SNL shows us why leftist "clapter" is cringe, not comedy - plus a compilation of my favorite comedians, Yuri ranked in the Top 10 Humor Substacks, and a shout out to my new Brazilian readers.
It's the same here in the UK. New comedy is controlled by leftists and left leaning orgs and is now devoid of real humor.
I've just finished Graham Linehan new book (writer of some of the most beloved UK comedies like Father Ted, IT Crowd, Black Books) and he talks about the woke capture of the entertainment industry.
Linehan is a remarkable bloke in that he pretty much lost everything and can't find work due to him standing up for women rights and fighting the trans bullies. One of the finest UK comedy writers cannot now carry on making great art - sad times indeed.
It's now an industry which is scared to offend and it now produces sanitized, cringey and safe humor which will only take the piss out of the correct "approved" demographics.
Bill Hicks and of corse Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor. Belushi and Ackroyd also. Give Blues Brothers and Trading Places another watch as they have come full circle with relevance. You should be in Humor and Education though man!
Dec 17, 2023·edited Dec 17, 2023Liked by Yuri Bezmenov
My wife and I watch old SNL skits on YouTube. “Old” is defined as the Will Ferrell era and earlier. Nothing will make you laugh more than “Celebrity Jeopardy”. We also watch Dave Chappelle skits from his Comedy Central show. Leonard Washington and Tyrone Biggums are hilarious characters. Yuri has taught me to mock and shame my political opponents with humor rather than anger. It is a form of “soft rebellion”. Rodney Dangerfield and Don Rickles were hilarious on Carson. All of their appearances are on YouTube.
Another priceless Subverting, Yuri! Zach vs Hillary, South Park Asians +, Billboard Heist, Mitch Hedberg, man, there's more brilliance in this one post than most of substack.
We can take solace in the fact that the corporate-approved, propaganda "clapter" like SNL and all the late night shows have cratering ratings. They are irrelevant and more and more people are tuning out because they are just propaganda disguised as "comedy".
Or not even disguised as comedy anymore. Kate McKinnon as Hillary Clinton playing Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah as a dirge for Hillary’s loss of the 2016 election (that’s it, there was no joke or slant to it) may be the best example of how nakedly partisan and humorless these people are.
Agreed on much of this, though not sure it's exclusive to one partisan tribe. Cheap applause for preaching to the choir knows no bounds.
Matt Labash, journalist and author: "So much of what now passes for conservative 'comedy' is just beating wokesters over the head. And don’t get me wrong, they deserve to be beaten over the head. That is not an unworthy endeavor. But it’s also become a crutch. There’s no challenge or surprise in it. And all good drama and comedy turns on not knowing exactly what’s coming next."
Legends of comedy and also SNL early participants that were not included: Dan Aykroyd, John Belushi, Jim Belushi, Chevy Chase, Bill Murray. Few films are more hilarious than "Animal House" and the original 1980 "The Blues Brothers." Few SNL skits are funnier than the fake commercials Aykroyd used to do for Bassomatic and the floor wax that's also a dessert topping.
Way back when, South Park had an episode that considered the merits of self-censoring over depictions of the Prophet Muhammed (peace and blessings and peanut butter sandwiches). They determined that it was a wedge which would open the door to endless censorship. It's an old saying in Arabic, that if you allow the camel's nose to come into the coolness of the tent, soon the entire camel is inside. I think may be Louis Brandeis or someone quoted that in a Supreme Court opinion. You know how the supremes love their oil.
Substack tries to engender interest in various 'stacks by communists, Marxists, freemasons, and demon worshippers (but I repeat myself). Generally, I don't see any reason to ever click over to any of their recommendations. If the recommendation system were entirely replaced by a large language model, would it put any actual people out of work? Inquiring minds want to know.
SNL headwriter Jim Downey's First Citywide Change Bank Commercials circa 1988 were hilarious. Here at 4:00 Jim Downey discusses with Conan O'Brien writing and starring in the commercials.
So I've gone back to this a couple of times, the podcast with Jim Downey on Conan that was from just a few months ago. Here's a clip at the beginning where Downey has written a very funny bit (my opinion) comparing Conan with Jeffrey Epstein. This guy still has it. He's really poking fun at the people who associated with Epstein. Good stuff. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tn7fks2UDRE
Go re-watch "Airplane!" and count the jokes that cannot be made today.
Pretty much all of them.
Then ponder why so many of your fellow americans not only go along with race-based censorship and race-.based compelled speach, and in the interest of whom it is they do so.
I was just thinking about "Airplane" yesterday (because I was watching an old James Arness movie and forgot that Peter Graves was his brother and that made me think of Captain Oveur, which role was probably not as funny for the younger generations since they didn't watch "Fury" during their tender years.
But--my God. Robert Stack parodying himself in that film. I grew up on him too and never suspected such depths of good-sportingness.
I've watched a few "reaction-videos" of young people (20-25) wathcing "Airplane!"; while they don't get most of the jokes referring then-well known TV-series, commercials and so on (most are obscure to me too, not being american) what upsets and worries me is the shame they display while chuckling nervously at the two black men talking jive to the stewardess, to take one example.
