Right-wing comedians?

[Purple Tentacle]

Why are there very few right-wing comics?

I mean we've got Jim Davidson, Stan Boardman, erm..... Bernard Manning (I think)...... Kenny Everett? Christ I'm grasping for straws, he's been dead for nearly 10 years.

Anyway, with the "alternative" comedians of the 1980s settling down into comfortable Blairite existence (ooh, Rory McGrath is a Tory I think) , why hasn't there been a resurgance of right-wing humour?

I mean, please don't get me wrong, if I ever met someone who considered themselves a "right-wing comedian" I would want to rip their larynx out, but with so many right-wing disc-jockeys and publications floating about, as well as an acceptance of avarice as an everyday attitude, why do comedians still hail from the left?

Why, when under a (supposedly) left-wing government isn't there a bunch of rebels aiming from the right?

I mean the nearest young comedian I can think of is Jimmy Carr, and he probably votes Blair like everybody else.

I really don't WANT to see a load of tory-boys take the stage, but I'm slightly puzzled why they don't want to.


Oh, does Boris Johnson count?

[Vermschneid Mehearties]

Clarkson is the last time a Tory has made me laugh. And even then he was talking about cars, which he has a cunt veto for.

Most right-wing humour centres around ignorance, and jokes at  people who they think are inferior to themselves' expense, which is fairly un-PC now, and so it should be.

Peter Kay seems like a Tory though*. Or a raging socialist. It's very hard to tell these days.

*Check out PNSeries2 Commentary. Urgh.

[jutl]

Sam Kinison would qualify, I think. He was the Reactionary's Bill Hicks.

Sam Kinison - World Hunger (3.29Mb mp3)

[cptwhite]

Can we make this topic a haven of links to bizarre / offensive humour, got anymore jutl?

[jutl]

These aren't right-wing, although they are a little politically incorrect. Surprisingly obscene for an old-time comedian too...

Milton Berle roasts Rich Little (7.5Mb mp3)

Milton Berle roasts Arnold Schwarzenegger (7.5Mb mp3)

[european son]

well, despite claims to the contrary, Trey Parker and Matt Stone are hardly left-wing.

of course, i'd hesitate to call them right-wing either, but their un-PC libertarian-esque stance on things like hate-crime legislation could be seen as quite reactionary.

[12 Storey Crisis]

It's funny, I was looking at this thread and searching for examples of not just right-wing comedians, but also any artists within the so-called "cred", "alternative" culture.

They're few and far between (at least as far as I can see), but I did hit on a few interesting examples.

John Milius, screenwriter of Apocalypse Now. Gun fetishist and all-round military nut, also something of an apologist for the authoritarian, vigilante-driven approach to law 'n' order (as witnessed in Dirty Harry). Would probably be the Jim Davidson of the '70s Hollywood brat-pack were it not for the fact that (a) Apocalypse Now and Dirty Harry are such great films, and (b) he was partly the source of inspiration for John Goodman's hysterically funny character in The Big Lebowski.

Also, pains me to say this, but the latter-day Stanley Kubrick was fairly  right wing. Liked having guns in the house and, as he mentioned to sometime A.I. screenwriter, Ian Watson, lived in fear of the day the Tories were ousted from power for fear that Labour's tax-the-rich policies would spell his financial ruination.

[imitationleather]

Peter Kay seems like a Tory though*. Or a raging socialist. It's very hard to tell these days.

*Check out PNSeries2 Commentary. Urgh.

What does he say? I can't be bothered to listen to it because the series 1 commentary bored me senseless.

[bill hicks]

It's funny, I was looking at this thread and searching for examples of not just right-wing comedians, but also any artists within the so-called "cred", "alternative" culture.

They're few and far between (at least as far as I can see), but I did hit on a few interesting examples.

