Jay Leno: Republicans 'Laugh at Themselves More' Than Democrats
A very common media contention is that liberals have a far greater sense of humor than conservatives.
Tonight Show host Jay Leno dispelled this myth this week in a Press Pass interview with NBC's David Gregory wherein he told the Meet the Press moderator, "Democrats and Republicans are interesting because Republicans really laugh at themselves more" (video follows with transcript and commentary):
DAVID GREGORY, HOST: You know, I remember, we were just talking about this, covering then Governor Bush when he came on the show back in 2000. You him on, you had Al Gore. And one of the things Bush did so well was that he was creat with you, you know, he could be funny. What about Mitt Romney? What was your take? He was here recently
JAY LENO: You know, Democrats and Republicans are interesting because Republicans really laugh at themselves more. Like when Bush came on it was, "We want to do a skit. We're kind of making fun"--"Yeah, go ahead." And the skit was we were going, we were play "Jeopary!", and we had Bush going, "What is this?" "What is that?" "What is this?" Like as if he didn't know. And then it was course like "Jeopardy!" He was answering the questions like Alex Trebek. And we just walked up, "Can we do the sketch?" "Yeah, fine."
We went up to Al Gore. We want to do this skit. Hang on. And there was a focus group and then media people came in. Where will Al be sitting? OK, now will Al have the punch--well, it's just, we don't have to it. It's, it's not a big. And, you know, in the dressing room, Al Gore was very engaging and very funny and very loose.
GREGORY: Yeah. yeah.
LENO: But once the camera came on, oh, no.
GREGORY: But this is a key test. Will you go on "The Tonight Show" and let it rip if you're a politician? Right? Isn't that, I mean, it's a test from their side of it.
LENO: Yeah. I mean, I mean, we, I remember we had John Kerry on and he came on on a motorcycle and had a beer, and it just seemed like we're pushing a little too hard here. I mean, I like John Kerry, but I just felt like, really? He rode the bike on a ramp, you know, had the leather jacket. He's a regular guy, by golly. You know? It was very funny.
The other thing that was interesting about this interview was that in the entire sixteen minutes, Barack Obama's name was only mentioned once.
Gregory and Leno spent far more time chatting about the latter's take on George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, Al Gore, John Kerry, Rick Santorum, and Mitt Romney.
The only mention of Obama was a very brief clip of a spoof video Leno's team created of the current president singing Al Green's "So In Love With You" to Dmitry Medvedev.
After the clip, Gregory asked, "Is he easy to make fun of, this president?"
Leno replied, "Well, Clinton and Bush was the golden age of comedy."
And believe it or not, that was all Gregory and Leno had to say about Obama - roughly 30 seconds out of sixteen minutes.
Which validates Greg Gutfeld's observation this week that "Asking a comedian to make fun of Obama is like asking a priest to mock Christ."
Pretty sad.
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Comments
That's because liberals don't
Submitted by motherbelt on Sun, 04/22/2012 - 5:59pm.
That's because liberals don't really "do" funny.
Their idea of "humor" is to make hateful comments about someone and then yell "It's a joke!!"
And they certainly won't do that to each other.
A liberals
Submitted by rockyracoon on Sun, 04/22/2012 - 8:57pm.
Feelings are easily hurt, and they takes themselves too seriously. Not a good combination for comedic material.
Facts are like kryptonite to the liberal.
Really. Ever seen a liberal
Submitted by Slyrr on Sun, 04/22/2012 - 9:50pm.
Really. Ever seen a liberal laugh at themselves? I can't recall it. They only times they laugh is when they're making fun of someone ELSE. If you use Hollywood as a benchmark, it's plain as day. All their movies, comedies, books, magazines and such are geared around making fun of people/things they hate.
That's when they laugh at all. Most of the time, they're angry, screaming and furious because they think life is all misery and pain, and global warming is destroying the world, and oil is destroying the world, and republicans are destroying the world.... well you get the idea.
Liberals are perpetually angry, miserable and joyless. Because their teachers, their politicians, and their media are stuffing them with a never-ending diet of bad news about how the world is being destroyed and they may as well start digging their own graves.
No wonder they're miserable.
➚ Got that right, Slyrr
Submitted by Cool Arrow on Sun, 04/22/2012 - 9:55pm.
