We're not the ones who are obsessing

by Brian McKim & Traci Skene on January 26th, 2009

It’s the editors and reporters who are.

There are two more articles. The Republican-American’s “Obama: Bad news for comics” offers some hope in quotes from comic Tina Giorgi. But Mark Eaton, a performer and writer with the The Capitol Steps, calls Obama a “pretty even-keeled, cool guy,” and adds “I doubt he will give us the kind of material Bush or Bill (Clinton) did.”

Amid the fretting about “ethnic attacks” and “star(ing) down the potential lack of presidential material,” Brad Axelrod displays the most sense of anyone in the article:

Brad Axelrod, chief executive officer of Treehouse Comedy Productions, which operates comedy clubs in Danbury, Stamford, Stratford and other towns, said comedy will benefit from the opportunity for new material.

“Funny is funny. As long as you are dealing with contemporary issues, there is something to poke fun at,” he said.

Meanwhile, in the Baltimore Sun, Mary Carole McCauley’s “Comedy in black and white” asks the question, “Is Obama’s rise already shifting the bounds of racial comedy?” McCauley gets quotes from one black comic, Larry Lancaster, and one white comic, Mickey Cuchiella and tosses in a few quotes from the occasional egghead or media analyst.

But it’s more of the same.

And might it not be getting a bit embarrassing for the media now? Way back before the internet, these editors could commission these pieces and they’d run in the local paper– with nary a chance that the article would be seen by anyone outside their distribution circle. Now, however, it’s getting a bit ridiculous as the count rises– it’s at about four or five dozen now– and folks around the country (around the world!) can read the same idea flogged over and over again. A fine example of the media echo chamber.

It doesn’t show any signs of abating.

from → News • View 1 Comment • Print-Friendly • Back To Top