Not to mention the "show the tribesmen a basketball"-scene.
They simply can't see that the entire scene is /making fun of the a stereotype/, it's not playing the stereotype straight. But they can't see it. They think it racist, over the line and an artifact of older times and the intolerance of those bygone days.
When we had a lodger of that age (20-25) I showed her older swedish movies, and she had a similar reaction, summed up in her exclaiming:
"Where they allowed to joke like that back then!?"
To her the idea that someone, some nebulous authority, had the right to decide what may or may not be made fun of was natural.
But what with senatorial interns performing sodomy in the official auditorium and people /defending/ it, it's probably difficult to make comedy today even without considerations of political correctness.
Re that Senate staffer: Our Boy Randy is whining that he's being 'attacked for who I love to pursue a political agenda.'
And re censorship: everyone wants to censor the other guy and they just don't understand sunlight is magic.
A few years ago Bill Maher had Milo Yiannopoulos on as the opening guest on his show. The format is Bill and a single guest speaking one-on one for a few minutes, and then that guest leaves and the guest panel remaining for the rest of the show is seated at a table with Bill at its center.
And Bill just asked a few questions of Milo, very gently and respectfully, and then let Milo talk. Just absolutely classic "give 'em enough rope." It was more effective than all the screeching in the world. One felt sorry for Milo. He showed himself to be a total idiot and and a sad pathetic lost guy.
"...attacked for who I love to pursue a political agenda..."
Maybe I'm reading too much into it, but I get the feeling that he accidentally told on himself here: the sentence can easily be read as who he loves is no more than him pursuing a political agenda.
Absolutely, let people speak. No surer way to make someone reveal themselves. Was an imam did just that over here the other day, after a various rainbow-people had tried to argue islam isn't hostile to homos. The imam, who is of the Moslem Brotherhood, came right out and proclaimed that if you're not anti-homo, you're not a moslem.
Cue silence in the media.
But the no. 1 spot for that here in Sweden is held by a Socialist Democrat who exclaimed in the 1970s when the party lost power for the first time in over 30 years:
Good article Yuri
It's the same here in the UK. New comedy is controlled by leftists and left leaning orgs and is now devoid of real humor.
I've just finished Graham Linehan new book (writer of some of the most beloved UK comedies like Father Ted, IT Crowd, Black Books) and he talks about the woke capture of the entertainment industry.
Linehan is a remarkable bloke in that he pretty much lost everything and can't find work due to him standing up for women rights and fighting the trans bullies. One of the finest UK comedy writers cannot now carry on making great art - sad times indeed.
It's now an industry which is scared to offend and it now produces sanitized, cringey and safe humor which will only take the piss out of the correct "approved" demographics.
Father Ted + IT crowd is my 2 top favourite ones.
Bill Hicks and of corse Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor. Belushi and Ackroyd also. Give Blues Brothers and Trading Places another watch as they have come full circle with relevance. You should be in Humor and Education though man!
My wife and I watch old SNL skits on YouTube. “Old” is defined as the Will Ferrell era and earlier. Nothing will make you laugh more than “Celebrity Jeopardy”. We also watch Dave Chappelle skits from his Comedy Central show. Leonard Washington and Tyrone Biggums are hilarious characters. Yuri has taught me to mock and shame my political opponents with humor rather than anger. It is a form of “soft rebellion”. Rodney Dangerfield and Don Rickles were hilarious on Carson. All of their appearances are on YouTube.
Mockery and shame is much more fun than anger ;)
You can't talk about when SNL was funny, and not bring up this Eddie Murphy clip:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_LeJfn_qW0
Another priceless Subverting, Yuri! Zach vs Hillary, South Park Asians +, Billboard Heist, Mitch Hedberg, man, there's more brilliance in this one post than most of substack.
We can take solace in the fact that the corporate-approved, propaganda "clapter" like SNL and all the late night shows have cratering ratings. They are irrelevant and more and more people are tuning out because they are just propaganda disguised as "comedy".
Or not even disguised as comedy anymore. Kate McKinnon as Hillary Clinton playing Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah as a dirge for Hillary’s loss of the 2016 election (that’s it, there was no joke or slant to it) may be the best example of how nakedly partisan and humorless these people are.
I’m very glad that Brazilians are following you!
Grateful for your recommendation! Would love to host you on the podcast. Many Americans are curious about what is happening in Brazil.
Let’s do it!
Agreed on much of this, though not sure it's exclusive to one partisan tribe. Cheap applause for preaching to the choir knows no bounds.
Matt Labash, journalist and author: "So much of what now passes for conservative 'comedy' is just beating wokesters over the head. And don’t get me wrong, they deserve to be beaten over the head. That is not an unworthy endeavor. But it’s also become a crutch. There’s no challenge or surprise in it. And all good drama and comedy turns on not knowing exactly what’s coming next."
Richard Pryor!
Legends of comedy and also SNL early participants that were not included: Dan Aykroyd, John Belushi, Jim Belushi, Chevy Chase, Bill Murray. Few films are more hilarious than "Animal House" and the original 1980 "The Blues Brothers." Few SNL skits are funnier than the fake commercials Aykroyd used to do for Bassomatic and the floor wax that's also a dessert topping.
