🎧 Episode 10 The Satire Paradox | Revisionist History

Listened to Episode 10 The Satire Paradox by Malcolm GladwellMalcolm Gladwell from Revisionist History

In the political turmoil of mid-1990s Britain, a brilliant young comic named Harry Enfield set out to satirize the ideology and politics of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. His parodies became famous. He wrote and performed a vicious sendup of the typical Thatcherite nouveau riche buffoon. People loved it. And what happened? Exactly the opposite of what Enfield hoped would happen. In an age dominated by political comedy, “The Satire Paradox” asks whether laughter and social protest are friends or foes.

An interesting dissection of satire and the effects it does (or doesn’t) have on society. Sadly, a lot of the best biting satire doesn’t have the effect that many of us would like it to have. How can we subtly change this to create more desirous effects? I’d like to delve more deeply into the paper he references.1 [pdf]

Some of this reminds me of the ideas relating to doublespeak that I’ve written about in the past, but here, it’s actually comprehensible and understandable.

References

1.
LaMarre HL, Landreville KD, Beam MA. The Irony of Satire: Political Ideology and the Motivation to See What You Want to See in The Colbert Report. T. 2009;14(2):212-231. doi:10.1177/1940161208330904

Celebrity Jeopardy | SNL

Watched Celebrity Jeopardy from Saturday Night Live, Season 40, 2015

Alex Trebek (Will Ferrell) tries his best to keep contestants Sean Connery (Darrell Hammond), Justin Bieber (Kate McKinnon), Tony Bennett (Alec Baldwin), Burt Reynolds (Norm Macdonald) and Matthew McConaughey (Jim Carrey) in line.

Celebrity Jeopardy!: Kathie Lee, Tom Hanks, Sean Connery, Burt Reynolds | Saturday Night Live

Watched Celebrity Jeopardy!: Kathie Lee, Tom Hanks, Sean Connery, Burt Reynolds from Saturday Night Live, Season 34, 2009

Kathie Lee Gifford (Kristen Wiig), Tom Hanks, Sean Connery (Darrell Hammond) and Burt Reynolds (Norm Macdonald) take on Alex Trebek (Will Ferrell) in a new round of "Celebrity Jeopardy!"

FBI Simulator | Saturday Night Live

Watched FBI Simulator from Saturday Night Live, Season 41, 2016

A training exercise puts an agent's (Kenan Thompson) ability to distinguish between a threat (Beck Bennett, Leslie Jones, Jon Rudnitsky) and a harmless civilian (Aidy Bryant, Larry David, Vanessa Bayer, Bobby Moynihan) to the test.

Haunted Elevator (ft. David S. Pumpkins) | Saturday Night Live

Watched Haunted Elevator (featuring David S. Pumpkins) from Saturday Night Live, Oct 23, 2016
A haunted elevator attraction tries to spook its riders (Beck Bennett, Kate McKinnon) with an original character, David Pumpkins (Tom Hanks). #SNLoween
In preparation for understanding:

Oval Office Cold Open – SNL

Watched Oval Office Cold Open (Steve Bannon as Death) from Saturday Night Live
President Donald Trump (Alec Baldwin) calls Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull (Beck Bennett), Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto (Alex Moffat) and German Chancellor Angela Merkel (Kate McKinnon).

Sean Spicer Press Conference (Melissa McCarthy) – SNL

Watched Sean Spicer Press Conference (Melissa McCarthy) from Saturday Night Live
White House press secretary Sean Spicer (Melissa McCarthy) and secretary of education nominee Betsy DeVos (Kate McKinnon) take questions from the press (Bobby Moynihan, Kristen Stewart, Cecily Strong, Vanessa Bayer, Alex Moffat, Mikey Day).
OMG!

Jesse Jackson and my signed copy of Green Eggs and Ham

Tonight Jesse Jackson spoke at the Milton S. Eisenhower Symposium. I’d recently seen his appearance on Saturday Night Live, so I brought my copy of Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss along with me.

After the lecture I had the chance to meet him and chat, but the best part was the look on his face when I presented him my copy of Green Eggs and Ham for an autograph. He kindly obliged with the observation that he knew that “this” was coming eventually, but said that I was the first one to ask for a signature on this particular book.

He got his second opportunity just moments later when my freshman year roommate Gary showed up with his own copy. Who knew that we thought so much alike?

Saturday Night Live

Transcript of the Saturday Night Live Episode segment