Dubya: The Best of Bush Comedy
We've all heard the election news. We all know we're getting a new president this January, but I think we should all look back at what we're losing: on January 20th, the most [insert adjective here]* president in history will leave office. In commemoration of this day, I've put together this collection of the best selections of standup comedy on the subject of George W. Bush.
(This is only the front cover; the double-sided cover is available in the zipped file)
1. Speech at the White House Correspondent's Dinner, Stephen Colbert
"Reality has a well-known liberal bias."
First of all , I want to apologize for the godawful quality on this track; turn your speakers way up. You'll need it. I also want to point out that this is not the entire speech, as you'll be aware if you've seen the whole thing. If you haven't, look it up on Youtube, because it's awesome.
Anyway, what better way to get started than with a speech made less than ten feet from Bush himself? I'm a huge fan of Colbert's silly, devil's advocate style of comedy. He always gets his point across, and you'll be laughing as you accede to his point.
ETA: Better version here, thanks to hellosugah!
2. How Big a Dick Must You Be, Jon Stewart
"The truth is, while Iraq didn't have weapons of mass destruction or ties to Al-Qaida, Iran is currently working on a nuclear bomb and does have pretty strong ties to Al-Qaida, so, you know, he really was only one letter off."
I couldn't imagine making this mix without Jon Stewart. This clip is, I have to admit, not really some of his best work, but it was all that I had. Still, this is Jon Stewart we're talking about, so no matter what it's going to be worth listening to.
3. Excerpt from End of the Universe, Lewis Black
"George W. Bush Junior, our president, doesn't believe there's global warming, 'cause I guess he doesn't have any skin!"
I'm not a huge fan of Lewis Black, but his no-holds-barred, angry comedy is certainly appealing when you're in the right kind of mood, and definitely works well when Bush is the topic of discussion.
4. Whiffleball Tony, Mike Birbiglia
"Pizza's a great metaphor for America, you know, it started in Italy, then we brought it over here, and then we made it better than the original, and then we invaded Iraq under false pretenses..."
This one takes a bit of time to get to the point, but just trust me and listen to it. Mike Birbiglia is one of my favorite comedians; his dorky sense of humor is absolutely hilarious, and his analogies are genius.
5. You Can't Shoot the Shooter, Mike Birbiglia
"At this point in the war, it's kind of like when your dad decides he's going to build a deck. But he doesn't know how to build a deck!"
Did I mention that Mike Birbiglia is one of my favorite comedians? There are one or two jokes here that are repeated from Track 4, because this is from a different performance, but the vast majority of it is new and even funnier than the last.
6. Excerpt from Live on Broadway, Robin Williams
"Some men are born great, some achieve greatness, some get it as a graduation gift."
How can you have the best of any kind of standup comedy without Robin Williams? He's so incredibly quick and energetic that it's impossible not to get swept up by his performance.
ETA: Better version here, thanks to hellosugah!
7. Politics, Kathleen Madigan
"I like it when he gives a speech that's not prepared, where he just speaks freely, 'cause he'll always take the time to explain stuff to us the way they explained it to him."
This track isn't all about Bush, I feel I should mention; she kind of wanders off at the end to other topics, but it's hilarious anyway. Kathleen Madigan has a great dry sense of humor, and she's wonderfully insightful besides.
8. Excerpt from Tinselworm, Bill Bailey
"'To understand the marsh is one of the most difficult intelligence challenges.'"
Here, Bill Bailey, a musical comedian, remixes some of Bush's speeches to a vaguely techno-sounding beat. It gets a bit repetitive, but he nonetheless does a very clever mix of Bush's stupidity.
ETA: Better version here, thanks to hellosugah!
9. Second Excerpt from Tinselworm, Bill Bailey
"When I hear that theme now, I imagine different scenes in my head, more disturbing scenes..."
Some more Bill Bailey here. I almost didn't include this clip, but I couldn't resist. This one takes a bit of time to get to the point, too, so stick with it and you'll see where it's going.
ETA: Better version here, thanks to hellosugah!
10. Bush is Embarrassing, Margaret Cho
"Oh, George, you've been a very bad president!"
Ah, Margaret Cho, what can I say about you? I absolutely adore Margaret Cho. She lives in the land of Too Much Information, and her highly intelligent, utterly hilarious sense of humor is something you won't hear anywhere else.
