"Satire," 4/9

The linked article says something that's been the case for as long as I've been paying attention: most attempts at satire in pop culture are pathetically limp. Saturday Night Live has its moments--maybe one per episode--but nothing making it particularly culturally relevant except that it's such an institution that we just assume it's automatically culturally relevant. Look, there are and always have been and always will be funny individuals involved with SNL, but something about that environment makes them less funny than they should be. I didn't believe Tina Fey was funny at all until 30 Rock came along to console us jilted Arrested Development fans. Same with Tracy Morgan, who consistently provides the funniest line delivery on 30 Rock. Amy Poehler was hilarious on Upright Citizen's Brigade, and is probably still hilarious in the UCB live show which I will see if I ever get the chance. I like hearing Christopher Walken say "googly eyes" as much as the next guy, but SNL simply isn't as funny these days as almost any sketch show I can think of. Kids in the Hall, Mr. Show, UCB, The State, Human Giant, SCTV...the giant institution of "satirical" television has been lapped by its offspring too many times by now to count. (Still beats the shit out of MadTV, though).

Anyway, satire's still plenty alive. It's weird that the article picks out Conan O'Brien as an example, when satire's never been his forte (he's always been about absurd humor, and when he mentions a famous politician in a joke, it's usually simply as a springboard to make a silly joke, not to lend any political insight). The writers of the article are right to mention Stephen Colbert, though: for somebody who claims to have been sort of apolitical before he started work on The Daily Show, Colbert's probably the definitive political comedian of our time. Unlike, say, Bill Maher, he never includes politics at the expense of being funny--he's a killer improv comedian who's just as funny on Strangers With Candy, Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law, or The Venture Bros. as he is on his own show. And his own show typically has the most dead-on political comedy of anything else on TV, especially with The Simpsons on life support (South Park is usually great but can get awfully heavy-handed and unlikable when it deals with politics).
The point here is that satire's really not dead or dying. We remember Mark Twain from his time, and Mort Sahl from his, and Kurt Vonnegut, and so on, but surely the majority of media was dominated by hacky crap at the time, as well? There's plenty of good satirical work being done, and it seems awfully simplistic to assume that satire's dead because most "political" humor is empty and unfunny. I'd be willing to bet it's always been that way, and always will.