Show Me The Funny!

You're all alone in front of your screen. It's the start of a new weekend, and you're about to logoff for the day. You've finally caught your breath after Thursday's bizarre Michael Jackson PajamaGate coverage, and Friday's sad story of murder in the courtroom from Atlanta. You need to unlatch from the absurdity and the agony, if only for an hour. But it's Friday night - there isn't a new episode of The Daily Show on until Monday! What's a progressive to do?

I know. Imagine a gay congressman (Barney Frank), an author/professor, and provocateur (Camille Paglia), both appearing via satellite, with a studio panel that includes a comedian/actor (Richard Belzer), a feminist author/activist (Irshad Manji), and a last minute stand-in for Joe Scarborough, Drudge buddy/writer (Andrew Breitbart), all on one live television show - RealTime w/Bill Maher. What's that? You think Maher's an asshole? Who doesn't! (actually I don't...some of the times). But for now, put aside any preconceived notions you might have of these people and watch for a replay of Friday's show, or force a friend to tape it for you, at WaterGunPoint if necessary.

Like Paul Krugman's appearance earlier in the week on Jon Stewart's kinder, gentler show, this episode of RealTime actually dips its toes into the pool of serious issues without hollering, without talking points, and without pandering. And you're allowed to have fun. My god, could this be some new form of dissent? "No, it couldn't!" sez Michael Moore. "Screw You!" sez everyone at Air America Radio. And somewhere in the vapor, both Abbie Hoffman and Hunter Thompson are looking on, nodding silently.

But back to Friday night. Lucky for us, Scarborough couldn't make it. Seems MSNBC needed Joe's help to handle some of the rubbernecking going on all across the dial as the Atlanta story began to wind down a little. But it was Belzer's name on RealTime's guest list that caught my eye. Not Belzer the TV actor, but Belzer the comic. I'll get back to him in a moment. But first, let's take a quick stroll down memory lane, and talk about progressives' "health concerns" when it comes to the future, shall we?

The Newt Virus, The PNAC Pandemic, and The Yippies

For purposes of this piece, let's say that once upon a time a backbench congressman brought down the Speaker of the House in order to make his bones in Congress. Let's further assume that he helped pull the wool over people's eyes with a bold initiative - "The Contract With America." And from these accomplishments, along with the buildup leading to the Clinton Impeachment, a new and deadly virus was born in this country - The Common Newt.

What's happened since America caught this bug? The "election" of 2000. September 11th. Afghanistan, and Iraq. We were all subject to "BoyGeorge & The Dick, Part One!" And now the sequel is playing - "Freedom For Everyone, Bush Style, Whether You Like it or Not!"

The Newt has mutated and grown into a powerful pandemic of new robber barons and the same old faces, divide and conquer domestic policies, gunboat diplomacy, and busboy journalism. And unless you're curious enough to utilize the Web, alternative news sources, and your own passion for the truth, you've been infected, and there's no cure available right now. The old over-the-counter remedies of civil discourse and thoughtful engagement with the powers that be no longer work. Even newer, counter-Roveian strategies seem to be losing steam.

In order to find "funding" for any new ideas, it seems to me that progressives are gonna need to go just a little bit Yippie on the right's ass if they want to claim their share of the megaphone that liberals once took for granted. Which brings me back to Richard Belzer. Not Belzer in particular, but rather as a kind of comedic composite sketch for what I have in mind: Something as progressive in nature as Amy Goodman's "Democracy Now" but with a budget, editorial license, perhaps a studio audience, and a comedy writer or two. A program with a style that's sorely lacking in the progressive community today (hell, in any community for that matter). A style that requires these key elements in order to rise above the noise ringing in my ears:

Humor with an edge AND a heart.

Deadly accurate timing, from the guests to the program's subject matter.

The power that comes from a good command of the facts.

It's not often that you find all three rolled up into one user-friendly package. And even if you do, it's the timing where things get a little bit tricky...

Timing is Everything When You're Looking for SoundBites

And now, back to The Belz. In future on-air political exchanges, especially when it's live and on television, new progressive voices are going to need to consider, and perhaps study the comic timing of people like Richard Belzer. If you can find tapes of his earlier standup days, you'll see what I mean. Much like the late Bill Hicks, Belzer was a dangerous comic when it came to dealing with hecklers. And he knew how to sniff out the drunks, and separate them from the serious hecklers. If you were serious, he'd wait you out, draw you in, then cut you off at the knees, and hand your shoes back to you before you even had time to fall on your face.

That kind of thinking on your feet is missing from the toolkit of most progressive pundits, in my opinion. But the ability to create that kind of train wreck in a semi-serious setting, live and uncut, is what I'm hungry for. And with reality TV approaching its saturation point (dear lord, I pray), it's high time for the niche networks to tinker with a format like RealTime. Bravo, Trio (if it's still around), the Sundance Channel and IFC, PBS, and yes, even LinkTV should continue tapping into the progressive market. The right show with the right chemistry could spell soundbites and ratings, in my estimation. And the weekend is the perfect time to test this kind of programming, and maybe create a little bit of controversy. That way you can improve your chances of grabbing a bit of cable snewz airplay on an off news day, and throw some red meat to the Sunday morning talk shows, where the serious hecklers have held sway for too long. Sunday morning is where the Bush League likes to play. And with a new major league baseball team headed for D.C. this year, progressives can use all the batting practice they can get. So get cracking. Exhibition baseball is here. The umpires have already hollered "Play Ball!" Can you say "Beat the Pricks in 2006?" To borrow from Billy Crystal - "I knew that you could."

-----

Try clicking here later this month for a transcript of RealTime's March 11th, show.
_______________

Selected clickables from Wikipdedia. Breitbark link from Media Matters. Goodman link from DemocracyNow.org. RealTime link from HBO. Maher transcript link from Bill Maher: The Official Site.