Bye Bye Boris

UK commentator Jonathan Pie gives a proper “Ta ta!” to Tory Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

Jonathan Pie website

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The Bookshop

“The Bookshop,” a 1967 sketch featuring John Cleese and Marty Feldman from At Last the 1948 Show.The show got its title as a joke on how long it took BBC TV commissioners to nake programming decisions.

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Replying to Spam

Nobody replies to spam email except the most gullible — and James Veitch. 

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How Much Is That Hound Dog in the Window?

“That Hound Dog in the Window,” a version of Bob Merrill‘s “Doggie in the Window,” as interpreted by Homer & Jethro, 1958.

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Vincent Clortho Public School for Wizards

HBO explores the tragedy of America’s under-funded inner-city public schools for wizards.

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Comedy Museum Opens

National Comedy Museum — Artist’s Concept.

The nonprofit National Comedy Center has opened in Jamestown, NY. Appalachian Jamestown is the birthplace of Lucille Ball, who left when she was 3 years old. Her family later moved to nearby Celoron, a lakeside village with a great amusement park, and young Lucy understandably preferred living there. Soon after her family went broke and moved back to Jamestown, 14-year-old Lucy left for New York City. Somehow Jamestown got the Comedy Center and Celoron got a really ugly statue of Lucy (later replaced).

More:

“The Serious Mission Behind a $50 Million Comedy Museum,” Michael Stahl, CityLab

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Top image (“National Comedy Center — artist’s conception”) by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com

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WHCD Comic Didn’t Insult Sarah Sanders’ Looks, Just Her Lies

Someone who never saw the comedian’s act booked Michelle Wolf for the White House Correspondents Dinner, and right now that talent booker is probably looking for a new job. True to form, Ms. Wolf flamed the media and the public figures who are the White House correspondents’ meal ticket. Oddly, it was this relatively light toasting of Sarah Huckabee Sanders that caused the greatest uproar:

“I actually really like Sarah. I think she’s very resourceful. But she burns facts and then she uses that ash to create a perfect smoky eye. Like, maybe she’s born with it, maybe it’s lies. It’s probably lies.”

Critics saw it as a gratuitous slam at Ms. Sanders’ looks, which it wasn’t. Why would they think that?

1. Because that’s the kind of thing that critics expected, Sarah being a woman and all; and
2. A combination of room echo and Ms. Wolf’s casual enunciation allowed some in the room to hear the word “facts” as “fat” (see #1); and
3. Men in the audience didn’t recognize the allusion to a Maybelline “smokey eye” ad campaign.

Another joke likening Sarah Sanders to the Aunt Lydia character of the “Handmaiden’s Tale,” the enforcer of the patriarchy’s enslavement of women, was seen as a comparison to the physical appearance of the middle-aged actress who plays her.

The Michelle Wolf gag that really skewered the heart of America’s media, though, was this:

“You guys are obsessed with Trump. Did you used to date him? Because you pretend like you hate him, but I think you love him. I think what no one in this room wants to admit is that Trump has helped all of you. He couldn’t sell steaks or vodka or water or college or ties or Eric, but he has helped you.

He’s helped you sell your papers and your books and your TV. You helped create this monster, and now you’re profiting off him. And if you’re going to profit off Trump, you should at least give him some money, because he doesn’t have any.”

Even in past years, when the White House Correspondents Dinner was a politician- and celebrity-infested “nerd prom,” the hoopla of the annual dinner overshadowed the event’s purpose, raising money for journalism student scholarships. Maybe next year’s WHCD (if it happens) will eschew comedy and feature singing, juggling, or mime.

More:

“Since when did ‘perfect smokey eye’ become an insult, America?” Jean Hannah Edelstein, The Guardian

“No, Michelle Wolf Didn’t Joke About Sarah Huckabee Sanders’s Looks,” Jen Chaney, Vulture

New York State Funds National Comedy Center

National Comedy Center (artist’s concept)

The nonprofit National Comedy Center in Jamestown, NY has received a $500,000 grant from the New York State government. Appalachian Jamestown is the birthplace of Lucille Ball, who left when she was 3 years old. Her family later moved to nearby Celoron, a lakeside village with a great amusement park, and young Lucy understandably prefered living there. After her family went broke and moved back to Jamestown, 14-year-old Lucy soon left for New York City. Somehow Jamestown got the Comedy Center and Celoron got a really ugly statue of Lucy (later replaced).

It will cost $50 million to complete the Comedy Center. That’s a lot of whoopee cushions. State funding totals $14 million, the U.S. Department of Commerce kicked in $2 million, and the balance has come from private foundation sources. The center will open in 2018, but Jamestown held its annual Lucille Ball Comedy Festival last week, and there seems to be a Lucy-Desi Museum there, too. If you want to pay your respects, Lucy’s remains were moved to Jamestown’s Lake View Cemetery.

More:

“Editorial: While some joke about a comedy center in Jamestown, the concept makes sense,” Buffalo News

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Top image (“National Comedy Center — artist’s conception”) by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com

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The Trick to Covering Trump

“While major news networks have struggled to figure out the right way to cover the Trump administration, political satirists like Samantha Bee, John Oliver, Stephen Colbert, and Seth Meyers have demonstrated why comedy can be such a powerful antidote to bullsh*t.”
— Carlos Maza, and Coleman Lowndes, Vox

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Trump: Ah, THAT Explains It.

Gracie Allen and Pat Paulsen did it first, but Donald Trump is really nailing this presidential campaign thing. Trevor Noah explains: