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Things we actually like
advice
Important Advice For the Humor-Deficient
John McCain got in trouble this week for an old joke he told once about how women enjoy rape. No one gets his sense of humor! He grew up with the subtle wit of Sir Francis Burnand's Punch, is it his fault the kids today all read filthy comic books or whatever? Similarly, The New Yorker got in trouble this week for printing a cover that everyone had to pretend not to understand in order to be outraged about how no one would get the joke. It was complicated. But we have advice from an expert that will help. John McCain needs to read this email from your day editor's mother. More »
foofaraw
Reader Response: We Are All Racist For Not Hating that 'New Yorker' Cover
A reader is upset with Gawker for wholeheartedly embracing The New Yorker's terribly offensive cartoon about how Barack Obama is a terrorist. She writes: More »
foofaraw
Wolf Blitzer Calls David Remnick a Nazi (Kind of)
New Yorker editor David Remnick went on The Situation Room today to answer to Wolf Blitzer about his magazine's ridiculous Obama cover. "There are gonna be a lot of people who aren't going to be sophisticated New Yorker readers," Wolf asserted, "who are going to look at this cover" and assume it is an accurate portrayal of reality. Remnick—typical hate-monger!—says this is condescending. In the attached clip, watch Wolf claim that the cover could've appeared on "a neo-Nazi magazine." Context is meaningless! No one gets anything anymore! Remnick says some crazy thing about being Colbert in Print, but no one gets jokes without studio audiences to explain what is supposed to be funny. (After the jump, in a calmer setting, New Yorker political writer Hendrick Hertzberg holds up the cover and grins. He almost giggles!) More »
cartoon violence
Remnick Defends Obama Cover, Idea That Readers Aren't Retards
This is the problem with being an editor or publisher or writer or cartoonist or even blogger and having some small lingering trace of a sense of irony—sometimes you accidentally assume that the Vast and Mysterious "Audience" shares that subversive French sense. Thankfully, after what will presumably be a full week of Outrage and Demands for Apologies, David Remnick and his New Yorker will never make that mistake again. As you might've seen, the cover of that influential publication this week shows Barack Obama dressed as a Muslim, and he is Terrorist Fist-Bumping his aggrieved wife as a flag burns in the Oval Office. This obvious and heavy-handed satire has enraged Democrats and liberal media critics because now they are pretty sure this nation of child-like imbeciles will believe it to be an un-retouched photograph from the FUTURE. New Yorker editor David Remnick defended the cover to the Huffington Post. Did you know that sometimes that magazine makes "jokes"? More »
funny jokes
'Vanity Fair' Fights Fox With Foto Funnies
Remember when Fox News inexplicably displayed terribly and offensively photoshopped photos of two Times reporters without explanation on what is ostensibly a news program? Yeah? Well Vanity Fair totally got them back! They photoshopped the hell out of some Fox people! Zing! Taste of your own medicine! That'll show 'em! [VF]
casting
SJP to Star in Groundbreaking Film About New York City Lady
Sex and the City workhorse Sarah Jessica Parker is in talks to star in the upcoming movie The Ivy Chronicles. Marking a huge departure from her previous acting gig, Ivy is about a single gal in New York City who lives in a series of wildly unrealistic apartments. The character, Ivy Ames, also helps rich kids get into rich people schools. This could be a make-it-or-break-it movie for Ms. Parker, who's had great success with the SATC series and movie, but whose other film efforts, for the most part, have, erm, failed to launch (though, the actual film Failure to Launch did very respectably at the box office.) Read a more detailed description of this Ivy Bradshaw—I mean Ames—after the jump. More »
Jay Leno Taking The Rest Of The Day Off
"Kazakhstan's sole communication satellite, used by many of the nation's TV broadcasters, is out of control due to a computer glitch and may be lost altogether, officials said." At least they won't be able to see all the "Borat" jokes that are coming. Ha, who's running the space program over there, ha? [NYP]
It's Funny Because He's Blind
Of all the people spotted by Page Six's army of loyal spies, readers, and publicists, they chose a photo of governor David Paterson to illustrate their "sightings." 'Cause he can't see! How delightfully witty! [NYP]
enough
'Worst Album Covers': Been Done, Thanks
Here's an idea that was only clever the first 20 or 30 times someone did it: "The Worst Album Covers Of All Time." Ha, look at the ugly people! The first person who dug through crates and crates of old records to find the funniest 1973 dulcimer trio was a genius; pretty much everyone since is just a copycat. Blogger 33 1/3 points out that every freaking list like this just draws from the same pool of Google-able bad album covers already out there. Like AM NY and the South Florida Sun-Sentinel did this week. And the most popular bad album cover is a fake! A Photoshop joke! A years-old joke, which media outlets can't stop falling for. Like Very Short List, which marvels today, "Someone at VSL Headquarters was convinced that these were all elaborately executed jokes, fake records concocted the day before yesterday. But they are definitely real." No; here's the real version of "Can I Borrow A Feeling?": More »
whoops
Mike Huckabee's Hilarious Joke About Assassinating Barack Obama
Former presidential candidate Mike Huckabee is a slick, smooth, charming guy. He would've been a dangerous nominee, because he's TV-friendly and quick-witted in a folksy, unthreatening way. But he's actually a rar-right nutcase. And sometimes his jokes fall flat. As in the clip above. If you can't get a laugh from telling a "someone is going to shoot Barack Obama" joke in a talk at the NRA then your delivery needs work, we say. Oh, also we say: wtf.
