There’s nothing wrong with good conservative humor. There just aren’t many examples of it.
Why is it so hard for right-leaning comics to have a lasting effect or even produce real, sizable and memorable laughs? When it comes down to it, it’s about the purpose of satire. Satire, which is the foundation for most current comedy, is about taking on the status quo. The whole point of satire is to dismantle oppressive systems through poking fun at them. Satire is a cry for change, just told with a punchline. That goes against American political conservatism which, unsurprisingly, looks to keep the status quo alive and well.
Often conservative comedy results in “punching down”, making fun of the common man while protecting those in power. It also generally comes across feeling out of place and forced. That sort of funny leaves a bad taste in your mouth and rarely stands the test of time.
Case in point, the Fox News “comedy” show The 1/2 Hour News Hour. The long-forgotten satirical series lasted only one season in 2007 as America was hurling head-first into a hotly-contested presidential election which saw the likes of John McCain, Mitt Romney, Fred Thompson, Barack Obama, John Edwards, Joe Biden and Hillary Clinton all vying for their party’s nomination. It was a major moment for our country’s future and a perfect time for some reliable political comedy. The left had already carved out The Daily Show, which saw Jon Stewart firing on all cylinders and attacking the current President, George W. Bush, and his allies on the right. Fox News, which happened to be one of those allies, thought it was the right time to create their own Daily Show, a comedy program that leveled the playing field and poked fun at the left.
To create their comedy show, Fox hired Joel Surnow, creator of everyone’s favorite laugh-fest 24. Instead of focusing on torturing terrorists, The 1/2 Hour News Hour tortured audiences with easy, limp jokes about Barack Obama’s popularity, Hillary Clinton’s personality and other frequent targets of Republicans like Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi and Rosie O’Donnell.
Side note: why do so many conservatives attack Rosie O’Donnell as if that’s going to hurt liberals? They act as though Rosie is some cherished, idolized hero. This is Rosie O’Donnell you’re talking about, not Ruth Bader Ginsberg. If you really wanted to anger the left by attacking a celebrity, you could at least pick Ed Begley, Jr.
The 1/2 Hour News Hour was weak from the get-go but that didn’t stop Fox from hoping they had a hit on their hands. Audiences got their first taste of co-anchors Kurt McNally (Kurt Long) and Jennifer Lange (Jennifer Robertson) on February 18, 2007 at 10 PM. The debut episode was full of jabs at Clinton and the Democrats’ hot new thing, Senator Obama. A sample joke from the premiere: “Illinois Senator Barack Obama admits that as a teenager he sometimes used cocaine. This news sent Obama’s approval rating among Democrats plummeting to an all-time low of 99.9 percent.” All in all, not a horrible joke but it definitely underscores the fact that liberals had found a candidate universally loved and preferred over any Republican. Ha ha?
Even if you separate the politics from the jokes, there wasn’t anything funny in the show. The comedy was all so flat and boring. There were bits about gun free zones, the ACLU and Hollywood. And all of them were so obvious that they didn’t even feel like punchlines. Even the inclusion of Dennis Miller, Fox’s version of star power, wasn’t enough to create any sort of audiences of critical acclaim. The 1/2 Hour News Hour was D.O.A.
It was plain to see from moment one that the series would never compete with the likes of The Daily Show and cancelation felt pre-ordained. Fox didn’t conquer the comedy world, they didn’t change many minds, they didn’t even get good ratings. The 1/2 Hour News Hour was Fox’s first and last attempt to pursue comedy.
In August 2007, Fox News Senior Vice President of programming Bill Shine canceled the show but promised that the network was looking at ways to “retool” the series. That never happened and The 1/2 Hour News Hour was never heard from again.
But Fox would still have the last laugh: in 2018, Shine left his job at Fox News to become Deputy White House Chief of Staff.