America today and why they were protesting.
October 04, 2011
The Chris Christie boomlet gets squashed (again)
The New Jersey governor has announced for the umpteenth time that he is not going to run for the Republican nomination for president, despite desperate pleas from some sectors. So who is going to be the great new hope? We can look back at this earlier clip from The Daily Show.
September 29, 2011
Lewis Black has a good rant
Note that this was before Nancy Grace had her 'wardrobe malfunction'.
September 25, 2011
Saturday Light Live on the Republican debates
September 24, 2011
Jim Henson (1936-1990)
Today would have been the 75th birthday of Jim Henson who died an untimely death in 1990. In remembrance of his legacy to muppetry and humor, here is a recent Sesame Street parody of Glee.
September 17, 2011
We're #1! When it comes to campaign-driven drivel
The Daily Show spotlights the stark difference between campaign Obama and governing Obama.
September 15, 2011
The Daily Show on Monday's debate
I had read that the opening of the CNN-Tea Party sponsored Republican debate on Monday had been over the top but it took The Daily Show to drive home the point, again, of what a ridiculous circus US politics and its media coverage have become.
September 14, 2011
Jesus Lover
Please talk about me!
As predicted, in an attempt to gain attention, Michele Bachmann has ramped up the crazy, going after Rick Perry by suggesting, without any evidence whatsoever, that the anti-HPV vaccine Gardasil could cause mental retardation.
Who knows where she will end up.
September 13, 2011
Salt of the earth
In reading about the things that the audience at the Republican debates booed and applauded most enthusiastically, I was reminded of this scene from the classic Mel Brooks' comedy Blazing Saddles (1974).
Republican cult meetings
After the previous Republican debate last week, Jon Stewart nailed the development in the Republican party that I wrote about in this post.
September 10, 2011
Web Site Story
(via Eschaton)
September 09, 2011
What makes a Bible-based marriage?
Betty Bowers, America's Best Christian, spells out what constitutes a traditional or Bible–based marriage.
September 07, 2011
How religious people debate
September 01, 2011
How churches try to retain their flock
August 20, 2011
The late blooming of Michael Steele
When Michael Steele was the head of the Republican National Committee, he ran a scandal-plagued operation and his attempts to put a good face on his party's politics made him look like a buffoon.
Now that he is free of the institutional constraint of having to defend everything his party does, he turns out to be an astute, interesting, and engaging observer of the current political scene, as this interview on The Daily Show reveals, where he speaks quite frankly about the divisions within the party that have emerged as a result of the loss of control by establishment Republicans.
August 19, 2011
The Daily Show on the search for a savior candidate
August 18, 2011
How to manipulate politics
Stephen Colbert gets advice from Republican media consultant Frank Luntz.
August 12, 2011
Mournapalooza 2011
Political cartoonist Ted Rall warns us what expects on September 11 as the tenth anniversary of the collapse of the World Trade Center comes around.
I have written before about this weird obsession with public grief in which the media and politicians try to suggest that all of us are, or should be, overcome with grief and emotion by simply remembering a past event. This may be true for those who actually lost loved ones but I suspect that for the rest of us it is just another day that would have passed normally if it were not thrust in our faces by a massive media blitz that wallows in cheesy sentiment.
I myself will ignore all coverage of this staged event.
August 11, 2011
Coming soon: John Oliver stars as The Forecloser
The avenger who gives banks a taste of their own medicine.
August 04, 2011
The usual debate
August 03, 2011
More on the debt ceiling deal
The Daily Show brutally captures Obama's familiar trajectory. He dangles some feature that is popular with his base as an important, even essential, part of a deal that also gives huge benefits to the oligarchs, and then at the last moment gives it up in return for some window dressing. We saw that before with the single payer and public options in the health care reform debate.
Yes, nobody could have seen it coming.
Keith Olbermann also weighs in on the deal, in his usual shrill way, essentially calling on people to revolt. (Thanks to Chris.)
August 02, 2011
If the Founding Fathers had been like today's politicians…
From Tom the Dancing Bug.
July 28, 2011
The Adventures of Dr. Orly Taitz Esquire, Queen of the Nutters
I know everyone has been curious about what Orly Taitz, our favorite lawyer/dentist/performance artist, whose obsession with Obama's birth certificate has provided many hours of hilarity, has been up to recently.
First up, for some bizarre reason, she now refers to herself as "Dr. Orly Taitz Esquire" everywhere. Maybe she is unaware of the origins and meanings of the word 'esquire' and thinks it gives her a certain cachet.
You would have thought that the release of Obama's long form birth certificate would have ended her quest. You would be wrong. She is nothing if not dogged. She is now demanding the right to personally examine the certificate, no doubt to use her sharp forensic skills to figure out how it was forged.
She also now claims that Obama is using a fake social security number and she is suing the Social Security Administration for, well, something, that will help her prove it.
The problem is that her court filings are so incompetent that she received a thorough dressing down from the judge because she does not seem to understand the simplest of rules. Apparently in cases involving social security numbers, you are required to redact all but the last four digits. Simple enough, no? But even after being repeatedly told this, she keeps filing after redacting only the last four digits. The exasperated judge in his ruling dismissing her claim said that she was "either toying with the court or displaying her own stupidity."