11. Bounty on Bush, Mark Thomas
"Well, what I want to say is, Bush has fuckin' hijacked the language of liberation, he's currently flying it into the Twin Towers of fuckin' historical truth and accuracy."
Mark Thomas is amazing. Anyone who wants two CDs worth of his standup, let me know and I'll upload it, because it's fantastic. A comedian and an activist, Mark Thomas's act incorporates personal stories regarding politics and protesting, along with his family's interaction with his activism. This is the longest track on this mix, but just trust me and listen to it the whole way through.
12. A Rapid Series of Comical Noises!, David Cross
"You know what? I hate our freedom. Me, little old me! I'm an American! I fuckin' hate it. That's all we've done with it? We're fuckin' assholes, man."
(Note: Earlier in his act, David Cross had talked about an ad for electric scissors and the laziness inherent in the product.)
His voice is kind of obnoxious, isn't it? It works well for his comedy, though, and he's definitely a funny guy. You might recognize him from Arrested Development, which is where I first heard of him, in which he played one of the funniest characters (IMO).
13. When All is Said and Done, I am Lonely and Miserable and Barely Able to Mask My Contempt for the Audience as I Trot Out the Same Sorry Act I've Been Doing Since the Mid-Eighties!, David Cross
"You know when he was at the prison camp in Germany, and he had to lay the wreath, and he, you know, stood there solemnly, and I'm sure, thinking, like, 'Wow, I wonder how many millions of dollars did my grandfather make from the Nazis?'"
Do you see why I cut the title short on the playlist? WinRAR wouldn't even zip it that way because the filename was too long. In this, our last track (lucky number thirteen), David Cross has realized that Bush Martin Luther King's Day is coming up - or it was, when this was recorded - and so has decided to rewrite the famous "I Have a Dream" speech for Bush's use.
(Obviously this isn't exactly a "fanmix," but it's the closest term I could think of that might be reused in my tags. Also, if you're interested in one of the comedians, I probably have more of their stuff, so go ahead and send a request my way if you want. And if anybody wants any of these files uploaded somewhere else, let me know.)
ETA: Someone requested the Robin Williams CD, so here's that. It has a couple problems, though; I first got it as an mp3 file, so I just cut it up randomly to make it into tracks for a CD. They're all in order, but tracks tend to change in the middle of sentences. The end also got cut off somehow; I don't know how that happened.
* Suggestions: Evil, stupid, funny, fucked up, etc.
(This is only the front cover; the double-sided cover is available in the zipped file)
1. Speech at the White House Correspondent's Dinner, Stephen Colbert
"Reality has a well-known liberal bias."
First of all , I want to apologize for the godawful quality on this track; turn your speakers way up. You'll need it. I also want to point out that this is not the entire speech, as you'll be aware if you've seen the whole thing. If you haven't, look it up on Youtube, because it's awesome.
Anyway, what better way to get started than with a speech made less than ten feet from Bush himself? I'm a huge fan of Colbert's silly, devil's advocate style of comedy. He always gets his point across, and you'll be laughing as you accede to his point.
ETA: Better version here, thanks to hellosugah!
2. How Big a Dick Must You Be, Jon Stewart
"The truth is, while Iraq didn't have weapons of mass destruction or ties to Al-Qaida, Iran is currently working on a nuclear bomb and does have pretty strong ties to Al-Qaida, so, you know, he really was only one letter off."
I couldn't imagine making this mix without Jon Stewart. This clip is, I have to admit, not really some of his best work, but it was all that I had. Still, this is Jon Stewart we're talking about, so no matter what it's going to be worth listening to.
3. Excerpt from End of the Universe, Lewis Black
"George W. Bush Junior, our president, doesn't believe there's global warming, 'cause I guess he doesn't have any skin!"
I'm not a huge fan of Lewis Black, but his no-holds-barred, angry comedy is certainly appealing when you're in the right kind of mood, and definitely works well when Bush is the topic of discussion.
4. Whiffleball Tony, Mike Birbiglia
"Pizza's a great metaphor for America, you know, it started in Italy, then we brought it over here, and then we made it better than the original, and then we invaded Iraq under false pretenses..."
This one takes a bit of time to get to the point, but just trust me and listen to it. Mike Birbiglia is one of my favorite comedians; his dorky sense of humor is absolutely hilarious, and his analogies are genius.
5. You Can't Shoot the Shooter, Mike Birbiglia
"At this point in the war, it's kind of like when your dad decides he's going to build a deck. But he doesn't know how to build a deck!"
