49 Comments

This is absolutely brilliant. A clear-eyed honest to god answer to our "how can this be happening we're Americans" question. Nails it.

Expand full comment
author

Thank you Gail—I always wondered why nobody said it before.

Expand full comment

Me too. And it freaks me out. Are we going to be able to turn this ship around? When he ran the first time I laughed. "No one's going to vote for that POS." And look where we are now.

Expand full comment
author

I do not know if we will be able to turn the ship around.

I do know that it is always the obligation of every decent American to destroy Fascism. A system that was tried and failed; one that wreaks incalculable misery.

Expand full comment

I thought we all knew that but apparently we don't.

Expand full comment
Oct 29Liked by Michael Gerber

Mike - I wish you had a show like Stewart’s so more Americans could hear this brilliant argument. It’s very sad - tragic? - that so few others have thought it through this way.

Expand full comment
author

Thank you Brad! I often think about doing some kind of podcast. Very kind of you to write this to me.

Expand full comment

A podcast? Yes, please.

Expand full comment

Spot friggin ' on, Mike. Thanks to the shittification of publishing and monopolization by oligarchs of media, we'll never get a unified voice that can counter this overwhelming tide of Fascist nonsense. We need an Edward R. Morrow to take down a Joe McCarthy. But I fear that we'll be tipped into an autocratic nightmare run by fools who live in their own delusional bespoke reality and which will either take the rest of us decades to escape from under, or end in an extinction level catastrophe.

Yes, I know, dire, depressing thoughts from a guy who prides himself in making humor comics, but god dammit, somebody's gotta wake the hell up and point out the obvious. I've lived long enough and studied history enough to know that when some political cult with millions of followers starts spewing racism, nationalism, fascism, and essentially death threats, one better take note and have a "go" bag ready under their bed.

As you said, not enough Americans are being sober minded adults in regards to politics, or a stable society for that matter. Where I live here in the Pacific Northwest, there's a sizable contingent of nazi-minded militias just waiting for an excuse to go all White Taliban on anyone who looks even the least little bit sane. Should the government keep a close eye and a tight lid on these creeps? You betcha. But unfortunately, the last Trump administration cut the FBI budget for the department in charge of domestic terrorism, and it's never been brought back to a proper level, which obviously doesn't bode well for anyone who'd likes democracy.

I really wish that "It Can't Happen Here" by Sinclair Lewis was mandatory reading for every American but alas, the last few generations of Americans would rather watch "Dancing with the Stars" or Doom-scroll on X instead of thinking about the plight of their fellow citizens.

I apologize for prattling on here, Mike. But let me stress that your summation of US politics is the kind of thinking we need more of in this country. ...Just be sure to toss in a sarcastic joke now and then. (No. Not Really.)

Now let me get back to packing that Go bag.

Expand full comment
author

Thank you Ed! Always enjoy both your thoughts AND your comments.

“delusional bespoke reality” — I like that!

Expand full comment

Brilliant, Michael. Although I think audience-not-citizen applies more to the right than the left. Harris is offering a government that provides services for its constituents. Trump is offering punishment, revenge, and "retribution," a pretend super-hero promising to vanquish his audience's pretend nemeses. (Ask a MAGAt if they've been attacked or raped by an immigrant, or if the immigrant has taken their job.) Owning the libs--THAT's entertainment.

I would only add that MAGA's sense of humor is that of the sniggering adolescent, who will laugh at anything that's *naughty.* (The period goes inside the close-asterisk.) They're the gang of nitwits who stand behind, and cheer on, the bully as he beats up a little kid. Trump, of course, is the bully.

Expand full comment
author

Thank you, Ellis! Praise from you is high praise for me.

The pretend nature of the nemeses is key; that way the threat is evergreen.

Expand full comment

I think you are closing in on it. My take: the candidate who we think has more sex wins. This reflects in the joy of the moment (“Oh what a night.”) Think back. It bears out perhaps. Even now. Trump may still have sex but not as any one of us would want to think about. She loves her husband, they kiss and laugh. And yeah. Except you know, she’s a girl. And you know … Black.

Yeah.

Expand full comment
author

There’s a lot to this theory Steve, and Garry Wills’ book talks about that AT LENGTH.

Expand full comment
Oct 30Liked by Michael Gerber

The great Neil Postman must have a dent in his harp from banging his head on it so many times. I don't think he ever expected, when he wrote his astonishingly prescient polemic, that one day a humourist would pick up where he left off. It's painful to witness your country throwing a monumental tantrum that might well destroy it, and the rest of us along with it.

I'm so very sorry.

