(no subject)
It's weird what you notice as someone interested in current events and the different satirical approaches to them.
Let me explain myself. Throughout November and December The Now Show has been on the radio, which is kind of an English audio version of The Daily Show. Apart from the attitudes the performers have to politics and the world in general.
I've been watching The Daily Show for a while now, and what I find interesting is the sense of joy in Jon Stewart's relaying the absolute stupidity and/or incredible duplicity displayed by the actions of those in power. "That Bush fella's fucking crazy!" he might say, with a wide grin that seems to suggest, "This can't possibly be real. One day there'll be an unmasking of the guy, and he'll turn out to have been Lincoln all along. He'll blame a dog and some teenagers." There's a sense that everything's okay, that he's got the joke. English satire is different.
In The Now Show there is a subtle, and sometimes less-than-subtle current of despair running through the entire structure. This is evidenced by one man talking about the renewal of Britain's fleet of nuclear submarines, Trident, and "git-wizard" David Blaine's current stunt with the same angry venom. Annoyances in everyday life (NTL broadband services and the little animated paperclip in Word becoming running jokes in the series) crop up frequently alongside the political stuff (Tony Blair becoming Rick from The Young Ones when under pressure was a stroke of genius), and you can see that for the comedians they are evidence of the same thing. These are idealists, whose dreams of a better tomorrow were annihilated the moment they found out what was going on in the world and what they could do about it. In short, they realised they were British. And all the British can do is pretend they've got a "special relationship" with a superpower, which even Blair must by now know is fictitious (and there was celebration and mockery when Americans, after having dropped several extremely heavy hints - friendly fire, anyone? - finally got through and revealed, "Yeah, we don't listen to any of the shit coming from your direction"). All they can do is cynically chuckle as the world decays around them. Then do Dalek impressions.
So, big surprise. The American one is flippant, sometimes sophomoric, but overall uplifting. The British one is intellectual, impotently angry about pretty much everything, and comes with a dash of surreal humour peppered throughout to take the edge off. But be careful, America. We once had hope. That's a lie, we had existential doubts about the nature of the universe coupled with uncertainties concerning sexual and social identity following much experimentation with opium as a headache cure. That's like a frat party, right?
P.S. I do recommend The Now Show, in case that's not clear. It's on Itunes somewhere, but I don't think the recordings stay on for more than a week and the series has ended for now. Subscribe for the next one, or I can distribute downloads I have if you're at all curious.
Let me explain myself. Throughout November and December The Now Show has been on the radio, which is kind of an English audio version of The Daily Show. Apart from the attitudes the performers have to politics and the world in general.
I've been watching The Daily Show for a while now, and what I find interesting is the sense of joy in Jon Stewart's relaying the absolute stupidity and/or incredible duplicity displayed by the actions of those in power. "That Bush fella's fucking crazy!" he might say, with a wide grin that seems to suggest, "This can't possibly be real. One day there'll be an unmasking of the guy, and he'll turn out to have been Lincoln all along. He'll blame a dog and some teenagers." There's a sense that everything's okay, that he's got the joke. English satire is different.
In The Now Show there is a subtle, and sometimes less-than-subtle current of despair running through the entire structure. This is evidenced by one man talking about the renewal of Britain's fleet of nuclear submarines, Trident, and "git-wizard" David Blaine's current stunt with the same angry venom. Annoyances in everyday life (NTL broadband services and the little animated paperclip in Word becoming running jokes in the series) crop up frequently alongside the political stuff (Tony Blair becoming Rick from The Young Ones when under pressure was a stroke of genius), and you can see that for the comedians they are evidence of the same thing. These are idealists, whose dreams of a better tomorrow were annihilated the moment they found out what was going on in the world and what they could do about it. In short, they realised they were British. And all the British can do is pretend they've got a "special relationship" with a superpower, which even Blair must by now know is fictitious (and there was celebration and mockery when Americans, after having dropped several extremely heavy hints - friendly fire, anyone? - finally got through and revealed, "Yeah, we don't listen to any of the shit coming from your direction"). All they can do is cynically chuckle as the world decays around them. Then do Dalek impressions.
So, big surprise. The American one is flippant, sometimes sophomoric, but overall uplifting. The British one is intellectual, impotently angry about pretty much everything, and comes with a dash of surreal humour peppered throughout to take the edge off. But be careful, America. We once had hope. That's a lie, we had existential doubts about the nature of the universe coupled with uncertainties concerning sexual and social identity following much experimentation with opium as a headache cure. That's like a frat party, right?
P.S. I do recommend The Now Show, in case that's not clear. It's on Itunes somewhere, but I don't think the recordings stay on for more than a week and the series has ended for now. Subscribe for the next one, or I can distribute downloads I have if you're at all curious.