Parlor Talk: "Make Comedy Great Again"

Comedy Central

In a culture domineered by the imperious graft of vogue, we are inundated by a litany of politicized comedies through the media that draft our impressionable imaginations on a predictable course towards civic citizenship. Nevertheless, many people might complain or object to the fact that the gamut of sportive banter showcased on the vanguard shows that either entertain riveted millions or bore the peevish critics that represent a large segment of the audience might have to resort to canned laughter to keep the enterprise of political propaganda from the muttered contempt of the enlightened audience. We should expect more than lazy patronized effronteries of the modern talk show circuit and nightly comedy programs to remain entertained! One primary complaint that some have about shows like Full Frontal with Samantha Bee and even hallowed staples like the Daily Show with Trevor Noah is that they impugn white men and men of every stripe for their privilege. In an exercise of flippant insurrection, a coalition of pundits indict men for problems or punchlines that seek to bolt the new age of comedy squarely in a political sphere without considering the backlash. So has the jockeyed camarilla that controls the mediagenic comedies that we used to be able to watch without the sententious barnstorm of fractured political hygiene become ungainly to a sophisticated audience or has the strategy elevated our discourse to train civic citizenship and given the collective audience of men their fair share of respect? I stake my claim that our cable comedy shows and mainstream talk shows should relinquish political gambits of peer-pressured gerrymandering to once again regale the world with the zany quips of elegant persiflage rather than the pompous circus show revolving around the hackneyed follies or glories of our Commander in Chief. It doesn’t matter if you lean left or right, at some point I believe men everywhere should assert a need for better gamesmanship in comedy, one that is not so acerbic with manufactured contumely that often times targets men of distinction for their specious role in our messy bricolage of a culture degrading into mute animosities of ulterior sabotage. In many ways the degraded ethos of modern comedy as seen on both primetime and cable networks represents a maneuver of questionable morals verging on graft and requires vigilant remediation.

 Regardless of race or politics, a national obsession with stultifying political gaffes is a tiresome sport that relegated itself long ago among many enlightened claques that tire over the pretense that one man or one party is the source of a great menagerie of evils. With their help we should pose a referendum to expect a higher standard out of comedy that is more resourceful in its source material because a political sideshow is just a venal ploy of the establishment rather than a full-fledged frenzy of rollicking humor that existed in the heyday of television. Men should also be vigilant to the messaging on many comedy shows as they sometimes undercut the exercise of manhood as something rebarbative rather than something to be celebrated and many issues curated carefully by ulterior mediagenic elitism skew to dismantle the exquisite bailiwick of men to make epicene calling cards a new vogue. This artifice upbraids the conventional expressions of corporate culture that are endangered by the cavils of a celebrity class that chafes against fair representation as an act of insurrection in lieu of equal protections for women that are well-deserved.

 In any discipline, including the most preponderant ones, the dilettantism of thought-policeman often delegate authority to bowdlerize and enchant simultaneously. Nevertheless, even though TV might be festering into a rotten instrument of male disempowerment, there are laudable enterprises that television is capable of that need to be heralded. While sometimes political humor becomes hackneyed, we are leaps and bounds ahead of the era of stale priggishness and canned applause that once desiccated our culture during the 1980s. Television can still be edgy while supporting the causes of men everywhere. Occasionally we witness the flourishes of television — even while many cut the cord for good reason — when we witness the burgeoning repertoire of crafty dialectics that demonstrate our headlong progress into a new frontier for the tribunes that together monopolize our mentalities. I am not here to be a pessimist about the state of modern television. I am instead here to advocate for a system of mediagenic press that has the audacity to represent all men regardless if they are “white and privileged” with fairhanded and even-headed coverage while tapping a different resource than malcontent to enthuse audiences with clever gambits rather than bore them with ad hominem political jockeying that disempowers clarity rather than heightening distinction. Some on the right might sloganeer with the gibe “Make Comedy Great Again.” Others are enthused by the pasquinade of Trump. Nevertheless, at some point, the staged and phony political circus show that upstages many other relevant considerations worthy of lampooning will run out of steam even on the vehement bastions of the militant left who relish the varnish of political skullduggery because of its powerful political impact.

My main contention is that a more sparing respectful invective against the culprits of our dismay is warranted and an attenuated version of political commentary is sorely needed to revive the clever comedies of the past that often outstrip the modern histrionic soap opera of the world in humor value according to everyone but Donald Trump. We as men should wage a campaign to rejuvenate television and remain watchdogs against people on the comedy circuit who make coarse mincemeat out of men to appease women but not remain so self-serious as to take affront to an age where more women are dutifully empowered to commandeer the media. Nevertheless, some commentaries that belittle the strife of men deserve exorcism and — in its place — we should focus on awakened comedy that plays unconventional cards to regale a loftier audience than the current pasquinade that is all but a disregarded nuisance among enlightened people. Regardless of your political affiliation, we should watch comedy shows to be entertained rather than being peer pressured politically by insidious propaganda that is designed for a different venue or arena of society.