John Milius, screenwriter of Apocalypse Now. Gun fetishist and all-round military nut, also something of an apologist for the authoritarian, vigilante-driven approach to law 'n' order (as witnessed in Dirty Harry). Would probably be the Jim Davidson of the '70s Hollywood brat-pack were it not for the fact that (a) Apocalypse Now and Dirty Harry are such great films, and (b) he was partly the source of inspiration for John Goodman's hysterically funny character in The Big Lebowski.

Also, pains me to say this, but the latter-day Stanley Kubrick was fairly  right wing. Liked having guns in the house and, as he mentioned to sometime A.I. screenwriter, Ian Watson, lived in fear of the day the Tories were ousted from power for fear that Labour's tax-the-rich policies would spell his financial ruination.

He also told a few dodgy gags about our darker toned brothers on the set of Lolita apparently as well (although it is suggested this was yet another example of him trying to piss off Shelley Winters who was 'clashing' a little with his golden boy Peter Sellers and jetting off to JFK fund raisers all the time).

He once said that he was neither left or right wing and concentrated too hard on the work to get worked up about politics. As right wing as he seemed you have to remember that he made two of the greatest 'lefty' anti-war films ever (Full Metal Jacket and Paths of Glory) and Spartacus, which was written by a HUAAC Blacklisted writer and is thinly veiled Marxism.

[Darrell]

*Check out PNSeries2 Commentary. Urgh.

What does he say? I can't be bothered to listen to it because the series 1 commentary bored me senseless.[/quote]

The series 1 commentary's great though!

[imitationleather]

That's easy for you to say...

[Darrell]

That's easy for you to say...

It's two and a half hours of amusing banter to me. And it's full of music clearance trivia!

[imitationleather]

A likely story...

[elderford]

Well if we broaden the approach to humourists, I'll add one time underground journo/rolling stone regular and self proclaimed Republican PJ O'Rourke.

[Vermschneid Mehearties]

What does he say on PN Series 2 commentary

He has a dig at Asylum Seekers 3 times in the first 20 minutes. Mentions irrelevant things which gives him a chance to say kneejerk bullshit about "the asylum seekers'll try 'n fleece that as well probably.

What was worse is, he's actually brought that into his work, with the inclusion of those japanese stowaways. The fact that those weren't done ironically makes me feels frightfully suspect about the mans integrity.

[Emergency Lalla Ward Ten]

Kenny Everett wasn't a Tory. A popular myth based on one misjudged appearance at a Conservative conference, which was a joke anyway.

[megatwat]

You know, there's a fair bit of bitterness against the right on these boards. I'm right wing, in the sense that I'm right of centre and yes, often do vote tory (unless the person I'm voting for is very right wing); but being right wing does not make me racist or homophobic. Those kind of intollerant traits are found in a great many people some who would vcall themselves left wing and some who call themselves right wing.

As such, I think to ask  "where are the right wing comedians?" is a bit of a red herring.  You wouldn't necessairily know I was right wing in talking to me until you got me on to politics, it just doesn't influence my sense of humour. Therefore, the same will be true of comedians.

[imitationleather]

Your screen name certainly gives everyone a clue about your politics...

Hoho!

[Vermschneid Mehearties]

You know, there's a fair bit of bitterness against the right on these boards. I'm right wing, in the sense that I'm right of centre and yes, often do vote tory

Often. Vote. What? I didn't think conservatives used the internet ;).

When the comedian you have devoted your site to gets publicly 'humiliated' by the media, and particularly maliciously by right-wingers, all through them not having the nouse to realise what the show was trying to show, and indeed provoke, I think you've got a very good right to be bitter against the right.

I wouldn't even say it was bitterness either. This site just attracts fans of Chris Morris who are mainly extremely strange, nay psychotic weirdos, bound by a warped indefatigable sense of humour. Who are mostly lefties, and proud of it.

[Purple Tentacle]

I'm no leftie. Dead centre, me.


Having said that, I've never met a tory I've liked. Although I met two nice South-Africans in a week, a once in a lifetime experience.

[megatwat]

Being right wing isn't the same as being reactionary and illiberal like  the daily mail.

Two nice south africans in one week? That is bloody surprising to me.