Her response? To accuse court staff of intentionally sabotaging her case, no doubt as a result of orders from Obama's Muslim/Kenyan/Socialist/Fascist cabal that is running the country and has managed to get their sleeper agents not only into the White House but also as employees in the US District Court for the District of Columbia.
But there's more! She is writing a book that she has tentatively titled "from the queen of the birthers. Secrets and intrigue behind the crime of the century".
I can hardly wait. But I think my post title would make a better title for her book.
July 23, 2011
Prison chase
What comedian Benny Hill taught us is that footage of almost any chase can be made funny by speeding it up and adding the tune Yakety Sax as the sound track. Here the theory is applied to a chase within a prison as captured by the closed circuit surveillance cameras. (Via Boing Boing.)
I just love the tune Yakety Sax. It never fails to cheer me up and put me in a good mood.
July 20, 2011
Palin fan biopic maintains the pace
Tbogg does the math to contrast the pathetic ticket sales of the Palin fan biopic The Undefeated with the spin by Fox News that the "Palin Film Opens Strong, Theaters Packed." (One wag noted about the film's title, it is easy to be undefeated if you keep quitting halfway through everything.)
Meanwhile Stephen Colbert gives his take on the film.
Daniel Radcliffe appeared on The Daily Show. I realized that I had never seen him except in the Harry Potter films. Given his massive success at a young age, he could easily have turned into a brat, but he comes across as quite an unassuming, self-deprecating young man.
July 05, 2011
Mr. Deity and the Magician
Livening up the fourth
Over at National Review Online, Dennis Prager has come up with an exciting new ritual to liven up that dull holiday known as the fourth of July that he hopes will instill in young people a better understanding of the true meaning of the event. He says he based it on the Passover seder and we know that there is nothing that children like to do on a holiday more than engage in solemn quasi-religious rituals instead of running around outside eating hot dogs and watching parades and fireworks. Here's a sample of Prager's ritual (I am not making this up):
Host holds up each symbolic item as he explains its symbolic meaning.
- We drink iced tea to remember the Boston Tea Party. "No taxation without representation" was the patriots' chant as they dumped British tea into the Boston Harbor.
- We eat a salty pretzel to remember the tears shed by the families who lost loved ones in the struggle for freedom in the Revolutionary War and all the wars of freedom that followed.
- We ring a bell to recall the Liberty Bell, which was rung to announce the surrender of the king's army. On the Bell are inscribed these words from the Book of Leviticus: "Proclaim Liberty throughout all the Land unto all the Inhabitants thereof."
- We eat strawberries and blueberries dipped in whipped cream to celebrate the red, white, and blue of our flag.
Once this gem hit the internet, there was much merriment in the land, courtesy of Tbogg and James Wolcott.
July 04, 2011
The Onion on how to fill news time (language advisory)
Breaking News: Some Bullshit Happening Somewhere
(Thanks to reader Fu DaYi)
July 01, 2011
The Daily Show on the IKEA story
Yesterday they did a piece on the story I wrote about a couple of months ago about the way that the IKEA company in the US abuses its workers here.
June 27, 2011
A Judge's Dilemma
I received the following joke from my sister that I thought was worth sharing:
In a small town, a person decided to open up a brothel, which was right opposite to a church. The church and its congregation started a campaign to block the brothel from opening with petitions and prayed daily against his business.
Work progressed. However, when it was almost complete and was about to open a few days later, a strong lightning struck the brothel and it was burnt to the ground.
The church folks were rather smug in their outlook after that, till the brothel owner sued the church authorities on the grounds that the church through its congregation and prayers was ultimately responsible for the destruction of his brothel, either through direct or indirect actions or means.
In its reply to the court, the church vehemently denied all responsibility or any connection that their prayers were reasons for the act of God. As the case made its way into court, the judge looked over the paperwork at the hearing and commented, "I don't know how I'm going to decide this case, but it appears from the paperwork, we have a brothel owner who believes in the power of prayer and we have an entire church that doesn't."
The perfect Republican candidate
Stephen Colbert has found him.
June 24, 2011
The Daily Show on the Greek crisis
It is the same old dreary story that we are unfortunately so familiar with, with the same financial chicanery buried in the same jargon. It should be no surprise that Goldman Sachs is once again involved in the collapse.
June 23, 2011
Atheists as uniters
June 16, 2011
The Daily Show on CNN's coverage of Monday's 'debate'
I do not, of course, waste my time watching these ridiculous 'debates'. Anyone who has taken part in actual debates will dismiss the idea that these events come anywhere close to the real thing. What they remind me of are circuses with a self-important host pacing the floor like a ringmaster and the 'contestants' (which is what they are, not candidates) waiting like animals to do their well-rehearsed tricks.
Some blog accounts of Monday's event said that the contestants had been asked questions like 'Coke or Pepsi?' I assumed that the writers were being funny, parodying the triviality of the whole thing. It was only when I watched the above clip that I realized that this had actually happened. Why didn't at least one contestant refuse to answer on the grounds that such questions were silly and beneath them? I am waiting for the day when one of the contestants tells the smug, overweening TV personalities that run these things (they are not journalists) to get serious or go to hell.
