#American satire

[alethianightsong]

Each GTA game is a satire of American culture so GTA 6...

might be a satire of the mid-2010s and influencer culture. Lucia might've been in jail for 5-8 years, long enough to come outta jail and asks, "Who are all these skanks with the phones?" and Jason goes "Oh yeah, you haven't seen many influencers in prison. These people get so popular that they're paid to peddle crap to their fans." "Sounds dumb as shit." "Well, they make millions. The sexy ones can scam 1000s of dollars from their fanboys & get away with it" which naturally leads into some side-missions consisting of Lucia faking being an influencer or maybe she and Jason help an influencer take out the competition.

[blackswaneuroparedux]

Anonymous asked: What do you think about John Oliver? (The British American comedian and talk show host.)

I honestly have no strong opinions about John Oliver only because I haven’t avidly watched all he’s done. What I have seen of his HBO show ‘Last Week Tonight’ left me lukewarm if not indifferent.

In England Oliver followed a well trodden path of most British comedian-satirists. He went through the Cambridge Footlights comedy club as a student at Cambridge - the seed bed of talent that included half of Monty Python, Douglas Adams, Stephen Fry, Hugh Laurie, Richard Ayoade, and other notable writers and actors. But after that he reached what I say the second tier of British comedy fame by doing comedy gigs at Edinburgh every year, appearing on lots of BBC light hearted satirical news panel shows, and then briefly a podcast for the Times. So not a stand out success story.

But I don’t really blame John Oliver for that. It’s just how the comedy culture is in the UK. There just isn't that much room in Britain for non-standup comedians. It’s a very small ecosystem. If you're a stand-up (and I suspect, if you're represented by Avalon, the big UK comedy agents), you can get on the panel shows, do one man comedy tours, and probably get a sitcom gig - and thus make a decent living. If you're not quite that sort of comedian, or more of a writer/character comedian, you either scrape a living from Radio 4 for writing gigs, or you look elsewhere.

America came to Oliver’s rescue. He only really got visibility when his run of the mill stand up routines caught the attention of the producers at John Stewart’s Daily Show where he started as a writer. And the rest is history as they say with his own weekly satirical news show on HBO ‘Last Week Tonight’.

I don’t think it’s controversial to say he’s still not really known back in the UK. He’s an American citizen now from what I gather and so I’m sure he’s not too bothered given his own glittering achievement in the US.

But how may I explain why I feel underwhelmed towards the comedy of John Oliver?

I was comparing notes about the differences between American and Brit humour with an American work colleague who was at Harvard and almost did stand up comedy as alternative career in NYC but bombed. He really liked Oliver and really liked his humour. I couldn’t understand it until it dawned on me that Oliver’s brand of humour isn’t really British per se but very Americanised. I find a lot of his humour revolves around shouting things in a state of exasperated disbelief. In effect Oliver has that British sarcasm which, in the British accent, comes across as authoritative to the American ear and therefore more humorous. But he also has that classic American shouting and gawping aspect which typifies American comedy styles.

I think that type of humour isn’t really British and doesn’t go down too well as I think Brits prefer humour that is either more surreal or dry but delivered with more restraint, at least when it comes to political humour. I suspect a lot of Americans see him as the token ‘funny British guy’. That plays very well to American audiences. But I doubt being British in-and-of-itself isn't as easy to add to your comic persona if you're performing to a Brit audience.

Not to get meta but I think Oliver wants to have his cake and eat it. I get the suspicion that his performance is a performative in the sense that he plays what he thinks Americans like about British humour but it’s utterly watered down to the American market - in other words as dull as dish water and not very risqué or edgy that Brits are used to - or were until the cancer of woke infecting British comedy, case in point the canceling of foul mouthed but funny Scottish black comedian Jerry Sadowitz from the Edinburgh Fringe festival).

Worse, Oliver comes across as too polished for a Brit audience - “All tits and no teeth” as one comedian writer friend of mine at the BBC told me once.

I think if you see enough of his own show ‘Last Week Tonight’ you can lift the Wizard’s curtain and see the simple formula played on repeat each week.

