I grew up in a time that was essentially before television. I can remember going to a neighbor's home to watch the 1956 presidential conventions in b/w. Now, we have our airwaves filled with political pundits, comedy / variety shows, sports, sit-coms, etc. Before we had all of this we had to rely on radio and travelling vaudeville. Political Comedy came from the likes of Will Rogers, whom I quote here.
Everything is changing. People are taking their comedians seriously and the politicians as a joke.
He always found a way to skewer Congress.
And the thing about my jokes is, they don't hurt anybody. You can take 'em or leave 'em - you can say they're funny or they're terrible or they're good, or whatever, but you can just pass 'em by. But with Congress, every time they make a joke, it's a law! And every time they make a law, it's a joke!
Maybe we need a Green sit-com to reach today's public.
5 comments:
That would be up Patrick's alley! Have you pitched any Green sitcoms yet, Patrick?
To expand on a few things I posted under Science and Public Policy, I think Greens tend to drift off to other groups where they feel they can be more effective.
In our winner-take-all system, it is so difficult for our party to quantify success, because basically if we don't win elections we are considered losers to the vast majority (no matter how many coalitions we are in , which I think is important and valid) .
If members aren't into building the party for the long haul, 2.3% and 3.5% of the vote isn't hacking it for them, and they drift over to CodePink or ICUJP or ANSWER which appear to have more immediate success, though the Green Party attends the marches/rallies too.
"Have you pitched any Green sitcoms yet, Patrick?"
Er... no. I just don't think Social Justice and Ecological Wisdom is all that funny. Truly, for whatever reason, I've never been good at writing political comedy. It always comes out too earnest and angry. I think I mean it too much to get the distance I need. Luckily, there's Jon Stewart, who clearly is a Green but just doesn't know it.
Patrick Meighan
Los Angeles Greens
Well, maybe it is a typical family: Father is a salary-man, about 3 degrees right of Archie Bunker. Wife was a soccer mom in a big SUV but the kids are growing up now, a little lost. Daughter is studying Science in HS and the Son, starting out as a stock broker, falls for a tree hugger.
I earned an MA in theatre from Northwestern, shared acting teachers with the late Jerry Ohrbach and Salome Gens but my ear for dialogue is dead.
Ed Begley's new green reality show, Living with Ed, premieres on Home and Garden TV( HGTV), 1-1-07 at 1pm.
It is supposed to be humorous and informative.
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/tv/cl-et-begley27dec27,1,6412504.story?coll=la-entnews-tv
Interesting show, Lisa. However, when you pasted in the URL, it got chopped off. The functional link is http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/tv/cl-et-begley27dec27,1,6412504.story?coll=la-entnews-tv
Post a Comment