I find it hard to comprehend that we have sunk so low, that we have trivialized to such an extent such an important aspect of civic life as selecting the people who get to govern us. We have ceased to be a serious people and deserve the rotten governments that result.
Celebrating our body's organs
Allan Sherman celebrates a much under-appreciated organ of the body.
June 13, 2011
And let the bad guys win?
Cartoonist Ted Rall describes the recurring problem that confronts progressives in US elections.
June 11, 2011
The Sarah Palin History Channel
June 08, 2011
And they said it couldn't be done
Stephen Colbert proves empirically that Sarah Palin's version of Paul Revere's ride could have happened.
June 07, 2011
Church cancelled due to lack of god
From a 1996 issue of The Onion.
Parishioners of Pastor Theo Leobald's First Congregational Church of Holy Christ In Heaven will not meet next Sunday morning for a coffee social and morning Bible study as they do every week, gathering in fellowship and offering thanks and praise to God on high. The reason for the cancellation? Simply the fact that, according to Leobald, God does not now, has never, and will never exist.
When asked why he is convinced of God's nonexistence, Leobald became visibly irritated with reporters.
"What're you, an illiterate peasant? Aren't you familiar with 20th century thinking at all? Christ, read a book, or maybe just think about the idea for a minute. Pretty ridiculous, huh?" he said.
When pressed, however, he sighed heavily, and explained that thousands of years ago, tribes of nomadic desert peoples made up God because, being incapable of scientific reasoning due to caveman-like existences, they had no other way of making sense of things like sunshine, rocks and pork-transmitted trichinosis.
"They made it all up, and they were ignorant, unwashed, half-naked pre-historic barbarians," Leobald said. "So who are you gonna believe: Carl Sagan, and the pantheon of the world's greatest scientific and intellectual minds, or some guy who measured wealth by how many goats he had?"
June 06, 2011
Another bit of Fry and Laurie
More silliness from that comedy duo.
June 05, 2011
What to expect in the coming primary season
This old clip from Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie, although written in the British election context, gives us a preview of what the speeches during the Republican primary campaign are going to look like.
(Via Balloon Juice.)
June 04, 2011
Sarah Palin on Paul Revere
For obvious reasons, I don't write much about Sarah Palin. But I could not help passing on this clip.
Not having grown up in the US and learned its history in any formal way, my knowledge is a bit sketchy. It is especially weak on the specific details of some of the iconic events. But even I have learned enough of the folklore informally to know that Palin had botched the details of Paul Revere's ride, which raises the question of how it could be possible that she could grow up in the US and not know this. It truly baffles me.
May 29, 2011
Not a bad idea
May 27, 2011
The new standard for bravery and courage in politics
May 26, 2011
The Holy Ghost gets the pink slip
The Holy Ghost (whom I like to call Harvey) has always been the weak link in the Trinity. He did not seem to do much. Melvin and Jesus were the ones who seemed to do all the heavy lifting. So it was no surprise to me to hear this Onion News Network radio report that the Holy Ghost has become the latest victim of the recession.
May 25, 2011
How Inception should have ended
May 24, 2011
George Carlin on the oligarchy
I've shown this before but we need to be periodically reminded of the reality that he starkly points out. (Language advisory)
May 23, 2011
New York Times and David Brooks parodies
There is a remarkably good New York Times parody site. The site was created by Tony Hendra whom some may recognize as the put-upon manager of the band in This Is Spinal Tap.
They do a particularly good job with their David Brooks column on Michele Bachmann, where they capture perfectly his technique of seamlessly blending the banal and the obvious and delivering the result with an air of profundity.
They also have a report on what caused the Rapture to not occur on schedule.
May 22, 2011
Rapture, we hardly knew ye
Well, it is time to wrap up the Rapture stuff. It was fun while it lasted and for me at least it provided some amusement to see the kind of idiotic certainty that religion can give people. It was also amusing to watch mainline religious leaders squirm as they tried to argue that believing that the Rapture would occur yesterday was crazy while believing that the Rapture will occur some time in the future was quite sensible.
So here are some final thoughts.
After the Rapture
And via Machines Like Us:
May 19, 2011
More Rapture humor
It looks like the comic strip Doonesbury is going to spend this week on the Rapture, with a series leading up to the big day on Saturday.
Here are the strips from Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and today.
May 10, 2011
You mean Hawaii is not a Paris landmark?
The Guardian samples some of the dumbest answers given on British quiz shows.
May 09, 2011
The Republican non-candidates debate
From Saturday Night Live, with Tina Fey as you-know-who.
May 05, 2011
Atlas Shrugged: So did the public
The film Atlas Shrugged: Part 1 bombed mightily at the box office.
But not to worry, Ayn Rand fans! It looks like there will be a Part 2. Here's the trailer.
May 04, 2011
Facebook was created by the CIA
The Onion News Network has the scoop.
CIA's 'Facebook' Program Dramatically Cut Agency's Costs
April 28, 2011
The dynamic of wars
Cartoonist Tom Tomorrow on how modern wars escalate.
April 27, 2011
Eddie Izzard on Easter
I know this is a bit late, but never mind.
