I’m with Arabtino on This One…

Why does conservative humor suck?

I’m prepared to be convinced that I’m wrong, because my case studies are Dennis Miller, Colin Quinn, and Mallard Fillmore, but it seems that conservative-inspired comedy has terrible difficulty in raising even the merest chuckle. The left, and even the moderate left, is ripe for mockery; witness Stephen Colbert hilarious Democratic Party focus group last night on the Daily Show.

I’ve heard that Maher is much better, although he’s not really a “conservative” comic as such. I suppose that the Clinton years were bad on balance for conservative comedy; the jokes came so easily that there was no discernment between hackery and actual talent. I’m also inclined to think that the new ideological purity has proven bad for conservative comedy, both because it obscures and pollutes genuine talent (Miller), and because it elevates talentless hacks beyond their station.