Most political comedians are liberal. Political comedy shows (e.g., The Daily Show) have a liberal bent.
Irked by this fact, Fox News has come out with its "answer" to The Daily Show — a weekly show called "The Half Hour News Hour". It premeiers Sunday night, but some previews have been made available.
In this one, the opening of the premiere show, Rush Limbaugh (not an actor, but the Rush Limbaugh) is sitting behind the desk of the Oval Office, speaking to the nation. It’s 2009, and he’s President Rush Limbaugh.
Funny?
Then he introduces the Vice President, who walks into the office. It’s a strange hybrid — a cross between a praying Mantis and something vaguely human. Yup, it’s Ann Coulter.
Funny?
But wait, there’s more. The clip below gives an indication of the format and type of humor to expect. It’s closer to the "Weekend Update" format on Saturday Night Live. Specifically, the "Weekend Update" format of a time in SNL’s history when the show sucked.
And here’s the thing? It’s just not funny. Even the laugh track (no, they wouldn’t dare but this in front of a live audience) is lame. Here, we see the show taking Barack Obama to task, making fun of his initials: B.O.
Get it? Barack Obama’s initials are "B.O.". Like body odor. Isn’t that FUNNY?!?
Now, don’t get me wrong. Being mean-spirited is fine if you are going to do political satire. But you just have to be FUNNY, and these guys forgot the funny.
Not to get too deep in this, but I think this shows the difference between conservatives and liberals. If you take a look at a typical The Daily Show, the humor there relies on actual clips of real events. Jon Stewart often has little to do but show a politician saying something completely stupid, and then waiting for the live studio audience to laugh. In order to generate a (canned) laugh from a laugh track, the producers of this show have to make stuff up.
Or, as Tom Tomorrow quips:
Point is, it makes sense for a comedy network to produce a fake news show. For Fox to do so serves only to underscore what a joke the rest of their supposed “news” operation is.
The show is produced by Joel Surnow, the producer of "24". Apparently, he’s still into torture.
One of the most startling things about "The Half Hour News Hour" (aside from the fact that its name is ripped off from a failed 1980’s show called "The Half Hour Comedy Hour") is that it is on a 24 hour "fair and balanced" news network. I’ll say that again: a news network. How can anyone take Fox News seriously now, assuming they did before?
The Orlando Sentinel has one of the first reviews of the Fox News "comedy" show:
Jon Stewart knows how to do slashing comical commentary. He weighs in on what’s happening, such as the media’s bizarre coverage of Anna Nicole Smith’s death.
Fox News Channel does not know how to do slashing comical commentary. This show was meant to be a conservative version of “The Daily Show.” It is a botch.
“The 1/2 Hour News Hour” does not comment on what is happening; it simply takes swipes at people. These people include Howard Dean, Hillary Clinton, Dennis Kucinich, Barack Obama and Ed Begley Jr. Other joke topics are the ACLU, Time magazine, children’s books and global warming.
Laughter, of an awfully canned variety, greets all the gags. Nothing happening on screen justifies these outbursts.
Fox News Channel will offer a second episode at 10 p.m. March 4. If we’re lucky, we’ll never hear of this dreadful show again.
Remember, the embedded clip above was leaked by Fox News to generate buzz about the show, so it is — one can presume — one of the first episode’s best moments. Yikes.
UPDATE: Bob Cesca detects a bit of racism in the show as well:
The attempted joke in which the white male host compares Senator Obama to former Washington, DC mayor Marion Barry was weird and awful, especially considering the wide variety of, say, white politicians and public figures who have used cocaine. Like the president.