Why are most comedians left wing?

[matthewr]

I think this is a very salient point, I can never remember going “well those QA guys certainly know how to party!”, it not that they don’t do a very important job but they tend not to be the most original thinkers out there. I think the reason I find PJ O’Rourke amusing is that he does have the ability to connect the dots, a fact I suspect is not entirely unrelated to the, if he is to believed, industrial quantities of hallucinogenics he has consumed, if right wingers do take drugs it tends to be alcohol and cocaine, neither of which is known to produce much in the way of original thought or empathy.

PJ O'Rourke is my exception that proves the rule in terms of right wing comedians.

 

[Tim Jones]

I think this is a very salient point, I can never remember going “well those QA guys certainly know how to party!”, it not that they don’t do a very important job but they tend not to be the most original thinkers out there. I think the reason I find PJ O’Rourke amusing is that he does have the ability to connect the dots, a fact I suspect is not entirely unrelated to the, if he is to believed, industrial quantities of hallucinogenics he has consumed, if right wingers do take drugs it tends to be alcohol and cocaine, neither of which is known to produce much in the way of original thought or empathy.

Other than your post being like trying to read a plate full of scrambled eggs, the point seems to be that people who disagree with you are only capable of being amusing if they're off their heads?

 

[Tony L]

Talking of left wing comedians Frankie Boyle was very funny on BBC2 tonight. A seriously good discussion on racism, BLM etc, plus the darkest closing monologue I’ve ever heard. He also got to describe Pritti Patel as ‘a candidate from a version of The Apprentice where the winner gets to work for Satan’, which I rather liked.

 

[Tim Jones]

Talking of left wing comedians Frankie Boyle was very funny on BBC2 tonight. A seriously good discussion on racism, BLM etc, plus the darkest closing monologue I’ve ever heard. He also got to describe Pritti Patel as ‘a candidate from a version of The Apprentice where the winner gets to work for Satan’, which I rather liked.

This is why, dare I suggest, PFT OT is a bit like BBC comedy. It's an increasingly small group of people telling the people who share their lust for signalling virtue why they like the same things.

 

[Tony L]

Or, alternatively, a group of people who aren’t actually arseholes.

 

[Tim Jones]

Ot, alternatively, a group of people who aren’t actually arseholes.

Yeah, I thought that might be a bit provocative, you charmer you. There's something in it though.

 

[Cheese]

Rather than continuing to look at such threads, I guess I'd rather read how to fry an egg properly.

 

[rbrown]

Do come back and let us know what you found out.

 

[Joe P]

Are farts left wing or right wing, because they can be damn funny.

Joe

 

[Joe Hutch]

'But on our last night 'neath the stars of Marseilles
She said that Robin Askwith was funny'

HMHB

It's all entirely subjective, and arguing about whether X comedian is funny is like arguing about whether Marmite tastes good. The difference being that no-one's going to ask why Marmite-lovers are all left-wing.

 

[russel]

Other than your post being like trying to read a plate full of scrambled eggs, the point seems to be that people who disagree with you are only capable of being amusing if they're off their heads?

No Tim, I can’t remember watching any comedian who was funny whilst intoxicated, the point was the experience of consuming hallucinogenics may have given PJ O’Rourke an outlook on life that is different to other right wing comedians. The point about QA people was that if you do meet a group of authoritarian rule followers they are not much fun to be with if you are not.

 

[Joe Hutch]

This is why, dare I suggest, PFT OT is a bit like BBC comedy. It's an increasingly small group of people telling the people who share their lust for signalling virtue why they like the same things.

pfm's a bit like Mrs Brown's Boys.

Actually, a lot of comedy is about 'recognition'; if the humour bears some relation to your own experience, it's more likely to make you laugh than if it's entirely divorced from that. Thus, The Royle Family was laugh-out-loud funny to me, whereas Gavin and Stacey left me cold. It's how 'observational' comedy works, too, thus Peter Kay has me in pleats, because many of his anecdotes relate to a Northern, working-class upbringing, whilst I'm less likely to laugh at, say, someone talking about a Southern, middle-class upbringing*. So, in political terms, anyone even remotely left-of-centre is quite likely to find a left-leaning comedian funny, because there's a shared understanding/world-view.

* Though, against that, I find P G Wodehouse's books very funny, and did find the Jennings books hilarious when a nipper.

 

[Fatmarley]

pfm's a bit like Mrs Brown's Boys.

Actually, a lot of comedy is about 'recognition'; if the humour bears some relation to your own experience, it's more likely to make you laugh than if it's entirely divorced from that. Thus, The Royle Family was laugh-out-loud funny to me, whereas Gavin and Stacey left me cold. It's how 'observational' comedy works, too, thus Peter Kay has me in pleats, because many of his anecdotes relate to a Northern, working-class upbringing, whilst I'm less likely to laugh at, say, someone talking about a Southern, middle-class upbringing*. So, in political terms, anyone even remotely left-of-centre is quite likely to find a left-leaning comedian funny, because there's a shared understanding/world-view.

* Though, against that, I find P G Wodehouse's books very funny, and did find the Jennings books hilarious when a nipper.

I noticed someone mentioned Frasier earlier. That's in my top 3 comedies. The others being Red Dwarf and Only fools and horses. Not sure what that says about me.

Surely Frankie Boyle has a larger following from the right, than the left? (I think he's great though).

 

[KrisW]

@Fatmarley Why on earth would you think Frankie Boyle has any kind of right-wing following?

 

[foxwelljsly]

In answer to the OP, because right wingers are low hanging fruit.

 

[Fatmarley]

@Fatmarley Why on earth would you think Frankie Boyle has any kind of right-wing following?

I haven't watched FB in a long time but his stuff always seemed very non-pc, and I'd assume the opposite to what you'd expect a "snowflake" to like. He's very popular, so if the "snowflakes" don't like him, who does that leave?

 

[claire.foxx]

It’s a nice theory but the right wing have historically shown themselves to be the snowflakiest of snowflakes, out-snowflaking all the snowflakes they accuse of being snowflakes.

 

[Joe Hutch]

Frankie Boyle seeks to offend, so if someone's offended by what he says, whether they're young or old, left or right, job done. Lenny Bruce was similar, but in a slightly more daring way, because a) he was working in a more conservative country, at a more conservative time and b) he got busted several times. I don't think Frankie Boyle has ever come close to that, though Scotland's new 'hate speech' law might make him more vulnerable.

 

[Cheese]

It’s a nice theory but the right wing have historically shown themselves to be the snowflakiest of snowflakes, out-snowflaking all the snowflakes they accuse of being snowflakes.

Brilliant !

 

[Big Tabs]

We avoid political comedy because we find it isn't very funny.

Also despise Mrs Brown's Boys, Gavin & Stacey, Only Fools and Horses, Men Behaving Badly, Birds of a Feather, Fleabag (more like Bag of Shite), Upstart Crow and many more sit-coms.

The Detectorists was funny.
Dinnerladies and Acorn Antiques > genius.
Derry Girls, first series.
Vic and Bob have been entertaining since the early nineties, and still make me guffaw.

What makes most comedians left-wing? > Guilt.

They are rebelling against their middle-class upbringing, and sticking up two fingers to their parents.

Just a theory.