April 25, 2011
Holy toast
Tired of making toast day after day and not seeing images of Jesus or Mary appear on it, even though others seem to see them everywhere?
Wait no more! With this handy little gadget, you too can have your own miracle. Amaze your friends! Get on the local news!
(Thanks to Norm.)
April 23, 2011
Jesus and Mo on the strategy of taking offense
April 21, 2011
The election cycle
April 18, 2011
Everyone has doubts
Scott Adams, sockpuppet
Some time ago I wrote about the peculiar phenomenon of sockpuppetry, where people go around to various websites and praise themselves under a pseudonym.
It turns out that the latest person to be exposed as practicing sockpuppetry is Scott Adams, creator the Dilbert comic strip, who under the pseudonym "PlannedChaos" praised Adams as a "certified genius".
April 16, 2011
The Daily Show investigates the Dennis Kucinich phenomenon
Ricky Gervais talks about atheism on The Daily Show
April 14, 2011
Suzie the true believer
April 13, 2011
A President's prayer
April 12, 2011
How extremists become centrists
Cartoonist Tom Tomorrow on how crazy ideas get mainstreamed in politics.
April 09, 2011
Silly royal etiquette
I have never understood the fascination that people have with the British royal family, a truly useless and parasitic group if there ever was one. And it is not only Americans who seem to be so obsessed. I was in Sri Lanka when Charles and Diana got married and the English-speaking community there seemed to talk about nothing else.
We are now seeing this replayed with the upcoming wedding of their son. What amuses me is that people are so concerned about the minutiae of 'royal etiquette' as if causing offense to the royal family by breaking some rule that does not apply to anyone else was one of the worst things one could do. In a previous post titled God save us from the Queen I said that it is absurd for the queen to expect any more respect than we would give any elderly woman.
Stephen Colbert deservedly pokes fun at all this.
April 08, 2011
Captain Picard thinks we are better off without religion
(Via onegoodmove)
April 03, 2011
April Fool jokes
I am not a fan of April Fool jokes. While they may be tolerable when practiced by very small children, I find the adult fascination with them peculiar.
The ones in the media are usually only mildly amusing. I never note the special day except that NPR usually does hoax stories on it that are so weird that I realize that something is off and remember that it is April 1. This year it was a story about eye surgery to allow people to see 3D films and TV without special glasses (on Morning Edition) and another about a coffee shop that provides old-time slow internet via modems as part of a movement to get people to slow down the pace of life (on All Things Considered).
The only people who enjoy such hoaxes are the perpetrators. While most are harmless and usually merely a waste of time, some people's ideas of what's funny can be dangerous and trigger the "What on Earth were you thinking?" feeling.
For example, this year the Plain Dealer had a story about a woman, a Cleveland city government employee, who called her boyfriend and said that she was hiding under her desk at work because a gunman had entered the building and was firing shots. He naturally called 911 and they sent out police and SWAT teams that swarmed through the building searching for the gunman before uncovering the hoax. Someone could have got hurt or even killed if the SWAT team misinterpreted an innocent action as threatening.
Having said all that, once in a while the extra latitude allowed on April Fool's day allows some creative people to indulge in a piece of inspired whimsy, such as this one by the BBC in 2008. This is an example of where the victims also enjoy the joke because of the ingenuity involved and the beauty of the result.
You can see how it was done.
Unfortunately most hoaxes come nowhere close to that level of cleverness and are merely annoying.
April 01, 2011
Crazy Republican candidates
I said that I wouldn't waste time analyzing the politics of the seemingly hundreds of publicity seeking wingnuts who are flirting with running for the Republican nomination, but I will make an exception when The Daily Show showers on their lunacy the ridicule it deserves.
The Republican Party leadership, by treating these ridiculous people as if they were serious policy voices and creating the image that they represented mainstream party views, now faces the problem of how to marginalize them as otherwise they risk a humiliating defeat in the 2012 presidential election.
March 26, 2011
The Daily Show on the new state governors
They make special mention of Ohio's new governor John Kasich and he richly deserves the treatment.
March 24, 2011
The Daily Show on the increasingly casual way that wars begin
Yesterday, the Libyan war had already been shifted to the inside pages of my local paper The Plain Dealer, with the news from the other 'old' wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
March 23, 2011
The poor persecuted religious people in the US
The Daily Show on the Libyan war
Let the euphemisms begin!
Customized freedom packages depending on the country!
March 16, 2011
If Sarah Palin runs for president…
… the Onion News Network suggests a disturbing possibility.
Morbid Curiosity Leading Many Voters To Support Palin
March 14, 2011
Now that's a supper worth attending!
Not all of the people were obvious to me. Try and guess who they are. I will provide the names in the comments.
March 13, 2011
Bill Maher on the absurd way that Americans venerate the rich
March 12, 2011
Mr. Deity on signs of god
Lifestyles of the rich and famous teachers
Samantha Bee of The Daily Show exposes how public school teachers are living high off the hog at the expense of taxpayers.
March 11, 2011
Jesus teaches about the Good Samaritan
I have shown this clip from That Mitchell and Webb Look before but it is worth seeing again.
March 10, 2011
Want to be a media pundit?
Cartoonist Mark Fiore tells you how.
