Friday, 24 October 2008

President Obama and the Death of Comedy on TV

Somewhere in January, will come the Obama presidency. It will come to pass in the next one hundred days after that.....that various comedy shows like Letterman, Leno, Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert will be knocked down. Without Bush or Clinton to use as humor sides....and with almost no degree of humor surrounding Obama....the four giants of TV are doomed.

I know Dave is standing there....thinking "no way". Humor will survive. The Letterman Show will continue on. But basically, we are chopping off thirty percent of the material that typically appears on the Letterman Show. Yes, are stuck with looking for new and fresh material....without the aid of Cheny, Bush, or Condi. In fact, you won't even get Karl Rove or anyone like Karl.

Mr. Leno? Well....your show is pretty much stomped for the first ten minutes of material. Luckily, you have Paris Hilton still breathing and maybe she will do some foolish things over the next four years. Even Brittney might screw up once or twice. Maybe Pee Wee Herman can come back and help you a bit.

Jon Stewart? Well....Ninety percent of your show was centered on stupid Republicans. And now? Its like having Moses, Einstein and Billy Graham standing in front of can't write a decent political joke. The Jon Stewart show will be the Titanic boat anchor....sinking as fast as possible to the bottom. I don't see his show surviving past September 2009. Jon will admit at the end....with a tear falling from his cheek....that Cheney was the master of comedy....and his one major source of material each week.

Then we come to Stephen Colbert. Strangely enough....I think Stephen might survive. By pulling out the screw-ups of the entire administration and using his pro-Republican act to explain how McCain would have "fixed" the problem....he might survive into 2010. If he can find that kink in the Obama armor....he might even be bigger than Jon, Letterman and Leno combined. But I doubt that.

Finally, I come to Rush Limbaugh. Basically....he can write a check for the largest yacht built in the free world and pay it off in three years. He will be swimming in profit from his daily shows. When congress comes around to run their new law which forces networks and shows to be "fair" via the FCC....Rush just smiles as he rides off to the satellite world and internet radio.

Its a strange world that we will inherit in 2009....with President Obama. Shows of humor and warmth....gone. We may have to bring in old shows of Jeopardy, Bonanza and Gilligans make up for the losses.