A New Regime in Power, New Fodder for Comedy

President Clinton promised thousands of new jobs, but I don’t think he meant for the Republicans. --David Brenner

*

After the historic shift of power wrought by last month’s midterm elections, the Democrats are dethroned, the Republicans are ascendant and the court jesters can’t wait to get to work.

As Newt Gingrich, Bob Dole, Jesse Helms and the rest of the triumphant conservatives happily garb themselves in the mantle of newfound federal power, it’s also a lively time for those who relish pointing out that the emperors are naked. The country’s turn to the right has spin doctors spinning and pundits pondering, but the keenest analyses may well come from sharp-shooting political comics.

Jabs at the President’s junk food intake had grown tired, but with fresh Republican targets at hand and a revitalized comedic purpose taken to heart, the future is looking very funny to the nation’s voices of satiric opposition.

“Newt’s a great character,” says Harry Shearer, creator of public radio’s pointedly satirical “Le Show.” “I don’t think I ever did any Tom Foley material during his tenure, but Newt’s going to be very generous in providing us with stuff to do. It’s not a matter of giving him enough rope--he’s taking it. He’s basically gone and built a rope factory.”

“I think the elections are going to change the mood and material of every comedian,” says Bill Maher, host of Comedy Central’s “Politically Incorrect.” “And in general I’d say that when you have conservatives in power, it’s better for comedy, because they make the kind of authority figures that you want to stick a pin in. Democrats have trouble being authority figures of any kind. As a comedian, when I go into a voting booth, there are often divided feelings--I can vote my conscience or my career.”

Some comics make no secret of the fact that their personal politics lean leftward, so powerful figures from the right make for the juiciest prey. Stand-up Will Durst is looking forward to the moment when Gingrich and Dole stumble, or when the Contract With America is breached.

“I hate to sound like a carrion-eater, but the worse things are for the country, the better they are for me. It was hard for me to work against the hopeful mood after the Clinton election, because my humor comes out of anger and frustration. I’ve got much better focus now with Newt and Jesse Helms around. And fortunately, as a liberal, I’m protected by the Endangered Species Act.”

Richard Belzer isn’t sure the laughs are always worth the aggravation. “I’d rather have a boring country with no humor than the kind of mess where the politicians are writing the jokes for us. Ronald Reagan wrote my material for eight years, and I wasn’t so fond of the ‘80s.”

Belzer will soon be taking a break from his role on NBC’s “Homicide: Life on the Street” to return to some stand-up work and he’s not sure exactly how he’ll make light of the current political climate. “Ironically, it’s a humorless situation. It would be easy to say things are hopeless, but my job is to find the humor and give relief to the audience. I want them to think, but they have to laugh. I actually think it will be a little harder to be funny now, because the targets are almost too easy and the people are so disgusted with the process. Political humor’s going to be redefined over the next year, but I’m not sure in what direction.”

Paula Poundstone feels that her humor’s direction will be dictated by the folks in Washington--once she gets past her own post-election blues. “It’s hard to tell whether comedy will get any better. I tend to just plain get depressed. I haven’t come up with any terribly clever lines or insightful bits yet. I’m still in the name-calling phase. But I think without the assistance of any comics, the new batch of politicians are quite capable of shooting themselves in the foot.

“It’s going to be easy to come up with humor based on these people’s points of view, their substance,” she says. “I don’t take issue with what they look like or who they run around with. I don’t care who they sleep with. They could sleep with anybody as far as I’m concerned. In fact, I think I’d actually encourage that. It might soften them up.”

Much has been made of this political season’s mean-spirited tone, and impressionist Jim Morris says he’s ready to wield some mean-spirited comedy in response. He’s built a career on uncanny and savage evocations of Presidents Reagan, Bush and Clinton, and is preparing to take on D.C.’s new fraternity of power-brokers with equal gusto.

“I don’t worry about tempering the humor. I thought I was being cruel and vicious when I did Reagan and Bush. When Barbara Bush invited me to the White House and told me that my George was funny without being cruel, I was a little insulted. If I’m not being cruel, I’m not doing my job.”

It may take Morris a little longer than usual to work up a properly vicious take on Gingrich. “I need to watch a character over and over in order to really get them down, and, to tell you the truth, there’s only so much I can take of Newt Gingrich.”

Not every comedian is working himself into a political frenzy. David Brenner takes a few jabs at the Beltway, but feels more inclined to keep his material away from issues of state. “I don’t think my purpose is to pretend that I have inside information and to persuade people to my point of view,” he explains. “There’s enough poison seeping through the country. I think humor should help to dissolve some of those poisons.”

But stand-up Suzanne Westenhoefer is finding that more and more audiences are responding enthusiastically to political material. “Between e-mail and CNN, people are more informed,” she says. “Political stuff used to only go over in the major cities, but now people in diners across the country are talking about GATT. I can do a Bob Dole joke in the hinterlands and have it go over big. Two years ago that couldn’t happen. It’s probably not my responsibility to take on Bob Dole, but I certainly do enjoy it.”

The prime targets and cherished laugh lines may be in transition, but for Rick Overton, the mission remains the same. “I’ve been the voice of opposition long before Newt showed up, and I’m still here--like Papillon on a sack of coconuts. I don’t have a choice.”

“Somebody’s always in power,” Shearer says. “Somebody’s always abusing it and somebody’s always screwing up. It doesn’t make any difference to me if it’s Jesse Jackson or Jesse Helms. Neither side has a monopoly on stupidity, venality or pomposity. Just give me a Jesse.

“I have faith in the American political system, and my faith is that it will continue to provide political humorists with everything we need.”