Michael Ian Black’s Anti-Conservative Rant Ignores Something Huge
Far-Left comic's take on late night's progressive bent is pure cringe
Michael Ian Black has solved the mystery that has plagued pop culture for years.
Why is late-night television so darn liberal?
Except the far-left comic, best known for The State and “Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp,” makes one critical error.
He ignores reality.
And that’s embarrassing for someone who positions himself as a politically astute author and stand-up comic.
On this week’s Full Release, Sam is joined by comedian/actor/author/Tostitos Hint of Lime enthusiast @MichaelIanBlack. The two talk trolls, pee tapes (well, one specific one), and putting a strip mall on the moon. Download now @ApplePodcasts! pic.twitter.com/jitrIuu9pM
— Full Frontal with Samantha Bee (@FullFrontalSamB) April 12, 2022
Black joined the host of the basement-rated “Full Frontal with Samantha Bee” on her weekly podcast, “Full Release.” The liberals weighed in on Elon Musk (not fans!), fatherhood and conservatives’ “fixation” with pedophilia.
The conversation eventually landed on political comedy, coaxing Black to make this curious stand.
“Comedy by definition can’t be conservative … comedy, when it’s working, is pushing against a power structure, whatever that power structure is. And conservatism by its nature wants to preserve the power structure. It’s hard to laugh with the status quo.”
It’s absurd on so many levels it’s hard to know where to start.
Let’s try name-checking “Gutfeld!” The Fox News late night show is at or near the top of the ratings heap week in, week out. It’s unabashedly conservative, and yet it crushes the historic “Tonight Show,” along with also-rans like “The Daily Show,” “Late Night with Seth Meyers” and, of course, “Full Frontal.”
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Greg Gutfeld’s show debuted a year ago and quickly hit its stride. And it does so without A-list stars, broadcast TV-sized budgets or other tricks his competitors employ. So right away Black’s incisive commentary is 100 percent false. And you’d think Bee, despite her hardcore bias, would recall that Gutfeld cleans her clock week in, week out.
Apparently not. The bubble each comic lives in must be large, thick and possibly bulletproof.
It gets worse. Really.
“I think there’s probably a $50 billion show if someone could just make a conservative late night show…” Bee begun.
“Oh, if you could crack that nut,” Black continued for her.
“That’s your money maker.” Bee finished. “One that is funny to all people. It’s impossible. It’s impossible.”
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Black’s comments are silly in other ways, of course. There’s funny comedy from the Left and Right. Neither side has a monopoly on yuks. Progressive politicians behave badly and leave themselves open to ridicule. Conservative leaders do more or less the same.
More importantly, the Left currently holds all the levers of power. The White House. The Senate. Congress. Media. Hollywood. Academia. Now, are liberal comedians holding any of those bodies responsible for their erroneous ways?
Generally speaking, no. When was the last time Stephen Colbert scorched CNN for its cartoonish bias? What about Jimmy Kimmel excoriating Leonardo DiCaprio for his eco-hypocrisy?
Black and Bee spent the rest of the conversation playing the Victim Card for attracting online trolls and lauding President Joe Biden for doing as good a job as anyone could given national and world events.
“I don’t know why [the American people] think we’re on the wrong track here,” Black said, ignoring the catastrophic withdrawal from Afghanistan, soaring gas prices, skyrocketing inflation, conflicting COVID-19 messaging and other items that have absolutely no relation to Biden’s leadership.
None. Zero. Nada.
Black also pines for a time when the Left and Right could get along but blames the current tribalism completely on conservatives being “lunatics.”