[Vermschneid Mehearties]

When did I mention them?

And you're only using that as a pivot to distance yourself from people who are universally hated.

They weren't the only ones that attacked Morris. All the news channels did, even to the extent where The Guardian were being fairly harsh about it.

And I dislike right-wingers because their opinions make my blood boil, and arguing with many is a futile exercise.

[TJ]

Honestly. If you're going to feel disdain for the 'right wing', then you need a better reason than the fact that they didn't 'get' the Brass Eye Special. Anyway, what about all the left-wing people who didn't 'get' it? What about left-wing fans who thought it was unfunny underachieving toss and felt that while the principle of defending it was worthwhile, the actual quality of the show was not enough to warrant the effort of defending it? Are they all secretly 'right wing'? Is this going to turn into classic forum wanktalk like when people were labelled 'right wing' for being opposed to tuition fees (however the fuck that was supposed to work)?


As for comedians, I suppose it depends whether you're interpreting 'right wing' in a strict political Tory-voting sense, or a more general perception of attitudes. For example, I doubt very much that Sam Kinison would have felt much empathy with right-wing politicians or pressure groups, but ironically a lot of his views on women (or those expressed in his humour, anyway) fell very definitely left of centre.

I suspect that there probably *are* right-wing comics in the political sense, but that unlike their contemporaries on the left, they don't have as much opportunity or even need to build their act around their views, and as such they just come across as ordinary. If that makes sense.

[Vermschneid Mehearties]

Yes, I was generalising, but then to be fair- he brought it up, so I'm arguing on his terms.

If you're going to feel disdain for the 'right wing', then you need a better reason than the fact that they didn't 'get' the Brass Eye Special

Yes, well quite. Like this:

I dislike 'right-wingers' because their opinions make my blood boil, and arguing with many is a futile exercise

[megatwat]

I think the important thing to remember is that being right wing does not mean you are homophobic, paedophilic or anything else often assumed to be right wing; any more than someone left wing believes in ethnic cleansing like Stalin. Rather,  all people with moderate views (left wing or right wing) can easily disagree with each other on something like taxation while still being liberal and sensible with issues like asylum seakers, and the homeless. In fact, I am far more liberal than a lot of my so called "left wing" friends on issues like asylum seakers and imigrants..

[megatwat]

By the way, for anyone unsure, the "sith ifrican" thing is an old spitting image song.

[glitch]

By the way, for anyone unsure, the "sith ifrican" thing is an old spitting image song.

I thought it was Not The 9 O'Clock News..?

[alan strang]

Definitely Spitting Image.

http://members.lycos.co.uk/alanstrang/southafrican.html

Having said that, it was written by NTNOCN contributors Richard Curtis and Peter Brewis - John Lloyd produced both shows.

If NTNOCN had continued it would most probably have been part of that. You can just imagine Mel Smith singing it actually.

[Darrell]

Definitely Spitting Image.

http://members.lycos.co.uk/alanstrang/southafrican.html

Having said that, it was written by NTNOCN contributors Richard Curtis and Peter Brewis - John Lloyd produced both shows.

Ooh, that's nice to see. It was John Lloyd who wrote the lyrics though, wasn't it?

[big dogs cock]

I suspect that there probably *are* right-wing comics in the political sense, but that unlike their contemporaries on the left, they don't have as much opportunity or even need to build their act around their views, and as such they just come across as ordinary. If that makes sense.

It does, comedy audiences are often full of people not really interested in politics, but who will still whoop away at basic liberalisms like 'legalise pot' etc... It's a matter of getting the audience on your side, and the mainstream opinions these days of those who take an interest in popular culture are broadly left wing.

When it comes to the Mark Thomas's of this world, I would say that kind of thing is beyond comedy altogether and is more journalism and preaching. (I'm not critisising that, I mostly like the bloke, but that's another done to death debate).

Anyway, a lot of 'right on' comics are often basically advocating greater state control alongside all of their 'greater tolerance' rhetoric.