March 08, 2011
Comedian Dara O'Briain on religious knowledge
March 07, 2011
Wisconsin Governor Walker gets desperate
There is a clever person who uses the same clip taken from a real German film about Hitler's last days and inserts different subtitles to reflect current situations. Here is one result.
March 02, 2011
Those greedy teachers unions
The Daily Show takes on those lazy, pampered, good-for-nothing teachers, with their luxurious lifestyles and cushy jobs.
Daily Show on budget deficits
The easiest solution to the budget deficits is to tax the rich. So why is that not an option?
March 01, 2011
Remake of Alfred Hitchcock's Rebecca
By the creators of That Mitchell and Webb Look. It is probably funnier if you have seen the original 1940 film or read Daphne du Maurier's 1938 novel.
February 25, 2011
Comedian Dara O'Briain on Catholicism
February 24, 2011
Stephen Colbert interviews the president of the American Federation of Teachers
Stephen Colbert on the attempt to break unions
The Daily Show on the protests in Wisconsin
February 23, 2011
Impoverishing workers
The Daily Show makes the point that the goal of the anti-union movement is to drive workers wages down.
February 22, 2011
God the fugitive
Whatever we learn, it seems like god always finds a new hiding place to prevent being discovered.
February 21, 2011
Scientists create Artificial Stupidity
The success of IBM's computer Watson in beating two former Jeopardy champions has resulted in more dire warnings that computers will one day take over the world. However, the search for true Artificial Intelligence is not easy, with the joke amongst people working in the field is that we are always ten years away from creating it.
But because trying to create AI is so hard, scientists have looked elsewhere for breakthroughs and have made some.
For years the project's development was overshadowed by the more ambitious quest for Artificial Intelligence, but scientists working in Seattle accepted that A.S. was a more realisable ambition within their own lifetime. Yesterday they finally unveiled the domestic computerised robot 'Kevin' who is so stupid that every day its owner will experience a wonderful life-affirming sense of their own human superiority. 'You tell it to open the door and it pulls the door into its own face.' explained proud project leader Carl Kinear. 'You ask it the capital of Argentina and it shrugs and says 'Madrid?'
…
For decades psychologists have reported computer-users feeling a sense of worthlessness and inadequacy as their machines asked them technical questions they didn't quite understand. To ensure that digital technology actually improves the quality of life, scientists finally realised that the key was to make robots even dumber than humans are.
(via Machines Like Us)
February 20, 2011
Remake of Casino Royale
By the creators of That Mitchell and Webb Look.
February 19, 2011
What a great idea!
The budget problem in the US is caused by the fact that people want a lot of the services that the government provides but don't want to pay for them. That great economic genius Donald Trump knows how to solve this: tax other countries!
It's quite astonishing that no one has thought of this simple solution before.
February 17, 2011
The Daily Show on CPAC
Conservatives got together for their annual shindig and their leaders tried their hand at stand-up comedy. Jon Stewart rates the performances.
February 15, 2011
The strolling gorilla
Ambam has figured out how to walk the walk. Maybe he will later talk the talk?
Watch the video of Ambam (after the commercial).
I think that as Ambam moves around, they should play this song by Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons.
Whenever I hear this song, I want to yell out, "For heaven's sake Frankie, why don't you sing like a man?"
February 14, 2011
This Modern World
Cartoonist Tom Tomorrow's take on the events Egypt and Obama's response.
February 10, 2011
The problem of each religion claiming to be true
Jesus and Mo and Moses struggle with the problem of reconciling the contradictory absolutism of Christianity, Islam, and Judaism, while Stephen Colbert, Steve Carrell, and Jon Stewart debate the merits of the same three religions.
(via Machines Like Us)
Prank on call center
All of us have likely had bad experiences with call centers where, after navigating through the menus, one gets transferred amongst various people, with the calls sometimes abruptly cut, and have to repeat your problem over and over again. In Belgium, exasperation with a particularly notorious outfit called Mobistar drove a group of people on a comedy show into playing a prank on them to have them experience the frustration their customers felt. (Note: The symbols that appear such as 05u22 refer to the time, in this case 5:22 am.)
(via Sadly No.)
February 07, 2011
Super Bowl ads
I watched most of the Super Bowl game and of course saw the ads. My problem is that although I remember ads, I almost never remember the product that is being advertised. So when the next day people rave about or pan the ads by product name, I have no idea which ones they are talking about unless they describe it. If you are like me, you can see most of the ads here.
I do remember that some of them were weird, some awful, some incomprehensible, and a few rather nice.
February 05, 2011
Stephen Colbert on Bill O'Reilly's latest argument for god
Recall that Bill O'Reilly's argument that "the tide comes in, the tide goes out, so god exists" received considerable and well-deserved derision. He then expanded on what he meant, which resulted in further hilarity all around, such as this response from Stephen Colbert.
February 04, 2011
The Daily Show's take on the State of the Union
Since I was traveling last week, this is a bit dated but I found it funny.
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
| State of the Union 2011 - Night of Too Many Promises | ||||
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They also took on the rebuttal by the loopy Michele Bachmann.
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
| State of the Union 2011 - Republican Rebuttal | ||||
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For some reason, as I was watching Bachmann, I was reminded of that campy TV vampirish character Elvira, Mistress of the Dark. Maybe it was that heavy eye shadow.
