comedy

On Louis CK

Samuel HooperLeave a comment

Louis CK would, I am sure, have a fairly biting put-down ready for me, were he to read this – if for no other reason than the fact that it is being published a day late. Ah well. As the man himself would say, “I don’t care”.

Huffington Post certainly seems to care though, as yesterday they published a short tribute to the provocative comedian on the occasion of his birthday, together with a compilation of twenty three of the most biting, acerbic comments from his stand-up routines and interviews:

Today is Louis C.K.’s birthday. Louie’s had a good year: He decided to take a well-deserved break from his brilliant show “Louie” to recharge his batteries, and got a role in a Woody Allen movie.

Too bad that “Louie” is on hiatus, but at least we have these gems to laugh at, and a neurotic movie to look forward to. Some of my favourite Louis CK observations are presented here:

louis1

That may be true, but things sure do taste a little sweeter now that it isn’t George W. Bush in the oval office.

louis2

This blog has always been a firm supporter of equal rights for gay couples, and I certainly have no patience for people who, on realising that they have lost the core civil rights argument, fall back on rhetorically weak complaints such as this one – that legalising gay marriage may force them into having a conversation with their children. Quelle horreur!

louis3

Wise words, applicable to anyone with the courage to climb up on stage and tell jokes, run for public office, or even just to hit “publish” on a controversial blog post.

louisfinal

Again, very true. The British Education Secretary, Michael Gove, made a similar point during his testimony to the Leveson Enquiry into the behaviour of the British media last year, patiently explaining to Leveson that free speech really means nothing unless you accept the fact that some of the people are going to be offended some of the time.

Louis CK is certainly no new phenomenon (in my typical behind-the-curve style, I discovered what the fuss was about several years later), but he is fast becoming one of my favourite comedians for the very point that he expresses in the above caption. When political correctness begins to impinge on every facet of life, when politicians and the media bow down before it rather than speaking difficult truths and exhibiting the leadership that we need, it has largely fallen to comedians and satirists to shine a spotlight on the absurdity taking place around us.

For those interested in this topic, I highly recommend the following video, a round table discussion with Louis CK, Ricky Gervais, Chris Rock and Jerry Seinfeld:

 

Enjoy.

Guitar Rage

Samuel HooperLeave a comment

If you play the guitar like this, you are doing it wrong:

 

The thing is, the song sounds as though it would be absolutely awful to listen to even if our quick-to-anger troubadour was able to make it past the first few bars without stopping to scream and assault his instrument.

Best Thing Of The Day

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The satirical newspaper and website The Onion can be somewhat hit-and-miss these days, but the other day they posted one of their best articles in years. In terms of sheer whimsy and surrealism, I don’t think it can be beaten, at least not since the hilarious George W. Bush pieces that they posted in the waxing days of his presidency.

In their latest piece, The Onion report that Secretary of the Interior, Sally Jewell, has been sworn in as the nation’s first female, and 45th president of the United States, after President Obama, Joe Biden and the next six in line to the presidency were killed in a tragic hot air balloon disaster.

I quote at length:

WASHINGTON—Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell was sworn in today as the 45th president of the United States, reciting the oath of office in a brief ceremony at the White House and expressing her continued disbelief that the president, vice president, House speaker, president pro tempore of the Senate, Secretary of State, Secretary of the Treasury, Secretary of Defense, and attorney general were all in that hot-air balloon together.

Speaking to citizens in a short inaugural address, Jewell, a 57-year-old Seattle businesswoman who was confirmed as Interior Secretary less than three weeks ago, acknowledged the challenges ahead for the nation and noted how “really quite strange” it was that Barack Obama, Joe Biden, John Boehner, Patrick Leahy, John Kerry, Jacob Lew, Chuck Hagel, and Eric Holder mutually agreed to take the day off and rent a hot-air balloon for the afternoon.

“It is with both humility and gratitude that I assume this office, while extending my deepest condolences to the families of Barack Obama and the seven government officials directly before me in the presidential line of succession, who, for reasons that still aren’t entirely clear, decided to drive together to a fairground outside Washington and take a two-hour hot-air balloon tour of the Virginia countryside,” Jewell said in her speech, delivered less than a day after the country’s top politicians reportedly agreed on a whim that a communal balloon ride would be “a lot of fun.” “I never expected to be in this position, especially not under circumstances in which our nation’s highest leaders died on the same day in an accident involving a hot-air balloon, which, for some reason, all eight of them willingly piled into even though it was clearly posted that the maximum occupancy was four. You have to admit, it’s very bizarre.”

The Onion's Fictitious Hot Air Balloon Disaster
The Onion’s Fictitious Hot Air Balloon Disaster

And what a great feat of photoshopping too. The article continues:

According to Jewell, adding to her bewilderment was the fact that the men were neither barred from the outing nor even moderately discouraged by aides or Secret Service agents. Rather, reports indicate that members of the officials’ security details simply smiled and happily waved to the two highest officeholders of the executive branch, the two leading figures in Congress, and four top cabinet members as they crowded into the balloon’s basket and began to ascend.

“What’s particularly odd is that these officials weren’t even ordered into the balloon by President Obama; it was Chuck Hagel’s idea, and everyone else readily went along with it of their own will,” said President Jewell in front of framed portraits of the deceased men. “And given that the president and vice president aren’t even allowed to fly in the same plane for safety reasons, it’s truly shocking that, instead of reconsidering their actions when John Kerry had a brief moment of trepidation before stepping aboard, they all just said, ‘It’s fine! You’re going to love it!’”

“And the next thing you know, there they are, rising to 500 feet in that cramped, bulging basket, smiling and laughing without a concern in the world,” Jewell added. “Looking at it now, it all seems incredibly foolhardy, if not almost entirely improbable.”

This stuff is just priceless. The Onion and The Daily Mash continue to be two of the best, most amusing websites in existence today.

A Funny Conservative Meme

Samuel Hooper1 Comment

It doesn’t happen often. I think even most right-leaning Americans would agree that the political left has a disproportionate share of the talent when it comes to humour and comedy (think The Daily Show, The Colbert Report etc.) But in a recent speech Obama finally seems to have given America’s budding right-wing comedians the impetus that they needed for success.

Cue the “You Didn’t Build That” meme, which can be found here.

I’m going to treat the substance of Obama’s speech – in which he uttered the now famous line “If you’ve got a business — you didn’t build that” – more seriously in a separate post.

But for now I encourage everyone to enjoy this comedic renaissance taking place within the American right. My favourite example is below:

Or maybe this one:

Clearly a vast improvement from this truly awful song about government czars under the Obama administration, which attempts to rhyme “USA” with “citizenry” and includes the dreadful line “word is they’re getting one [a czar] for centaurs”, with accompanying inappropriate footage in the video:

 

I guess it is true – from rock bottom, the only way was up.

Come On, Tim!

Samuel HooperLeave a comment

Andy Murray continues to impress at this year’s Wimbledon tournament, prompting this riposte from The Daily Mash:

The increasingly efficient Scot has seen his comedic form dip as he continues to make the final stages of competitions without falling over anything or having bits of his body drop off and explode.

Murray said: “Hopefully I’ll get wrapped up in the net, flapping about like a big, sulky dolphin. Or maybe I’ll just deliver a forehand smash to my own testicles.

“If I reach the final people may start thinking of me as an actual tennis player.”

Says Andy’s coach:

“I want to turn Andy into a trophy-capturing automaton that gets to the Wimbledon final every year and goes two sets up before turning into a dyspraxic jumble of pale, hairy limbs.

“It’s going to be fucking hilarious.”

Jinx.