Deport White Males, Says Not Me

This is a satire piece that I found recently. Usually I’m not one for satire. Hey, I’m sarcastic all the time: “wow all my friends are sooooo cool!” (it’s sarcastic because no friends…that’s how satire works, right?) If it’s a type of joke that everyone makes all the time, it doesn’t strike me as a fantastically good joke.

But sure, satire can be good if it’s done well. I’m not saying this is done well, but it is a funny idea to me. I like the funniness of it more than I like what it’s actually trying to say.

My main problem with satire is not that it’s an “easy” joke, but that it often comes with a political position or “cause.” For me humor is simpler than that. If you’re trying to do something or evoke something besides laughter, you’re over-thinking it. You’re just using humor as a tool. I think humor is good for humor’s sake. And to me, the best humor is humor alone and nothing more.

This piece does seem to be “trying to do more.” It quite sarcastically claims that, amidst all the terrorist hubbub, that white males are the really scary thing in this country: they’re the ones who have been shooting down all the schools. Funny, but I don’t like to read into it too much. Form your own opinion, I guess!

Mark Sundeen is an author and writer for Salon.

Anthony Jeselnik’s Special Comes Out Today on Netflix

If you don’t know Anthony Jeselnik, you might know the witty asshole who hosted this past season of Last Comic Standing. That’s Anthony Jeselnik. He was also the creator and star of the show The Jeselnik Offensive.

If you love “I can’t believe he just said that” humor, you’ll love Jeselnik. He’s absurdly taboo. He makes Joan Rivers look like a sweet old grandmother. Speaking of which, he probably has jokes about Joan Rivers dying. Rape, abuse, cancer – it’s all in his sets. He’s the worst nightmare of the FCC.

To give you a little taste of what he’s all about, this is what Jeselnik tweeted on the day of the Boston Marathon bombing:

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Here’s the trailer for the special’s release on Netflix. It’s called Anthony Jeselnik: Thoughts and Prayers. In this interview, Jeselnik describes his Netflix special as “the darkest thing I’ve ever done.”