February 01, 2011
Egypt on the move (literally)!
Doesn't Fox News have anyone who knows geography?
(via Brent Martin)
January 26, 2011
Oscars for news
Academy Award nominations were announced yesterday. Over in Australia, The Chasers give out their own Oscars for news programs.
January 24, 2011
"I'm offended when you say you are an atheist"
On CNN, Piers Morgan asks Ricky Gervais why he offended people at the Golden Globes award show by thanking god for making him an atheist. Gervais points out the absurdity of such an attitude.
How the KKK got its name and uniform
From That Mitchell and Webb Look.
January 21, 2011
Bill Maher on the US Founding Fathers
(via onegoodmove)
January 18, 2011
What happens after Wiley Coyote gets the Roadrunner
January 17, 2011
Ricky Gervais at the Golden Globes
He hosted the Golden Globes awards show and let fly at all manner of targets. Either British awards shows are much edgier than ours (which is quite possible) or he had the kind of abandon that comes from not wanting to be invited to host again.
See also his final thank yous which likely sealed his fate.
You've gotta love Ricky Gervais.
(via Balloon Juice and Pharyngula)
January 07, 2011
John McCain in the The Daily Show's crosshairs
This nasty man richly deserves all the harsh treatment that he receives.
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
| Let's All Stand on John McCain's Lawn | ||||
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Barack Obama's fans
Thanks to commenter Henry for the link to this video that captures a lot of what I have been saying.
January 05, 2011
Going overboard
It's nice to know that we are not alone and that even Australia suffers from hyperventilating news programs and self-dramatizing, self-absorbed people to provide them with the necessary raw material.
January 04, 2011
Brainstorming on solving the recession
From That Mitchell and Webb Look.
January 01, 2011
It's a small WikiWorld
December 26, 2010
News without mercy
I enjoy the Onion News Network and was pleased to see that it is coming to TV at 10 p.m. Fridays, starting on January 21 on the IFC channel.
Then perhaps we will hear the news that the rest of the media is afraid to tell us, like how Obama is going to replace his high-speed rail plans with a high-speed bus plan.
Obama Replaces Costly High-Speed Rail Plan With High-Speed Bus Plan
Since I do not have cable I will not be able to watch though I hope I can see it online.
December 25, 2010
Santa Claus and god
What Christmas is all about
Reason's Greetings to all this blog's readers.
December 24, 2010
Ted Rall's best cartoons for 2010
One thing I hate about this time of year are the best/worst lists and highlights. But I will make an exception for Ted Rall's choice of what of his own work he liked the best, because I missed some of them the first time around. (Click on each to enlarge.)
Rall is one of the best political cartoonists around but he is not picked up by the major outlets probably because the things he says are outside the mainstream consensus and will make people uncomfortable by challenging them.
The Inebriati
From That Mitchell and Webb Look.
December 23, 2010
Playing the dumb blonde
I have shown this before but this Daily Show take-down of Fox News's Gretchen Carlson never fails to crack me up.
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
| Gretchen Carlson Dumbs Down | ||||
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The self-unawareness of religious people: example MCLXVI
That unctuous Roman Catholic priest Jonathan Morris is so clueless that he does not see the absurdity of claiming that prayer is good but talking to an imaginary person is bad. (via Pharyngula.)
December 22, 2010
Atheist country music
I am tempted to write some more verses, each ending with "I'm proud to be a Charlie Darwin fan."
Church
December 21, 2010
A new Time magazine to be aimed at adults
This clip that I showed some time ago illustrates why Time magazine's choice of Mark Zuckerberg as its Person of the Year is completely appropriate considering its audience.
TIME Announces New Version Of Magazine Aimed At Adults
Why they hate us
December 20, 2010
Time magazine's choice for Person of the Year
Although the magazine's online poll resulted in an easy win for Julian Assange with 382,026 votes (with Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan a distant second with 233,640 votes), to no one's surprise they ignored their own poll and gave this utterly pointless marketing gimmick title to Mark Zuckerberg, who came in 10th with a measly 18,353 votes.
Over at Saturday Night Live, we get Assange's reaction.
December 19, 2010
Stephen Colbert's congressional testimony on migrant workers
December 18, 2010
Jesus is a liberal democrat
| The Colbert Report | Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c | |||
| Jesus Is a Liberal Democrat | ||||
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December 17, 2010
Fry and Laurie on sex education
December 16, 2010
Joseph Smith visits Jesus and Mo
The comic strip Jesus and Mo have up to now featured just four characters: Jesus and Mohammed and the atheist barmaid as regulars, with cameo appearances by Moses. Our two heroes have now been joined by Joseph Smith.
That conman finds that Jesus and Mo are as gullible as any of their own religious followers.
Stephen Sondheim on The Colbert Report
A truly great lyricist of musical theater has an enjoyable conversation with the host. Colbert's suggested ending for the song Send in the Clowns is priceless.
| The Colbert Report | Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c | |||
| Stephen Sondheim | ||||
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December 15, 2010
The consequences of anti-tax extremism
As the tax cut mania spreads, more and more public services are being cut. Some of you would have heard the appalling story of firefighters who stood by and watched a house burn down because the occupant had not paid a $75 fee for fire protection. That is yet another sign of how public services are now being privatized and will be available only to those who can afford to pay for them. Will police be next?
Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie satirized this trend a long time ago.
December 13, 2010
Ricky Gervais on Noah (language advisory)
(via Machines Like Us)
December 12, 2010
Obama talks to the nation
George Carlin on the American dream
He tells it like it is. Since it is George Carlin, there is the obligatory language advisory.
His comments about education were echoed by me in the last chapter of my second book The Achievement Gap in US Education: Canaries in the Mine (2005).
(Thanks to Norm)
December 09, 2010
The Daily Show on the budget deal
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
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December 08, 2010
Garry Trudeau
I have been a fan of the Doonesbury comic strip from almost its inception 40 years ago and it was nice to see the author interviewed on The Colbert Report.
| The Colbert Report | Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c | |||
| Garry Trudeau | ||||
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The solution to every problem
This cartoon is from 2008 but it never ceases to be topical.
December 04, 2010
Christians are so cute when they are self-unaware
At the opening of a recent conference in Cancun, the executive secretary of the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change invoked the Mayan goddess Ixchel as "the goddess of reason, creativity and weaving. May she inspire you -- because today, you are gathered in Cancun to weave together the elements of a solid response to climate change, using both reason and creativity as your tools."
This caused considerable snickering among our Christian commentariat at these strange and obviously false gods.
I think it is time to show again a cartoon that I suspect is going to get a lot of use.
Update on the War on Christmas
| The Colbert Report | Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c | |||
| The Blitzkrieg On Grinchitude - Atheist Billboard & Capitol Christmas Tree<a> | ||||
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December 01, 2010
The things kids will believe
(Thanks to Atheist Cartoons.)
November 30, 2010
The true spirit of Christmas
As a fun extra, try and identify the five atheist Santas and post them in the comments.
(Thanks to Randy from CFI for the cartoon.)
November 24, 2010
The Simpsons hits the mark
The opening segment from last week's show nails the media.
November 23, 2010
Gas Guzzling
For those too young to be aware of what this parody is based on, or for those who are nostalgic, here's the original Greased Lightning from the film Grease (1978).
Spam insults
Recently, I have been receiving highly critical spam comments. Here is one typical example:
What a waste of time. You're [sic] poor english [sic] made this article hard to read. Learn to write.
I have to admit I am puzzled by the psychology of this. One form that spam comments take is to give an effusive but generic compliment ("Your blog is great!"), presumably to flatter me so that I won't delete it. It never works but I can understand the strategy.
But I am totally baffled by what the spammer hopes to achieve with an insult.
November 22, 2010
Feeling lonely? The TSA wants to reach out and touch you
And if you think that it is an exaggeration, read this description by Ted Rall about what people are going through.
November 19, 2010
Backhanded recommendations
This website highlights ambiguous sentences from letters of recommendation.
- You will be lucky to get this person to work for you
- I cannot recommend this person too highly
- I recommend this candidate with no qualifications
- Waste no time hiring this person
- He was fired with enthusiasm
- Nobody is better than this man
- I found myself frequently raving about her work
- I would place his research on the cutting edge
- I would place this student in a class by herself
- He has made immeasurable contributions to our firm
November 16, 2010
The Despicable John McCain
His disgusting weasel-worded campaign against giving gays their rights deservedly gets hammered on The Daily Show. The last bit It Gets Worse, based on Dan Savage's It Gets Better campaign, is a thing of beauty because it is absolutely true. People who are on the wrong side of the fight for equal rights for marginalized groups always, always end up being despised.
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
| It Gets Worse PSA | ||||
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What is it with people's obsession with giant Jesus statues?
Do religious people really think that their god is impressed with such absurdities?
| The Colbert Report | Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c | |||
| Statue of Jesus | ||||
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New Tom Tomorrow cartoon
As usual, he nails it.
November 15, 2010
The missile that wasn't
Because I do not watch TV news, these crazy scares often come and go before I am even aware of them.
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
| Missile: Impossible | ||||
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November 09, 2010
Why does god hate the faithful?
Anyone who has followed god's career knows that he seems to get pleasure from killing off some of his most devoted followers.
Here are some more examples and some thoughts on whether religious people really believe the words of their holy books that god cares for his flock and will protect them from harm.
November 08, 2010
Federal judge says OK is not ok
On election day, the state of Oklahoma passed by a whopping margin of 70-30 a referendum that amended the state constitution to prohibit courts from the consideration of Sharia or international law in their verdicts.
Stephen Colbert applauds this action.
| The Colbert Report | Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c | |||
| Stephen Colbert Gives You Props | ||||
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But now a federal judge has placed a temporary restraining order preventing the amendment from taking effect pending a hearing on November 22.
The only conclusion that I can come to is that the devious jihadists have infiltrated the federal judiciary in Oklahoma as a first step in their plan to impose Sharia law on the entire US.
November 07, 2010
Talk about ingratitude
Apparently there is this church in Spain that has been under construction since 1882 and is not due to be finished until at least 2026. It looks to me like they are way overdue to find a new construction firm. Pope Ratzinger consecrated the church on his recent trip so now they can at least hold masses there.
