5 Other Times Hollywood Let Right-Wingers Feel Funny
It’s Not Just Spicer at the Emmy’s, folks
The pagan fall equinox festival of self aggrandizement known as the Emmys happened last night and people are mad. No, not because your nerdy friend is unnecessarily angry that “Westworld and Stranger Things Lost Big.” Not because Difficult People didn’t win all the awards, which is the real reason why people should be rioting in the streets, because that show is fucking great.
No, we had a capital P Political moment at this year’s Emmys when Sean Spicer, now ex-press secretary for Donald Trump, came out as a goof on his notoriously prickly demeanor during press conferences. What comedy. Part of me thinks that people were disappointed Melissa McCarthy didn’t come out, as that’s the enjoyable version of Spicer.
The indiscriminately useless Chris Cillizza, who must see the writing on the wall, came out hard against the bit, saying “Hollywood enabled Sean Spicer and it’s not funny.” Apparently to media establishment figures like Cillizza, whose old masthead at The Fix for the Washington Post was essentially a celebrity gossip magazine for people who know what CBO scoring is, embracing a figure like Spicer is the point at which he can say enough is enough.
Hilariously, Cillizza is fixated on the “first lie” of Spicer’s, that the crowd at the Trump inauguration was “the biggest crowd for an inauguration ever.” To Cillizza, this was Spicer and Trump betraying the trust of reporters and citizens. Nevermind the mountain of lies that happened in the run up to the Iraq war said by not just Bush’s press secretary Ari Fleischer, but also from figures like Colin Powell and Dubya himself. To Cillizza, this is the original sin of our era.
For now, we’ll let bygones be bygones. This revelation from Cillizza follows a common pattern in Trump’s America. Due to abject horror of neo-nationalist conservatism, commentators and citizens alike are becoming aware, slowly but surely, of the insidious nature of right-wing politicos in media and culture. I, for one, welcome their awakening, late or not.
To help our newest woke comrades catch up, let’s go through some of modern history’s worst examples of “enabling” conservative goons through comedy:
5. Donald Trump on SNL
I know that SNL is now our preeminent source of anti-Trump analysis, but not long ago Lorne Michael’s was quite happy to play nice with normalizing white supremacists for ratings. At least the episode was panned by critics and viewers.
4. Alec Baldwin’s Trump impression
C’mon people. You know it’s terrible. Even Tim Kaine had a better impression than Baldwin, and all he did was raise his massive eyebrows while bellowing “believe me.” Check out Anthony Atamaniuck’s version in “The President’s Show” on Comedy Central for an impression that doesn’t just expertly mimic Trump performance but also finds a way to explore the sad toddler that Trump is on the inside.
3. Nixon on Laugh-In
The elder statesmen of this phenomenon, Nixon famously went on the preeminent comedy variety show of the era, Laugh-In. He was running for president in 1968 as the law and order candidate speaking to a “Silent Majority” who disapproved of the ways society was opening up and changing. Sound familiar?
2. Post 9/11 Dennis Miller
The day that changed the world. The end of innocence. The end of people thinking Dennis Miller is funny. While not the only person to turn right after 9/11, his transformation straddled the line between opportunistically reactionary and depressingly aging boomer. His appearances with Bill O’Reily are mocked by The Majority Report and Andy Kindler for a recurring segment. Those are actually worth watching.
1. MC Rove
Karl Rove, Meet the Press host David Gregory, and the Whose Line is it Anyways guys rapping at the White House Correspondents dinner. What could go wrong? If you watch the video, you will see: everything. Celebrating the political strategist who was instrumental at the turning point of conservatism’s authoritarian turn with an improv 101 level white rap is really a great way to feel good about the ole US of A.
Ben Udashen is a writer on politics and society living in Seattle, WA.