Way back when, South Park had an episode that considered the merits of self-censoring over depictions of the Prophet Muhammed (peace and blessings and peanut butter sandwiches). They determined that it was a wedge which would open the door to endless censorship. It's an old saying in Arabic, that if you allow the camel's nose to come into the coolness of the tent, soon the entire camel is inside. I think may be Louis Brandeis or someone quoted that in a Supreme Court opinion. You know how the supremes love their oil.
Substack tries to engender interest in various 'stacks by communists, Marxists, freemasons, and demon worshippers (but I repeat myself). Generally, I don't see any reason to ever click over to any of their recommendations. If the recommendation system were entirely replaced by a large language model, would it put any actual people out of work? Inquiring minds want to know.
Johnny Carson. He could skewer any politician and not be snarky. I’m not sure even now what his political views might have been.
I’ve never seen that Zach Goannnnnnakalis thing before.
God that was brilliant. Hilary had no clue how to answer him.
"What's the best way to reach you - email?"
😂😂😂.
SNL headwriter Jim Downey's First Citywide Change Bank Commercials circa 1988 were hilarious. Here at 4:00 Jim Downey discusses with Conan O'Brien writing and starring in the commercials.
https://youtu.be/QvXG7dcpoDc?feature=shared
So I've gone back to this a couple of times, the podcast with Jim Downey on Conan that was from just a few months ago. Here's a clip at the beginning where Downey has written a very funny bit (my opinion) comparing Conan with Jeffrey Epstein. This guy still has it. He's really poking fun at the people who associated with Epstein. Good stuff. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tn7fks2UDRE
https://i.postimg.cc/pTF06Nzj/Cat-Sun-Mew-The-Art-Of-Purr.png
And you missed Bill Hicks.
Go re-watch "Airplane!" and count the jokes that cannot be made today.
Pretty much all of them.
Then ponder why so many of your fellow americans not only go along with race-based censorship and race-.based compelled speach, and in the interest of whom it is they do so.
June Cleaver talking jive 🤣🤣
I was just thinking about "Airplane" yesterday (because I was watching an old James Arness movie and forgot that Peter Graves was his brother and that made me think of Captain Oveur, which role was probably not as funny for the younger generations since they didn't watch "Fury" during their tender years.
But--my God. Robert Stack parodying himself in that film. I grew up on him too and never suspected such depths of good-sportingness.
I've watched a few "reaction-videos" of young people (20-25) wathcing "Airplane!"; while they don't get most of the jokes referring then-well known TV-series, commercials and so on (most are obscure to me too, not being american) what upsets and worries me is the shame they display while chuckling nervously at the two black men talking jive to the stewardess, to take one example.
Not to mention the "show the tribesmen a basketball"-scene.
They simply can't see that the entire scene is /making fun of the a stereotype/, it's not playing the stereotype straight. But they can't see it. They think it racist, over the line and an artifact of older times and the intolerance of those bygone days.
When we had a lodger of that age (20-25) I showed her older swedish movies, and she had a similar reaction, summed up in her exclaiming:
"Where they allowed to joke like that back then!?"
To her the idea that someone, some nebulous authority, had the right to decide what may or may not be made fun of was natural.
But what with senatorial interns performing sodomy in the official auditorium and people /defending/ it, it's probably difficult to make comedy today even without considerations of political correctness.
Re that Senate staffer: Our Boy Randy is whining that he's being 'attacked for who I love to pursue a political agenda.'
And re censorship: everyone wants to censor the other guy and they just don't understand sunlight is magic.
A few years ago Bill Maher had Milo Yiannopoulos on as the opening guest on his show. The format is Bill and a single guest speaking one-on one for a few minutes, and then that guest leaves and the guest panel remaining for the rest of the show is seated at a table with Bill at its center.
And Bill just asked a few questions of Milo, very gently and respectfully, and then let Milo talk. Just absolutely classic "give 'em enough rope." It was more effective than all the screeching in the world. One felt sorry for Milo. He showed himself to be a total idiot and and a sad pathetic lost guy.
That's how you do it. Let 'em speak.
"...attacked for who I love to pursue a political agenda..."
Maybe I'm reading too much into it, but I get the feeling that he accidentally told on himself here: the sentence can easily be read as who he loves is no more than him pursuing a political agenda.
Absolutely, let people speak. No surer way to make someone reveal themselves. Was an imam did just that over here the other day, after a various rainbow-people had tried to argue islam isn't hostile to homos. The imam, who is of the Moslem Brotherhood, came right out and proclaimed that if you're not anti-homo, you're not a moslem.
Cue silence in the media.
But the no. 1 spot for that here in Sweden is held by a Socialist Democrat who exclaimed in the 1970s when the party lost power for the first time in over 30 years:
"It feels like a coup d'etat!"
Can't reveal yourself more than that, I think.
Talk about political posturing...
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12872333/Fired-Democrat-senator-aide-gay-sex-tape-criminal-charges.html
Roger that!
You are the greatest on Substack Humor. Go dominate Education too. Another great one.