Satire is dead?

[Beagle 2]

Just starting a new topic for this as there was some chat about it in the Glinner thread.

The argument that it's almost impossible to create good satire in the current climate because reality is more ridiculous than fiction has been trotted out a lot over the past three years or so, notably by Iannucci, but it now seems to be a widely-accepted view.

I think that's wrong. Everything has been turned upside-down because of the way that people communicate and the drift to extremism. Politics is instantaneous, reactionary and global. It's difficult to see who satire is supposed to be kicking back at when everything's such a complete mess and nobody seems to be entirely in charge.

But in this ridiculous, frightening state of affairs, satire should be there to make sense of it all. It should be able to nail people's foolishness and make them think twice about the way they behave. Its role is surely more important than ever because it can use humour - it can take the piss. Being allowed to take the piss is now a very rare and precious right to have.

I suppose the danger is that a piece of satire is now inevitably going to be chopped up and weaponised to back up the argument of whoever wants to use it and add some hand clapping emojis. It's difficult to appear even-handed in that environment. But that doesn't mean that it's dead - just that it needs to adapt. I'm looking for a new wave of energised satirists to break through and puncture the bubble of the minority of shrieking dickheads that have siezed power politically and online.

Anyway - open for discussion.   

[bgmnts]

If Linehan says something I would generally think the opposite.

[MortSahlFan]

Mort Sahl is still alive.

[ajsmith2]

This is relevant enough to a thread I've always intended to start that I might as well dump it in here: has anyone managed a workable satire of Donald Trump yet? Is it even possible? He is such a ludicrous figure that he's impossible to exaggerate: he already is the worst most extreme crassest dumbest thing you could portray him as and more and he embraces it like a black hole, and most existing comedy shows that have had to acknowledge Trump have done so in a half hearted manner, as if admitting he has to be addressed but there's nowhere to go with that. Be interested in any exceptions anyone could point to. Looking for post election win stuff in particular, when he stopped being an easy (and now completely dated)  punch line and people had to engage with him more seriously.

Ironically I would say SNL, despite being mainly very obvious and unsophisticated anti-Trump satire, is the most effective show in satirising him in this day and age because he actually watches it and it really gets to him. (The reasons he watches despite it's criticism as what seems to be he sole comedic element of his televisual diet are clear: it's the No.1 most famous Comedy show in US, therefore for him, the biggest, the best and still the barometer, plus they had him on as a guest and brown nosed him back happier times).

[Tikwid]

Had the pleasure of meeting satire at a charity do once. It was surprisingly aloof, and VERY boring.

[idunnosomename]

Koch Brothers hack journo lackies still pushing Titania McGrath as "golden age of satire" akin to Jonathan Swift

No, fucking REALLY, published a few days ago

https://theconversation.com/titania-mcgrath-twitter-parody-of-wokeness-owes-a-lot-to-satirists-of-the-18th-century-113312

[Bronzy]

The Onion is still going, I suppose.

[ToneLa]

The Onion is still going, I suppose.

Clickhole is genuinely the best satire I still enjoy

It's so fucking scattershot as well. Doesn't fall for that partisan trap (they mine Trump for comedy a lot as why wouldn't you if you could?)

[MortSahlFan]

This is relevant enough to a thread I've always intended to start that I might as well dump it in here: has anyone managed a workable satire of Donald Trump yet? Is it even possible? He is such a ludicrous figure that he's impossible to exaggerate: he already is the worst most extreme crassest dumbest thing you could portray him as and more and he embraces it like a black hole, and most existing comedy shows that have had to acknowledge Trump have done so in a half hearted manner, as if admitting he has to be addressed but there's nowhere to go with that. Be interested in any exceptions anyone could point to. Looking for post election win stuff in particular, when he stopped being an easy (and now completely dated)  punch line and people had to engage with him more seriously.

Ironically I would say SNL, despite being mainly very obvious and unsophisticated anti-Trump satire, is the most effective show in satirising him in this day and age because he actually watches it and it really gets to him. (The reasons he watches despite it's criticism as what seems to be he sole comedic element of his televisual diet are clear: it's the No.1 most famous Comedy show in US, therefore for him, the biggest, the best and still the barometer, plus they had him on as a guest and brown nosed him back happier times).

Very true... The only funny thing I heard was when Mort Sahl said it best.

"I wonder how Trump would have handled Hitler?" .. "I'd fire him!"

[Monsieur Verdoux]

The Onion is still fantastic, as is Vic Berger.

In response to the recent NZ shooting: https://politics.theonion.com/trump-any-shooting-actually-inspired-by-me-would-have-1833380732

[Endicott]

https://politics.theonion.com/trump-complains-about-overly-complicated-controls-neede-1833235918

Trump added that the issue of door technology struck a personal chord for him, as many of the people who open doors for him are not very smart and often have trouble doing so.

Has got me doubled up.

[The Lion King]

Id like to see a montage of a bad donald trump lookalike doing various derek style acts of kindness set to a panpipe renditon of 'circle of life' that wasn't particularly exaggerated, just nice, like giving bottles of evian to kids in africa etc

[GMTV]

The End of History

[EbbyVale]

"Political satire became obsolete when Henry Kissinger was awarded the Nobel peace prize."--Tom Lehrer.

He was wrong, and he's smarter than Glinner.

(I  like the Bad Lip Reading take on Trump's State of the Union.)

[petril]

how many more times until the repetition of the phrase "satire is dead" makes it funny, again?

[gib]

(I  like the Bad Lip Reading take on Trump's State of the Union.)

laughed loads at that, thanks!