My own fellow citizens recently surprised me by stepping back at the last minute from giving a wannabe dictator and religious bigot full and unequivocal control. I will admit to a cynical conviction that my country deserved his worst excesses, and am so, so glad to be proven wrong. It's given me a new respect for the sturdy common sense of regular people. I hope the light at the end of your tunnel isn't a four-alarm fire. Good luck.

Expand full comment
author

Thank you, Shay—where are you writing from, if I can ask?

Yeah, I read Amusing Ourselves to Death as an undergrad 35 years ago and…wish he’d been wrong.

Expand full comment
Oct 29Liked by Michael Gerber

Exactly! Plus if anyone watched that so-called comedian’s whole speech, they’d find that the vast majority of it was not presented as joke or comedy, but as political love-fest for maga. His racist slurs are only being called “jokes” because his profession is “comedian,” and only being called that by maga and apparently Jon Stewart (nice company, Jon!). The rest of us see right through this. On that stage he wasn’t wearing his comedian hat. He was wearing his sincere-maga-fascist hat. It is impossible to call them “roast” jokes when they are identical to the horrible, quite serious things Trump has said over the past eight years. He called PR “dirty.” He called Latinos “rapists” and he said their countries were “sh@“hole” countries. These comments were never sold as “jokes” because they aren’t jokes. That rally was serious and many, many people recognize that. I think it has actually caused the maga shield to begin to shatter. There really was a line that shouldn’t have been crossed and they crossed it. That entire event was horrific and crude and nasty. Most people want nothing to do with any of that. Who wants to be associated with such ugliness? Ok, now let’s go vote for Kamala and send the fascist back to his country club. :)

Expand full comment
founding

Thank you for this, Michael. Brilliant as always. I can't even pull out a passage to compliment, so unique is your historical and comedic POV. What a powerhouse you would be if only you were actually born in the '60s.

Safe travels and better health to you.

Expand full comment
author

Jim, thank you. Your opinion means everything to me. I’ll call when I’m settled back West. Xo

Expand full comment
author

Ps—June 14, 1969 BAYBEE!!!!

Expand full comment
founding

A full 2 months before Woodstock. I was born 2 months before Kennedy was elected. We're bookends, bruh!

Expand full comment
author

All the Way with JFG

Expand full comment
5 hrs agoLiked by Michael Gerber

Comedians like HInchcliffe are why I stopped visiting comedy clubs. Too many bros pretending to be Lenny Bruce. I almost miss the days when someone like young Jerry Lewis or Danny Kaye could mime to a record onstage, cross their eyes and call it comedy.

Expand full comment
12 hrs agoLiked by Michael Gerber

Thank you for saying this…you are right…this political entertainment is not funny!

Expand full comment

I would love to hear John Stewart say something like, “Tonight there’s going to be a change. I’m paid for being funny. I like being funny. But right now what’s going on is not funny. And because of that I need to level with you about what we’re facing…” And then just give a serious description of what’s going on.

Expand full comment
author

YES! The only reason Stewart has risen to prominence is a perception that he is a comedian AND a serious person. At this moment, to not be serious is to reveal that either 1) you truly don’t understand, which means you haven’t read much history, or 2) some part of you thinks that your money fame and notoriety makes you untouchable…when history suggests all those things make you a bigger target for a Fascist regime.

Expand full comment

Yes. Either way there’s a disconnect.

Expand full comment

'If you see white men dressed in white cloaks / Don't panic / Call me, and I'll tell you a joke'

Expand full comment
Oct 30Liked by Michael Gerber

Great essay. There’s nothing funny about the right wing. Daily Show comedians get lots of laughs pointing out the tragic absurdity of the new fascism, but to what end? You’re right, it’s all reduced to entertainment. The real consequences don’t sink in to the audience. I’m reminded of the movie “Life is Beautiful”, where Oscar winner Benigni is clowning on the way to the gas chamber to protect his son from the horror.

Expand full comment

Very fine, Miguel. Very very fine. Be proud.

Expand full comment
Oct 30Liked by Michael Gerber

Stephen Colbert is not afraid to put comedy aside and do a deadly serious monologue, when events warrant.

Expand full comment
author

That’s why he’s a cut above the rest, no question about it.

Expand full comment
Oct 29Liked by Michael Gerber

I don't think it's a coincidence that ever since the "monoculture" began ending around 2010 or whatever (when entertainment was fracturing into niche audiences, and not everyone was talking about Cheers or Johnny Carson around the water cooler the next day), the "entertainment" aspect of politics has ramped up exponentially. It's the one thing everyone seems interested in, and the late night shows have gotten a ridiculous amount of mileage from it

Expand full comment
author

As an old TV monologue writer, I can say that you can only really write jokes about stuff “everyone” knows about. And I think you are right on about this, Anthony.

I would say monoculture started to die around 1995; the internet replaced it.

Expand full comment