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From funny-ha-ha to funny-strange

By ROBERT FRIEDMAN
Published November 6, 2005

Far be it from me to argue that people who deal in political humor can't also be taken seriously. In fact, a sense of humor has been central to the success of many political leaders: Lincoln, Churchill, JFK, Vaclav Havel. And some of our greatest humorists, from Mark Twain to Richard Pryor, have been deadly accurate social critics.

But there are two rules of political humor:

Rule One: Be funny.

I don't want to hear Mark Russell singing some tuneless ditty about the Federal Reserve Board, or Whoopi Goldberg cracking one-liners that might amuse a Manhattan tea room but just sound smug and shallow in the real world.

Rule Two: If you're a humorist who wants to be taken seriously, it's not enough to take yourself seriously. You actually have to do your homework and know what you're talking about.

These things are a matter of personal taste, of course. To me, the Al Franken of 2005 isn't particularly funny or particularly serious. But I know plenty of people who think he's hilarious - and would vote him into the Senate if they had the chance.

So no two lists would be alike. But I'd slice the worlds of politics, humor and social commentary this way, with a few current or recent examples of each:

Serious AND funny: John McCain, Pat Oliphant, Carl Hiaasen, Ann Richards, Jon Stewart, Mo Udall, Fritz Hollings, Bob Dylan, Lawton Chiles, Tip O'Neill, T.K. Wetherell, Tom Tomorrow

Serious and sort of funny: Bill Clinton, Margaret Thatcher, Donald Rumsfeld, Barney Frank, Mario Cuomo

Funny and sort of serious: Chris Rock, David Letterman, Stephen Colbert, Kinky Friedman, Dave Barry, Andy Borowitz, Ali G, George Carlin

Sort of serious, sort of funny: William Safire, Arianna Huffington, Ronald Reagan, Christopher Hitchens, Maureen Dowd

Serious but utterly devoid of humor: Hillary Clinton, Jeb Bush, John Kerry, Bill Nelson

Not nearly as funny as they think they are: Ann Coulter, Andy Rooney, Bill Maher, Michael Moore, Rush Limbaugh, Dennis Miller, Christopher Buckley

Used to be funny: Al Franken, Bob Dole, Jay Leno, Norman Lear, Doonesbury, Saturday Night Live, Dave Chappelle, George W. Bush

Funny but don't want you to know it: Dick Cheney, Tommy Franks, Bob Graham, Barbara Bush

Funny-strange, not funny-ha-ha: Zell Miller, Rick Santorum, Al Gore, Johnnie Byrd, Ted Kennedy, Katherine Harris

Unintentionally funny: Dan Rather, George Will, Tom DeLay, Elizabeth Dole, Sean Penn, Sean Hannity, Bono

Self-parodies: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Joe Biden, Charlie Crist, John Edwards, Haley Barbour

This list is subject to change without notice. For example, Saturday Night Live has gone from funny to unfunny and back several times over the years. Getting elected to the Senate from Minnesota might improve Al Franken's sense of humor. Getting elected governor of Texas might damage Kinky Friedman's. McCain is always on the verge of slipping from serious-and-funny to funny-strange.

And Jon Stewart, whose Daily Show has hit on the perfect balance of funny and serious for now, risks becoming unfunny if he keeps going on other cable talk shows and imploring the hosts to clean up their acts for the Good Of America.

Recommit yourself to comedy, Jon. Do it For The Kids.

[Last modified November 4, 2005, 23:49:52]