My latest Townhall column makes the case for clowning even the messiah:
According to the New York Times, which rumor has it is a newspaper of some repute in New York City, professional comedians can find very little to joke about concerning Sen. Barack Obama. …
Comedians perform a crucial civic service. They help us to laugh at politicians and ourselves. In doing so, they keep us all aware of our humanity. This is of prime importance in a government of the people, by the people, for the people. To be human is to be laughable sometimes; to know that is to have humility. As Mr. Bennet puts it in Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, “For what do we live, but to make sport for our neighbors, and laugh at them in our turn?”
Afterwards I try to help jump-start the idle comedians with a few back-to-the-basics Obama jokes:
- How many Barack Obamas does it take to change a light bulb? Just one. He holds the bulb, thinks the world revolves around him, and calls it change you can believe in.
- Why did Barack Obama cross the road? To tax the other side.
- A rabbi, a priest, and Barack Obama walked into a bar. The rabbi and priest both said “Ouch.” Obama said nothing. See, messiahs don’t get hurt walking smack into a bar.
- Barack Obama dies and goes to heaven. St. Peter meets him at the Pearly Gates.
“So this is heaven,” Obama says. “What’s it like, healthcare up here?”
St. Peter misunderstands him as saying he’d “like Hell and didn’t care for it up here,” so he shrugs and sends him down there.
“Cool,” Obama says upon arrival. “It really IS just like Canada’s!”