Leaving aside the low hanging fruit easy gags (e.g. against Trump and Republicans in general). I have no issue going after politicians - I loathe them all - but it’s just not funny. Going after corporates is also fine. But I don’t think it’s particularly informative most of the time and especially where he is liable to misunderstand or twist facts. Not surprisingly his views on gender affirming care for children (ie mutilation and sterilisation of pre-pubescent children) is predictable hot mess of sheer ignorance and virtue signalling.

It’s not so much a criticism but as much older friends have pointed out that in many ways he’s mimicing an iconic satirical news show from the 1960s, David Frost’s ‘That Was The Week That Was’ that first broadcasting in 1962 and was a satire hit charting and subverting the changing nature of British society and cultural life in the 1960s. It didn’t last long but what it did was explode a satire bomb under British society for decades to come. In many ways it paved the way for Monty Python and Private Eye (a satirical magazine that still is the bane of the British political, media, and arts establishment).

Oliver’s show doesn’t have the comic wit and charisma to pull off great satire.

For me the irksome problem with Oliver is that he’s consciously manufactured being a British guy playing at being an American version of a British guy doing comedy. So the way he acts just doesn’t seem quite right to Brits looking in. Something smells off even as he looks and sounds so sanitised.

His brand of satirical comedy of speaking truth to power schtick doesn’t work in the UK if only because it’s already been done very well (Stewart Lee) or done really bad (Nish Kumar).

Moreover BBC shows like the long running ‘Have I Got News For You’ would be our equivalent of the Daily Show but as a panel show. Over its twenty odd years it been really good or just averaging, but it ticks that box of British self-deprecating style of humour while also dishing out cutting barbs. But whatever Oliver does still doesn’t come close to what British satire does (or used to do). 

Thanks for your question.

[politijohn]

Source

Is this really satire?

[k-i-l-l-e-r-b-e-e-6-9]

[aria-greenhoodie]

Happy July 13th

[everythingilearned]

American Psycho (2000)

[rih4z]

gotta return some videotapes

[madame-helen]

For all those accusing Argentina of racism:

[fey-family-reunion]

"ace attorney's representation of the law/lawyers is dumb because it's inaccurate" becomes less interesting of a take every time i hear it. oh yeah this series where ghosts and parrots go on the stand is totally trying to be the most well-researched 100% accurate legal drama ever, instead of simplifying or glazing over things for the sake of pacing and fun

[disease]

R. CRUMB / "GREEN GIRL" / 1980 [oil on canvas | 20 × 16"]

[war-in]

Inside back cover of Dec 1955 Playboy Magazine

[newwavesylviaplath]

things i want: double finger cross ring (silver cuz it looks cooler even though i only wear gold) #2014tumblr, new clothes (lots of them), new lipgloss, evil eye necklace, uggs with bows on them, a new phone tbh, the sofia coppola archive, nicer friends, the lana del rey pill case, the lana del rey lighter, novelty lighters, another pack of cigarettes, nancy sinatra fan club pin, hair dye that actually works on my hair, princess diana memorabilia, chicken and pesto pasta, stevie nicks barbie doll, lolitaland perfume, a cute haircut, a new case for my airpods (more of a need than a want), an iced matcha latte, straight A's, a plethora of cutesie rings, more clothes, to be noticed by vincent gallo on instagram, new set of nails, new disposition (a sunnier one), to get a candy gram delivered to me, to be a popular writer on substack or a micro celebrity of some sort, a cuter instagram grid, maybe a boyfriend, to have my ex talking stage crawling back crying and begging for me to take him back and being a pathetic loser so i can kick him while he's down (but let's be honest, i'd probably end up taking him back), did i mention more clothes??, more bubble-mint gum, hair gloss

[k-i-l-l-e-r-b-e-e-6-9]

[haveyoureadthisbook-poll]

[shalom-iamcominghome]

Jewish culture is the fact that I have two thick textbooks in my bag and I decided to add three more jewish books and one secular book and now my bag is probably close to fifteen pounds at least. I didn't even realize I did this until this morning either

[american-boyboss]