Earlier today we did a point/counterpoint on whether politics will ever be funny again now that Barack CRAMAZING Obama is in the White House. What, you don't think anyone made fun of George Washington's teeth? There's always something, people.
On the other hand, it's going to be hard to top the last eight years in terms of shooting fish in a comedy sized barrel. Stereohyped/Mollygood editor Cord Jefferson now gives us his take on the world of political ha-ha's:
Here we go again.
In the San Francisco Chronicle today, yet another stupid article about how it's hard for comedians to make fun of Barack Obama. This one with stats:
We wagered early on that Chocolate News was going to be terrible. Though we'll hate to see David Alan Grier without work yet again, it feels good to be right.
Surprisingly, the Afrocentric fake news show's premiere numbers were relatively large. According to the Nielsen ratings, 2.2 million viewers tuned into the debut episode last week, a million more than had watched the hit Colbert Report's first episode. Now if only Chocolate News' content could keep up with Colbert's.
As we said in our original post on CN, Grier is far too theatrical an actor for his part, that of "Dag," a mouthy, ballsy newscaster out to slaughter sacred cows in the black community. Occasionally he's funny, but most of the time he's just over the top and irritating.
That said, though, Chocolate News' biggest liability isn't Dag. In fact, even if Grier toned down his act, or was replaced with a more appropriate host, CN would still be difficult to watch. That's because, frankly, it's rarely funny. And occasionally, it's downright offensive.
Comedy Central's first attempt at black (as in African American) comedy following Dave Chappelle's untimely 2006 departure, Chocolate News, premieres tomorrow night. In the same vein as prime time heavyweights The Daily Show and The Colbert Report, Chocolate News will attempt to mock news of the day with a wry, liberal bent. From what I've seen, it's not going to work.
