TV Comedy Channel: Politics and Punch Lines

Those rascals over at the Comedy Central cable network are at it again. First they carried President Bush’s State of the Union Address last January, spoofing it throughout. And now they’re going to cover the summer’s Democratic and Republican national conventions.

No kidding--two hours each night from both conventions, 6-8 p.m. Pacific time, with “Saturday Night Live” alumnus Al Franken as the anchor.

Writer-performer Buck Henry and comedian Joy Behar will be the floor reporters at the Democratic get-together in New York’s Madison Square Garden July 13-16 and, barring a change in plans, at the GOP gathering in Houston Aug. 17-20.

“We might have Buck find (NBC reporter) Andrea Mitchell and ask her what’s going on,” says Franken.

The comedy network’s planned lineup for the Democratic Convention also includes a variety of humorists, journalists and political analysts, including essayist Roy Blount Jr., who will cover what the other networks are showing--even if it’s “Matlock”--and Ben Stein, a writer, actor (the science teacher Mr. Cantwell on “The Wonder Years”) and former aide to Richard Nixon.

Comedy Central, a 24-hour network that is available in about 23 million homes nationwide, already has a title for its coverage: “Indecision ’92.”

But seriously, folks, both Franken and Mary Salter, a former “Saturday Night Live” producer who is in charge of Comedy Central’s convention plans, hope that the coverage is more than just a hoot.

While humor is certainly the overriding priority, both are aware that the public is genuinely interested in the issues, and they just want to apply more irreverence--a “raised eyebrow approach,” Salter agrees--to the political proceedings.

“We’ll be reporting news but coming at it from a different angle,” says Salter. “There’ll be a lot of footage of the convention. Our whole point in being there is that we want to report.”

Adds Franken: “We don’t want to get in the way of people seeing an event, but we want to present it with more fun than they’ve seen before.”

“We cut away from President Bush’s speech too much and we learned from that,” says Salter, who is vice president of current programming for the comedy network.

On the other hand, says Franken, “The convention is not about one speech, so there’ll be lots of opportunities to cut away. Like the voting on the platform--no one really cares about that. A convention is like baseball--slow and lots of air in it, with room to comment. It’s not like hockey.”

With its new TV approach to politics, Comedy Central is yet another example of how cable is changing broadcasting’s look and attitude toward conventions, which ABC, CBS and NBC have tried to abandon except for major events.

Even if the Big Three networks decide to provide more coverage than planned, cable now is where it’s at, led by CNN and C-SPAN and their gavel-to-gavel commitment.

MTV recently had a 90-minute interview with probable Democratic candidate Bill Clinton that was significant for its arena in the new age of alternative television, and the channel is trying to increase political interest among its young viewers. And Comedy Central, CNBC and other cable outlets are bringing their own spin to the mix.

In addition, cable TV, with its available lengthy periods of air time, is now a favored place for candidates to turn up. It was on CNN’s Larry King show that Ross Perot all but threw his hat in the ring.

What’s more, the irreverent approach to the State of the Union Address and the conventions by Comedy Central is enormously significant because it fulfills one of the original basic aims of cable--that it be a true alternative to traditional TV.

Salter says Comedy Central plans to give the same treatment to election night in November “and we’ll probably do something on the Inauguration (of the President)” in January.

As for its convention coverage, the comedy network is not forgetting that its first obligation is to be funny, no matter how high its aspirations. It’s hoping to land John McLaughlin to moderate a round-table discussion with political comedians.

Franken, whose wonderfully dry and informed wit was ideal for the State of the Union broadcast and seems perfect for Comedy Central’s other political coverage, says of his anchor role at the Democratic Convention:

“I’m a Democrat, so my heart may not be in the snide remarks as it was with Bush, but we’ll have counterbalance--perhaps Ben Stein joining me.”

Franken says one of his ideas for the Democratic Convention is a possible five- or 10-minute “electronic town meeting on a night when it’s slow. Since town meetings derived from New England in the 17th Century, we were talking about, ‘What if we set it in the 17th Century?’ And we’ll have a 900 number and people can vote. I want to stage it as if we were doing ‘The Crucible.’

“What I like is trying to put some production values in our little rinky-dink studio. We have no money. That’s what’s fun--trying to do (the convention) as if we were a network.”

In fact, says Salter, with the Big Three networks trying in recent years to reduce their commitment to convention coverage, “We’re covering it in a kind of old-fashioned way with our two hours a night or longer, with all the Sturm und Drang .”

Comedy Central had to fight for access to the pool feed of the State of the Union Address. But, says Salter, it’s been different for the upcoming convention coverage--perhaps because politicians, benefiting from New Age TV, are also finally realizing its inevitability and the need to live with it even when there is the risk of being ridiculed.

“We’re delighted that we’ve been receiving wonderful cooperation from the Democratic National Committee,” says Salter. And are the Republicans cooperating too? “Yes,” she adds.

“It’s a strange year,” notes Salter. “The electorate is a big part of the picture, and the candidates seem to be interested in finding the electorate in very different places. We’re part of the pool coverage again. And we’ve made arrangements to be on the floor of both the Democratic and Republican conventions.”

A strange political year indeed. Welcome to the making of the President, 1992. And considering the candidates, Comedy Central may just be in the right place at the right time.