Did I mention that Mike Birbiglia is one of my favorite comedians? There are one or two jokes here that are repeated from Track 4, because this is from a different performance, but the vast majority of it is new and even funnier than the last.
6. Excerpt from Live on Broadway, Robin Williams
"Some men are born great, some achieve greatness, some get it as a graduation gift."
How can you have the best of any kind of standup comedy without Robin Williams? He's so incredibly quick and energetic that it's impossible not to get swept up by his performance.
ETA: Better version here, thanks to hellosugah!
7. Politics, Kathleen Madigan
"I like it when he gives a speech that's not prepared, where he just speaks freely, 'cause he'll always take the time to explain stuff to us the way they explained it to him."
This track isn't all about Bush, I feel I should mention; she kind of wanders off at the end to other topics, but it's hilarious anyway. Kathleen Madigan has a great dry sense of humor, and she's wonderfully insightful besides.
8. Excerpt from Tinselworm, Bill Bailey
"'To understand the marsh is one of the most difficult intelligence challenges.'"
Here, Bill Bailey, a musical comedian, remixes some of Bush's speeches to a vaguely techno-sounding beat. It gets a bit repetitive, but he nonetheless does a very clever mix of Bush's stupidity.
ETA: Better version here, thanks to hellosugah!
9. Second Excerpt from Tinselworm, Bill Bailey
"When I hear that theme now, I imagine different scenes in my head, more disturbing scenes..."
Some more Bill Bailey here. I almost didn't include this clip, but I couldn't resist. This one takes a bit of time to get to the point, too, so stick with it and you'll see where it's going.
ETA: Better version here, thanks to hellosugah!
10. Bush is Embarrassing, Margaret Cho
"Oh, George, you've been a very bad president!"
Ah, Margaret Cho, what can I say about you? I absolutely adore Margaret Cho. She lives in the land of Too Much Information, and her highly intelligent, utterly hilarious sense of humor is something you won't hear anywhere else.
11. Bounty on Bush, Mark Thomas
"Well, what I want to say is, Bush has fuckin' hijacked the language of liberation, he's currently flying it into the Twin Towers of fuckin' historical truth and accuracy."
Mark Thomas is amazing. Anyone who wants two CDs worth of his standup, let me know and I'll upload it, because it's fantastic. A comedian and an activist, Mark Thomas's act incorporates personal stories regarding politics and protesting, along with his family's interaction with his activism. This is the longest track on this mix, but just trust me and listen to it the whole way through.
12. A Rapid Series of Comical Noises!, David Cross
"You know what? I hate our freedom. Me, little old me! I'm an American! I fuckin' hate it. That's all we've done with it? We're fuckin' assholes, man."
(Note: Earlier in his act, David Cross had talked about an ad for electric scissors and the laziness inherent in the product.)
His voice is kind of obnoxious, isn't it? It works well for his comedy, though, and he's definitely a funny guy. You might recognize him from Arrested Development, which is where I first heard of him, in which he played one of the funniest characters (IMO).
13. When All is Said and Done, I am Lonely and Miserable and Barely Able to Mask My Contempt for the Audience as I Trot Out the Same Sorry Act I've Been Doing Since the Mid-Eighties!, David Cross
"You know when he was at the prison camp in Germany, and he had to lay the wreath, and he, you know, stood there solemnly, and I'm sure, thinking, like, 'Wow, I wonder how many millions of dollars did my grandfather make from the Nazis?'"
Do you see why I cut the title short on the playlist? WinRAR wouldn't even zip it that way because the filename was too long. In this, our last track (lucky number thirteen), David Cross has realized that Bush Martin Luther King's Day is coming up - or it was, when this was recorded - and so has decided to rewrite the famous "I Have a Dream" speech for Bush's use.
(Obviously this isn't exactly a "fanmix," but it's the closest term I could think of that might be reused in my tags. Also, if you're interested in one of the comedians, I probably have more of their stuff, so go ahead and send a request my way if you want. And if anybody wants any of these files uploaded somewhere else, let me know.)
ETA: Someone requested the Robin Williams CD, so here's that. It has a couple problems, though; I first got it as an mp3 file, so I just cut it up randomly to make it into tracks for a CD. They're all in order, but tracks tend to change in the middle of sentences. The end also got cut off somehow; I don't know how that happened.
* Suggestions: Evil, stupid, funny, fucked up, etc.