journalismism
AP Baffled When Jimmy Fallon Tells "Joke"
The Observer covered NBC's press conference anointing never-funny (but cute!) former SNLer Jimmy Fallon the new king of late-late night. They included this anecdote: "Mr. Fallon claimed his kindergarten yearbook featured his photo above the caption 'Most Likely to Take Over David Letterman.' (Someone in the crowd, possibly auditioning to be Mr. Fallon's sidekick, let out an audible 'Wow' at this point.) When asked what kindergarten had yearbooks, much less ones with references to David Letterman, Mr. Fallon joked, 'It's a magical kindergarten. It's taught by a unicorn, a talking unicorn.'" See? He's doing some of that funny joking-around stuff the late-night comics do. But no one told the Associated Press, as you can see in the attached story. [NYO, AP]
clips
Penn Jillette Appalls Joe Scarborough With Old Joke
Loud, shouty, occasional magician Penn Jillette was on MSNBC, talking about politics. Why? It's unclear. He had some misogynistic anti-Hillary joke that became a YouTube thing a while back. Now the joke is old and tired (like HILLARY CLINTON, right??) but Penn dutifully repeated, along with his claim that the fact that the joke went over so well with his crazy audience meant Hil was doomed from day one. He doesn't really seem to think that says anything too terrible about the nation, but whatever. Point is: arbiter of civility Joe Scarborough disapproved. And sad Mika Brzezinski said only, "I don't like that." Clip attached.
endorsements
Songsmith Has "Reason to Believe" In Obama!
Bruce Springsteen endorsed Barack Obama, leading to terrible headlines across this great nation and plenty knee-jerk hipster Boss-hate. Whatevs, guys, Tunnel of Love is a desert island disc. The political question: does it matter? Does Bruce still have blue-collar cred? He's wasted a bit less of it than some celebs have by not blogging on HuffPo or whining about dead polar bears, but he also appeared with John Kerry back in 2004 and we all know how that turned out. Anyway, biggest endorsement since Oprah! But endorsements still don't really matter! Bruce says Barack "speaks to the America I've envisioned in my music for the past 35 years," which is a reference to white people made bitter after their jobs disappear and clinging to god and guns. Those are pretty much the people Bruce sings about when not singing about his wives. After the jump, a collection of utterly terrible Springsteen lyric jokes we removed from this post. More »
hoaxes
Today's Most Tolerable April Fool's Pranks
Above, the official front page of Sam Zell's media concern, Tribune Company, renamed, today, ZellCoMediaEnterprise. Their false front page amused us the most primarily for its thinly-concealed tone of pessimism&mcash;check out the Tribune DEBToMETER! Also: funny pictures of dogs. Bucking the internet cat trend! After the jump, a couple more of the better-crafted 2008 April Fool's Jokes of the Web: More »
tribune co.
Hey, At Least They Got A T-Shirt
When Dennis FitzSimons left the Tribune Co. in December, he got a $41 million payout. Awesome for him, offensive for everyone else. And as a joke on fate's cruelty to work-a-day journalists, the Hartford Courant handed out t-shirts that said "My CEO walked off with $41 million and all I got was this lousy T-shirt!" Nothing says motivation like a shirt to wear to the gym. [Romenesko]
Just Asking...
Has anyone made the "McCain Promises to Remain in Housing Crisis for 100 Years" joke yet? [NYT]
Has anyone made the "McCain Promises to Remain in Housing Crisis for 100 Years" joke yet? [NYT]
memos
Sam Zell Can Laugh At Self, State of Journalism
Tribune Co. owner and noted asshole Sam Zell's most charming feature might be his sense of humor. Forget about all the cutbacks at the L.A. Times and how he's trying to drop Newsday: He enjoyed the video a Chicago Tribune intern did for the rival Chicago Sun-Times mocking Zell for selling the naming rights to Wrigley Field. That's leadership! Memo after the jump via L.A. Observed.More »
