It's always seemed that, by and large, the vast majority of political comedy is "left wing". You dont find many republican/conservative comedians.

Why?

they arent funny?

maybe i'm completely wrong, but didn't i hear dennis miller supporting bush a year or so back? i'm not disagreeing with you in the least buggy, i've noticed that as well..i just seemed to remember that about miller

Yes, I'm not suggesting there are zero comedians who are right wingers. I'm saying "by and large" and the "vast majority" are more left wing.

i know...i was just wondering about dennis miller

It all depends on your point of view (big surprise). I'm sure a lot of people find guys like Michael Savage quite entertaining, while others just think he's a big douche.

Personally, I think it's very tough to successfully be a comedian and commentator at the same time. Jon Stewart can do it. Al Franken and Dennis Miller can't. (Just my opinion, of course.)

I'm not quite sure about their politics, but I'll also throw Denis Leary and Jeff Foxworthy out there.

I'm not sure I meant to strictly limit it to political commentators. Just comedians in general. Most comedians seem to be Left wing types. It's easy to think of liberal comedians. I have to rack my brain to squeeze out the few conservative ones.

Really???

Dennis Miller was a bush supporter, but I'd question calling him a comedian.

Not 100% on him in any direction.

Another real good example I thought of: Trey Parker and Matt Stone. Those guys definitely aren't left-wingers.

judging from some of his comedy ive heard about political/social issues id say he's right in the middle.

Yeah, I know we could work on a list of republican comedians, but to my question, I still beleive they are far, far fewer than more liberal comedians. I'm trying to figure out why this is the case.

most republicans aren't the "hey, let's go to the comedy club" type, so in turn, there's no one trying to fill that market.

if you really want to know go to fundrace.org and do a search to find what polictico they gave money to.

A lot of people on this list ( http://www.celiberal.com/theRighties.php ) are to be leaning to the right because they performed for troops at one point or another. Well if that's the way of telling who leans right then Al Frankin should be on that list too. Also a lot of those links are dead.

I think with a Republican Administration this hippocritical, manipulative, and ignorant in power it's too easy not to make a living making joke after joke on the ineptitude of these chickenhawks.

It's not just today, it goes back at least a couple generations.

I have a theory, but I'm a lefty, so you might find it somewhat biased.

I've heard some right-wing comedians. There's even a guy who bills himself as an evangelical comedian. He, BTW is not funny at all, even less funny than Carlos Mencia, if that's possible. Some of them are funny, but mostly when they are talking politics itself. Democratic politicians are good targets for comedy, just ask Leno or Letterman, but it's not so much because they are Democrats as that they are politicians, and therefore full of shit.

You aren't going to find many conservative comedians who are making a lot of jokes about social issues. Even the "Blue Collar" guys (who may or may not actually be conservative) are mostly making their jokes about the funny things that people do, and that is a brand of comedy that is below politics of any kind, a lowest common denominator.

Then there's people like Dennis Miller and Trey Parker and Matt Stone. All of them seem to be the Libertarian flavor of right-wing, and really not on the wing at all, but much closer to the center. As Matt Stone was once quoted, "I hate conservatives, but I really fucking hate liberals." I think that's where these guys stand, apart from politics or ideology, and more trying to find a modicum of common sense. Miller was famously liberal 15 or 20 years ago, but has grown more conservative over time. I bet he still fucking hates the conservative base though.

So, the reason I think most comedians are liberals is because good comedy has to have an "edge" to it, and the words "conservative" and "edgy" don't go together very well. Edgy often means pushing the boundaries of social acceptability, and that is something that conservatives generally oppose. It means saying things that may be offensive, unpopular, shocking, and otherwise discomforting.

I've seen many comics (making no comment on their political dispositions) who think that by being rude, offensive, and shocking they are being funny and "edgy". No, Mr. Mencia, you're not fucking funny at all. My pal, The Rude Pundit, is rude and offensive every day, but funny only a couple times a week at best. The truly great comedians who pushed the edge of their craft, Lenny Bruce, Richard Pryor, George Carlin, Bill Hicks, Dave Chappelle, are taking comedy to places it has not been before, and that sort of thinking can only come from a truly open mind, open like an artist or musician or theoretical genius. People with minds that open to new and original ideas tend to be left-leaning, and it holds for artists, musicians, and geniuses of all sorts. And those comics who are NOT geniuses or at the forefront of their profession, are often trying to emulate those who are, and they end up being people of similar minds.

So, what you're saying PD, is that republicans have so sense of humor

One reason I brought this all up actually, was becasue I saw Bill Oreilly on the Daily show, and one of the comments he made was that liberals always made a joke about everything, that the world could be ending and somehow we'd be laughing about it. Whereas conservatives took things seriously. While I think that's a over simplified crock of shit, it does seem to me like conservatives are either just not funny, or dont even bother with humor.

Funny people tend to be open-minded. Conservatism favours the closed mind.