The Humor Mill

When in doubt, get meta.

Fueled by Barack Obama's icy reaction and outrage from his irony-deficient Democratic disciples, the New Yorker cover kerfluffle consumed the nation's (or at least blogosphere's) attention for three straight days. And while I'm tempted to say that the constant, soul-crushing coverage hurt all of us equally, I can't in good conscience do it. Why? Because our country's humorists have clearly suffered the most.

It's long been an open secret in comedy circles that Obama's not the easiest target. Way back in October 2007, for example, my Nostradamus-like NEWSWEEK colleague Nick Summers contacted some key comics to ask how they were planning to lampoon the prospective presidential candidate. Their response? Obama "appears almost invulnerable to caricature." "How do you make fun of someone when all the audience knows is that he's popular and charismatic?" Nick wrote, adding that "race works to his advantage, too. White comics might tread cautiously--which rarely makes for good comedy." You don't say.

When asked, some comedians told Nick that they were considering "switching it up" and making fun of how voters see Obama instead of making fun of Obama himself. "People tell pollsters they'll vote for a black candidate, but once they're in that booth ... " said stand-up Greg Giraldo (an alum of Columbia and Harvard Law, just like Obama). For awhile, this vein looked promising. HBO's Bill Maher, for example, frequently mocked worries among whites that Obama was "too black" for the Oval Office. "Wait until they find out that the wedding band was the Wu-Tang Clan," he once said. But now that the New Yorker controversy has shown what sort of hell is unleashed when touchy critics take this kind of joke literally--i.e., as being racist instead of mocking racism--I wouldn't be surprised, sadly, if most comics shy away.

That said, the New Yorker episode wasn't entirely without its redeeming qualities. Andy Borowitz, in fact, took Obama's earnest, self-serious denunciation as inspiration and came up with a pretty effective line of comedic attack: "a list of official campaign-approved Barack Obama jokes." "Saying he is 'sympathetic to late night comedians' struggle to find jokes to make about me,'" wrote Borowitz, "Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill)... is making [them] available to all comedians free of charge." Excerpts:

Barack Obama and a kangaroo pull up to a gas station. The gas station attendant takes one look at the kangaroo and says, "You know, we don't get many kangaroos here." Barack Obama replies, "At these prices, I'm not surprised. That's why we need to reduce our dependence on foreign oil."

A traveling salesman knocks on the door of a farmhouse, and much to his surprise, Barack Obama answers the door. The salesman says, "I was expecting the farmer's daughter." Barack Obama replies, "She's not here. The farm was foreclosed on because of subprime loans that are making a mockery of the American Dream."

A Christian, a Jew and Barack Obama are in a rowboat in the middle of the ocean. Barack Obama says, "This joke isn't going to work because there's no Muslim in this boat."

In other words, Borowitz made Obama's humorlessness humorous. Judging by how well it worked--and trust me, I'm no Borowitz fan--this may be the future of Obama-based comedy.

Unless, of course, the senator stops taking himself so seriously.

On second thought, nevermind.