Liberal Comedians

[Sophus]

Is there a reason the world's funniest people seem to be so liberal? Virtually all of the comedian I see out there nowadays are pretty obviously politically liberal in their jokes.

It sort of reoccured to me as I watched an acquaintance mistake this video for being pro-Tea Party. Apparently he doesn't watch enough Conan to know he was poking fun at the "basket bunch".

[pinkocommie]

Do you think of Louis CK as liberal?  Whatever he is, he's hilarious and I'm going to see him in November.  Woot!

[Will]

Consider what it takes to be a comedian first and foremost: the ability to self-reflect, self-judge (with a certain amount of objectivity) and the ability to think critically. I won't suggest all conservatives lack these traits, but they don't have them in the concentration we do on the left. The right is very often faith-based. Consider trickle-down economics, which was put in place despite there being no evidence it worked. And then it didn't work in practice. Repeatedly. Still, 30 years later, it's the cornerstone of conservative economic theory. Why? Faith. The right doesn't want to self-correct as much as they want their faith to be vindicated by beating the evil other. That kind of belief system is antethetical to the thought process behind modern comedy. Even comics who would be considered conservative like Dennis Miller are actually kinda liberal. Sure, he supported the wars, but for years he's championed equal gender rights, women's rights on abortion, gay rights, etc.

[Tanker]

Do you think of Louis CK as liberal?  Whatever he is, he's hilarious and I'm going to see him in November.  Woot!

He's an Atheist and his humor leans to the liberal so I would guess so. I know atheist and liberal aren't synonamous but I have never met a conservative atheist IRL and from traveling the net conservative atheists seems fairly rare.

[elliebean]

I know atheist and liberal aren't synonamous but I have never met a conservative atheist IRL and from traveling the net conservative atheists seems fairly rare.

They exist.


But they're not funny.


Possible exception?

I've heard that they're republicans, but I don't know. I don't watch them or anything.

[Sophus]

I know atheist and liberal aren't synonamous but I have never met a conservative atheist IRL and from traveling the net conservative atheists seems fairly rare.

They exist.


But they're not funny.


Possible exception?

I've heard that they're republicans, but I don't know. I don't watch them or anything.

I think Penn is a libertarian. Teller I wouldn't know anything about.

Consider what it takes to be a comedian first and foremost: the ability to self-reflect, self-judge (with a certain amount of objectivity) and the ability to think critically. I won't suggest all conservatives lack these traits, but they don't have them in the concentration we do on the left. The right is very often faith-based. Consider trickle-down economics, which was put in place despite there being no evidence it worked. And then it didn't work in practice. Repeatedly. Still, 30 years later, it's the cornerstone of conservative economic theory. Why? Faith. The right doesn't want to self-correct as much as they want their faith to be vindicated by beating the evil other. That kind of belief system is antethetical to the thought process behind modern comedy.

That makes sense. The right is often all about opposing "the enemy". Come to think of it, a lot of their humor probably just isn't acceptable for mainstream. The tea party president joking about killing gays, Paladino's racist emails with Barack and Michelle photoshopped as a pimp and a prostitute. It's almost like a petty bully's sense of humor.

[humblesmurph]

As silly as this sounds, I think most comedians are liberal because most comedians are liberal.  People like people who are like them.  It may be hard to break into the business if you are a professed Republican. Once you are established in the business, it may be career suicide to be a professed Republican comedian in the big cities.   Those redneck comedy tour guys seem funny, especially Engvall and Ron White.  I think Leno and Dennis Miller (neither of whom I find funny) are republicans.  Btw, they aren't funny, but I like Penn and Teller Bullshit.  They aren't always correct, but at least they ask the questions.

[Guardian85]

I have a sort-of-kinda theory about why there are so few conservative comedians.
The key difficulty for a conservative comedian probably lies within the fact that most conservatives take themselves very seriously, too much so to be funny that way. (Espesially those who make no sense in the first place).

I don't know. I'm just wasting time and brain cells here...

[terranus]

I would agree that most comedians are liberal. Probably the most conservative one I know of is Jay Leno...and he's a centrist....so what does that tell ya.