Last night, I put Stephen Colbert’s show on, and they were in the midst of a long piece they'd apparently set up with Robert Smigel and his Triumph the Insult Comic Dog character. (Unlike most of Smigel's work with Triumph, the dog had very little to do with the actual piece, and mostly had funny side-commentary.) RawStory did an article on the sketch, and talked about how hilarious it was. And from one perspective, it was hilarious – but I personally found it ghastly and unwatchable, at least with the sound on. I watched only for Triumph's humorous reactions and only periodically would turn the sound on to check in and get "updates" of a sort on what was happening. To be very clear, it wasn't that I thought the jokes in the piece were bad or that the people weren't acting in a way highly-deserving of ridicule or that I didn't understand people laughing -- I could absolutely see why many likely found it funny. And I'm posting it here for that reason. Everyone here might find it just as funny. But I'm posting it for my reaction, as well. The premise was that they got the most deeply-devoted Trump supporters into a real focus group at a real research company. Then, they played audio of a supposedly real Trump recording that was a) clearly to me a Trump impersonator, and b) utterly horrible what he was saying -- and c) knowing it was an impersonator was pretty funny, in a cringing way. And the researchers also showed some fake campaign ads for Trump that were SO over-the-top and SO gallingly despicable that (knowing they were fake) were, in fact, sort of amusing. And then the real focus group moderator questioned them afterwards. And what was the joke of the piece, but what I found the very-opposite of funny was how all the supporters accepted everything and bent themselves in knots to defend even the most appalling things. (Okay, here's just one example. Like on the "secret" audio tape, hearing Trump suggest that immigrants be microwaved. Really.) Was it funny as a bit? Yes, very. But was it troubling for the reality of how cult followers would accept the absolute worst from Trump? It was ghoulish. I could absolutely see those people literally being okay with Trump shooting someone in cold blood on Fifth Avenue. And creepy too was that they couldn’t tell it wasn’t actually Trump on the tape or that the “ads” were foolishly over the top. (By the way, to be clear, I’m not judging how fake the Trump impersonation sounded because I knew I was watching Colbert’s show. I tuned into the sketch halfway through, so I didn’t know exactly what it was at first. For all I knew they were playing a Woodward tape I hadn’t heard yet, or I also wondered if it was a CBS special after the news, and Colbert’s show was delayed. So, even under those conditions it was clear to me it was a fake Trump.) As I said, I can see why some found it so funny. You may, too. And some of it was funny. So, I don't begrudge anyone laughing. (And it may be slightly funnier to me after the General Election, on the presumption that Trump loses.) Me, I had to have the sound off and was horrified by it. But loved Triumph’s reactions, especially a couple near the very end. Here’s the whole thing. It’s about 12 minutes –
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AuthorRobert J. Elisberg is a political commentator, screenwriter, novelist, tech writer and also some other things that I just tend to keep forgetting. Feedspot Badge of Honor
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