Starker on 1/5/2018 at 04:53
There's been a lot of uproar over Michelle Wolf's comedy roast at the Correspondents' Dinner. Apparently, her jokes were too presidential. The president himself didn't attend, cause he had a problem with his spine, but the most outrageous roast in American history is available here:
[video=youtube;DDbx1uArVOM]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDbx1uArVOM[/video]
Trance on 1/5/2018 at 11:07
If her material had been actually funny, or she had had any degree of charisma whatsoever instead of coming off as a shrill asshole with a troll's grin, people would've been less inclined to see it as vulgar and mean-spirited. As it is, I can definitely see where people are coming from with it, and I wonder how much life the concept of the White House Correspondents Dinner has left in it if this is what we can expect out of it from now on.
heywood on 1/5/2018 at 14:31
That wasn't a roast. A traditional comedy roast is supposed to honor someone with a mix of tributes and lighthearted jokes meant to poke fun at and embarrass the honoree. A roast is respectful and funny and meant to celebrate somebody. I don't think contemporary comedians know how to roast. It seems to be a lost art.
The White House correspondent's dinner used to be an occasion where the White House staff and Washington press corps would set aside politics and their normal adversarial relationship for a fun evening together. It was kind of a relationship building activity where they could let their guard down and spend time together as normal people. There were skits and jokes and ribbing and it was all in good fun.
It was out of the public's eyes until C-SPAN started broadcasting it at the beginning of the Clinton administration. It quickly became an A-list media event something like a Hollywood awards show, and given the Clintons' penchant for courting Hollywood stars and vice versa, and the press obsession with celebrity, the dinner was a warm and administration-friendly affair. That changed during the GWB administration. During the first few years of the GWB administration, it was respectful, but kind of tense. And then Colbert came along and blew up the tradition. Instead of providing entertainment, he used the stage to make hard political commentary and for self-promotion.
In my opinion, Trump is well justified in skipping it. There is a difference between making fun of someone and insulting them, and nobody should be expected to just sit there and take a barrage of mean-spirited insults. If it were me in Trump's shoes, I would have gone further and directed my staff not to attend. If the press corps is going to turn a charity dinner into an openly hostile political event, they can go fuck themselves.
Besides that, Michelle Wolf wasn't even funny. When you resort to telling pussy jokes and you can't get a laugh, you suck.
jkcerda on 1/5/2018 at 15:12
meh, they all need to grow thicker skin.
Starker on 1/5/2018 at 19:08
From the reactions, looks like the worst thing she said was that Sarah Huckabee Sanders has perfect makeup. But it seems like a lot of people think comedians should be held to higher standards. Apparently, they are not just entertainers, they are people who the whole nation look up to and they set the example for leadership and conduct. They can't just go around quoting the president or joking about the press secretary's lies.
Renzatic on 1/5/2018 at 19:34
The thing that amazes me most about this is that the pro-Trump crowd always style themselves as the stoic, strong manly men, always willing to say it like it is without regards to feelings or political correctness, and weather any adversity to Make America Great Again. If you don't like it, then you can go get bent, buttercup. Grow a pair.
In reality, they're at least as easily offended as the cucks and snowflakes they're always looking down on. As soon as you turn their tactics back on them, they'll clutch for their pearls, and cry "well, I never..." just as readily as any stereotypical leftist liberal type.
Starker on 1/5/2018 at 20:48
Inline Image:
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/c0/64/c1/c064c101de38aa47ff58742ef13d26f6.jpgWhat's fascinating to me is what parts get talked about and what don't. I would have thought the most controversial things would have been her mercilessly skewering the media or her "Flint still doesn't have clean water" mic drop. Instead, people are focusing on things like her being a potty mouth (even though she was pretty tame compared to, say, the president) or her making a joke tangentially mentioning another woman's makeup. I guess there are some things people really don't want to talk about or perhaps some of her remarks really hit home.
Dia on 2/5/2018 at 14:36
@Starker: I just stole that. Thank you!
heywood on 2/5/2018 at 15:07
I think comedians are supposed to be there for entertainment, not to show up to a formal event with a 100 year tradition and take a dump on it, so they can get their name all over the news and advance their career.
And nobody should be expected to show up and just sit there quietly while somebody throws bitter insults and mockery at you. Subjecting yourself to that is not "growing a pair", it's more being a cuck (man, I hate that word).
This just promotes more hard-line partisanship.