‘Anything for Laugh’ Not Funny

About three years ago, in a Counterpunch article, I asked: “Am I the only one to notice the personal level of Jay Leno’s attacks on President Clinton?” I stated that Leno’s relentless depiction of Clinton as a lusting satyr and his obsession with the president’s hypothetical bedroom was both unprecedented and bizarre. But what I really objected to was a swipe at Rush Limbaugh and a gathering of conservatives in Colorado. The punch line was: “. . . the last time so many conservatives got together was in Berlin, about 1933.” What, I wondered, were Leno’s core beliefs and values? I concluded his credo was: “Anything for a laugh.”

What a difference a couple of years make! As for the presidential sex jokes, they continue with numbing regularity. Showing a picture of Bill and Hillary Clinton, Leno captions it with: “Two people who aren’t having sex.” And: “They’re saying they may adopt a child from one of the adoption agencies in Arkansas. You know what that means? If they adopt a child from Arkansas? Bill could be the real father.”

But even that’s old hat. Some more recent Clinton jokes: “A gunman got to the White House, but was told he’d have to wait in line--there were five other gunmen ahead of him.” And “God forbid Clinton should get shot. They’d take him to the hospital and he’d be turned away--no health care plan.”

Even more, a recent one broke new ground and seemed less an attempt at humor than at bald statement: “Today down in Little Rock, Ark., jury selection got underway for the first Whitewater trial. I guess that’s going to be tough, finding 12 people in the country who don’t know anything about Whitewater. Actually, you know what: Two people who don’t know anything about Whitewater are Bill and Hillary Clinton--that’s about it. Everybody else knows about it.”

Whitewater, as near as I can tell, has something to do with a convicted felon claiming that then-Gov. Clinton tried to pressure him to make a loan to someone. That’s about what I know. What, I wondered, does Leno know? I telephoned and asked him. (He had called me after my previous Counterpunch article ran.) This time, he stated that he didn’t know enough about Whitewater to discuss it! Then why, I asked, discuss it at all? “Because,” he replied, “if something looks fishy to the public, I make a joke about it. You have to understand,” he continued, “I watch the 4:30 afternoon news with a note pad and pen. My job is to deliver a joke.”

No, Jay, actually it’s more. But a simple rule might be: If you’re going to imply that someone’s a crook, at least have the decency to get some facts straight. Otherwise, if you don’t know what you’re talking about, keep quiet.

However, even Leno has trouble topping David Letterman when it comes to tastelessness. A recent Letterman offering: “Earlier today, the blockbuster movie of the summer, ‘Independence Day,’ opened. . . . As you know, the movie is about space aliens--space aliens come to Earth and destroy the White House. Fortunately, at the time, President Clinton is shacked up at the Marriott, so he’s OK.”

But it gets worse. Much worse. On Letterman’s “Top 10” list as to why the Republicans should hold their convention in New York: “Excellent baby-sitting service for Reagan.” Never mind cheap sex jokes, you’d think that Alzheimer’s and attempted assassination would be subjects clearly beyond the pale.

But these days, civility and common decency are rare commodities, sadly made all the more so by the unmistakable Leno/Letterman maxim: “Anything for a laugh.” Somehow I feel that Will Rogers and Johnny Carson would know better.