Architect Antoni Gaudi was a devout Catholic and believed that the new church would be an expression of "the divine history of the salvation of man through Christ incarnate, given to the world by the Virgin Mary". He was so dedicated to this project that he began work on it in 1883 and from 1911 onwards made it his only occupation, spending "the next 15 years living and working on site as a virtual recluse, supervising work".
In return for all this selfless devotion, god caused a tram to run over and kill Gaudi in 1926.
We should not be surprised. God has a funny way of showing gratitude for the unquestioning faith he says he wants, like when he caused the deaths of all of Job's ten children just for the hell of it, even though Job was even more faithful to him than Gaudi.
For those not familiar with the Job story, here's a nice summary.
November 03, 2010
The Daily Show on Andrew Shirvell
Some time ago, I posted about this creepy guy who is the assistant attorney general of the state of Michigan who seems obsessed with the gay president of the University of Michigan student government, to the point of stalking him. Now Jason Jones of The Daily Show has done a segment on him and he seems to be, unbelievably, even creepier than I thought.
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
| Look Who's Stalking | ||||
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What intrigues me is how he got his job in the first place. I have interviewed many people for jobs and if some guy like this had turned up before me, red flags would have been flying immediately. His whole shifty-eyed, evasive manner just screams that he has serious personality issues that would make him abrasive to his co-workers or to the public he deals with, quite apart from his views on gays.
There must have been plenty of applicants for a desirable job like his so what made people select him?
October 30, 2010
Fr. Guido Sarducci's benediction at the Stewart-Colbert rally
He subtly makes an important point about religion. I also liked his special thanks for dogs.
October 28, 2010
Another theological discussion
What is additionally amusing is that many of the readers who chuckle over this cartoon will be religious believers who will not realize that it is poking fun at them too.
October 26, 2010
A typical theological discussion
Superduck vs supergoose (language advisory):
October 22, 2010
How to identify a Muslim by their clothes
Juan Williams said that he gets anxious when there are Muslims around, whom he can apparently identify simply by the clothes they wear. For those of us who do not have his discerning eye for Muslim garb, this website has provide some helpful examples so that we too can know when we should be suitably terrified.
October 21, 2010
Lynn Anderson sings I Never Promised You a Rose Garden
I always thought that the lyrics must have emerged as the result of a contest to see who could pack the most number of clichés, trite rhymes, corny ideas, and hackneyed metaphors into a single song. "Smile for a while and let's be jolly, love shouldn't be so melancholy"? Really?
I was astounded when it became a huge hit, even in Sri Lanka, and won all kinds of awards.
October 19, 2010
Born to Add
Sesame Street music parodies are the best, so clever and good natured and yet educational. Here is Bruce Springsteen's Born to Run being given the treatment.
October 17, 2010
How to win over undecided voters
If only this were not so reflective of reality…
October 16, 2010
The Very Model of a Modern US President
(With apologies to Gilbert and Sullivan.)
October 14, 2010
The Daily Show on the triviality of the press
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
| Press You're Stuck | ||||
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When Roget sang with the Beatles
October 08, 2010
Tim Minchin on the Good Book
October 07, 2010
The never-ending war in Afghanistan enters its tenth year
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
| Ore on Terror | ||||
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October 01, 2010
The evolution of a mad man
If the people behind the recent Sherlock Holmes film starring Robert Downey, Jr. and Jude Law made a film about Charles Darwin, this is what it might look like.
September 30, 2010
Jon Stewart gives Obama, Biden, and the Democrats a well-deserved spanking
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
| Indecision 2010 - Democratic Campaign Woes | ||||
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September 27, 2010
Wouldn't want anything to happen to this blog, would you?
The new comments policy has made it much easier for me to monitor for spam. I still get spam comments that begin "Rather nice blog you've got here…" It always reminds of this Monty Python sketch.
September 26, 2010
More on the unbearable whininess of rich people
Bill Maher adds a great 'new rule' to add to my earlier post on this topic
September 23, 2010
And now, for something completely different from Fry and Laurie
The accommodationists' creed
September 21, 2010
The tea party takeover of the Republican Party
Jon Stewart gets it exactly right when he says that the only difference between the tea partiers and the Republican establishment is that the tea partiers really believe the crazy stuff the leadership has been spouting for years and is determined to actually implement them.
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
| Right Club | ||||
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Really lost in translation
September 19, 2010
Down with pennies! (and nickels too)
(via Balloon Juice)
Joke contest results
When it comes to jokes, I prefer one-liners and other short gags to the long form that requires an elaborate set-up. The BBC recently reported on a joke contest and here are some of the one-liners that I found funny.
"Why did the chicken commit suicide? To get to the other side."
"How many Spaniards does it take to change a light bulb? Juan."
"As a kid I was made to walk the plank. We couldn't afford a dog."
My personal favorite was: "Hedgehogs - why can't they just share the hedge?"
The joke that won the contest ("I've just been on a once-in-a-lifetime holiday. I'll tell you what, never again.") I did not find particularly funny, while two of the above jokes were selected by the judges to be in the worst jokes category, which shows that when it comes to humor, there is no accounting for tastes.