I made a joke about President Obama having Shih Tzu Flay the other day, and the Lib I was talking to acted like I'd said something nasty about his momma.
The comedians need to help
Submitted by tcm14 on Sun, 04/22/2012 - 6:27pm.
The comedians need to help the leftists learn how to laugh at themselves more. But for some reason they don't do it.
Because
Submitted by KornKing on Sun, 04/22/2012 - 6:49pm.
It's as if they all have a perpetual case of hemorhoids they're dying to mandate for evveryone else.
That's because comedy stems
Submitted by ant on Sun, 04/22/2012 - 7:04pm.
That's because comedy stems from a place of truth...and Libs have no truth in them. Plus, 'social justice' is just too damn serious a matter, so serious none of them can really explain what it means.
No one can make fun of Obama
Submitted by NCfairandbalanced on Sun, 04/22/2012 - 7:04pm.
No one can make fun of Obama and NOT be called a racist following the joke.
Not to discount what Leno
Submitted by balboa on Sun, 04/22/2012 - 8:09pm.
Not to discount what Leno says, but it's not like this is the golden rule just because Leno said so.
And the inability to laugh at yourself doesn't mean you don't have a sense of humor. There are plenty of comedians who are very funny but do not care to be the butt of any jokes.
I think you're confusing wit
Submitted by Quasi-socialist on Mon, 04/23/2012 - 1:14am.
with a "sense of humor". Having a sense of humor requires the ability to laugh at oneself. Somebody can be witty without having a sense of humor.
From a Liberals viewpoint, what is there to laugh about?
Submitted by Rush Fan on Sun, 04/22/2012 - 9:50pm.
When the world's population is growing because they do not take advantage of abortions, when those who are not aborted are threatening the Earth's precious resources, when this country is extremely selfish by using 20 percent of the world's oil, when we've got only 2 percent of the world oil reserves, when we continue to threaten the environment by eating meat, expelling carbon dioxide, and farting, when we use outdated fossil energy resources such as oil and coal rather than wind and solar, when we don't take seriously the disastrous effects of Global Warming, when farmers are polluting our water by using chemical fertilizers and manure, when the rich one percent are greedy and will not share their fair share with those who are not as fortunate, when.........I could go on and on but why bother.
Let's face it folks, this planet is a mess. Conservatives and those on the Right can afford to laugh at themselves, because they don't care about the environment or people who are disadvantaged. On the other hand, Liberals will continue to take our multitude of problems seriously. These problems are no laughing matter.
Of course, Liberals are so brainwashed and braindead, they don't comprehend that most of the aforementioned problems were created by those on the LEFT!
Classic Bush - Bridges video
Submitted by gopcongress on Sun, 04/22/2012 - 9:14pm.
There is no WAY Obama or any democrat could approach this level of humor!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BDPAUi3VPSo
"The news and truth are not the same thing." -Walter Lippmann (1889-1974) FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER
I've watched that numerous times, and I still laugh. It is sad
Submitted by Rush Fan on Sun, 04/22/2012 - 9:30pm.
that Steve Bridges passed away at such a young (48) age.
Upcoming great example...
Submitted by buzzyboop on Mon, 04/23/2012 - 9:49am.
Just listen (if you can stand it) to Øbama on Jimmy Fallon's show (ok, I'm not up that late, might DVR it) and during the Correspondents' dinner this Saturday. President Bush is a self-deprecating master. Øbama the narcissist will have mean spirited jokes about anyone else, I'm sure there will be several Romney jokes sprinkled in.
liberal happiness
Submitted by texan1953 on Mon, 04/23/2012 - 11:30am.
Libs are always unhappy when people are content with their lives. Think about it; in 2008 they had the congress and the oval office yet they were always pissed off about how they couldn't get any of their liberal agenda passes at first. Insane
liberal happiness
Submitted by texan1953 on Mon, 04/23/2012 - 11:30am.
Libs are always unhappy when people are content with their lives. Think about it; in 2008 they had the congress and the oval office yet they were always pissed off about how they couldn't get any of their liberal agenda passes at first. Insane
I believe it stems from a
Submitted by ex buff e-dub on Mon, 04/23/2012 - 1:04pm.
I believe it stems from a sense of humility. Humility in turn stems from a belief God, that He is greatest. Therefore, man's faults can be acknowledged and made fun of without losing status in His eyes.
Leftists just don't have that same sense