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TPM Needs a Humor Section
This isn't going to be some enlightening post, so I'll keep it brief. TPM Cafe needs a section strictly for humor and satire. A place where serious issues and topics can be satirized. As The Daily Show and Stephen Colbert have taught us, sometimes humor and satire can bring out new eye-opening points of view that might not be found under more serious circumstances.
I know there are plenty of people on TPM with a great sense of humor.
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Comments (28)
Yeah! See my recent post on George Carlin. If it's still there -
June 11, 2008 11:58 PM | Reply | Permalink
Hey, I keep sayin' they oughta pull TPMHorse's Mouth off the top and replace it with a TPMLounge for meta, humor, general socializing, etc. ...
As it is, the mix of truly funny and unintentionally funny that's happenin' in the Recent Reader Posts at the Café is starting to wreck what until recently was a pretty decent Recommended Reader Posts section.
June 12, 2008 12:55 AM | Reply | Permalink
Of course, now that I've gone and actually read the current rec'd posts, I came away amused.
June 12, 2008 5:25 AM | Reply | Permalink
I'm as big a Stewart and Colbert fan as anyone, but could never bring myself to even VISIT a TPM section filled with the posts of people TRYING to be funny.
That is the most awful idea anyone has proposed for this site (and there have been some awful ones).
I much prefer to stumble upon an Edmund Crankypants diatribe after the fifth consecutive posting about why Hillary would make a better VP than Jim Webb. That's when his witty superiosity is most needed.
Remember the 2004 presidential conventions, when they herded dissidents and protesters into "free speech zones." ringed with chicken wire?
That is where your idea would lead us.
June 12, 2008 4:03 AM | Reply | Permalink
You're being pretty tactless. Is that really necessary?
Cripes.
June 12, 2008 4:11 AM | Reply | Permalink
Sorry, Laura.
An idea was tossed out for discussion.
While it was done in good faith and sincerity, I think it is a terrible idea.
I said so with all the tact I could muster.
But you're right. Many of the suggestions put forth for improving the site have been excellent ones.
Not this one, though.
June 12, 2008 5:27 AM | Reply | Permalink
ACanuck:
I understand your concern about a humor section. It would probably be a tired train wreck of weak satire and half-assed fake news posts. Watching unfunny people trying to be funny can be a horrifying experience. Go to just about any stand up open mike night and you'll get a taste of the horror.
That said, open mike nights are where future good comics learn the job and find their voices. And if it takes sitting through 100 Carrot Tops to reach a Dave Chappelle, I think the pain is worth it. Let's face it, a majority of the serious posts on TPM pretty much suck but no one suggests that people stop trying to say something intelligent.
There are definitely some clever TPMers hanging around and if the forum gave them a chance to shine maybe it'd be worth all the crappy posts you'd have to wade through to find theirs.
June 12, 2008 11:46 AM | Reply | Permalink
I understand your point, but you words sounded harsher than necessary. The poster made the suggestion in the spirit of fun. Telling him it's the stupidest suggestion you've ever seen on TPM, and you've seen a lot of stupid suggestions--just seemed like an unnecessary slap. How would that have made you feel?
Just sayin'.
June 12, 2008 3:27 PM | Reply | Permalink
Totally agree. The basis of funny is the unexpected. If you were expecting funny when you started reading, that's hard to pull off.
June 12, 2008 11:05 AM | Reply | Permalink
In a show of solidarity, I’ve just posted a piece called Campaign Economics 101, written in satirical voice.
If we do get enough affirmation to warrant a TPM page devoted to humor, perhaps it ought to be called TPMhorse’sASS.
June 12, 2008 7:56 AM | Reply | Permalink
Yes, yes and yes!
TPMHorse's A**
Seconded with my edits.
By the way, your post was worthy. Rec'd.
http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/talk/2008/06/campaign-economics-101.php
June 12, 2008 10:10 AM | Reply | Permalink
I think we found our title.
TPM Horse's Ass
June 12, 2008 1:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
So, now let's pick our favorite snarker as a host.. any suggestions?
Actually, I personally like the way it gets salted and peppered throughout the whole place, keeps the yang up...
June 12, 2008 3:07 PM | Reply | Permalink
TPM Horse's Ass--I love it!
Our fave snarker host? How about Genghis??? He's great at this!
June 12, 2008 3:29 PM | Reply | Permalink
Shucks Laura, you were my first fan. But I recommend articleman for snarkmaster. Also, though he seldom blogs and seems to have disappeared altogether lately, the funniest contributor to TPM is, IMO, littleblackpropaganda, aka Ric Ric Ocasek.
As for the question at hand. I've been opposed to a separate snark section because I believe that the reader blogs need to integrate with editorial content in order to survive. Most of us came to the cafe through election central. When you read EC, you see the recommended commentary on the right. Relegated to it's own corner, I think that readership would be low and the contributions would wither. Personally, I wouldn't post to a satire section if all the readers are at EC. (I could see this changing after November, however.)
For that reason, I think that a snark section would only work if it were attached to an edited satire page with youtube videos, colbert clips, etc. I think that such a page would be excellent, but I don't see TPM going for something like that.
June 12, 2008 9:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
Those guys are funny too. And cscs (remember him?). But you and Crankypants are definitely the funniest.
Hunh. Your point about keeping readers blogs with editorial content is a good one. Wonder if we could request the ability to post to the TPM Horse's Ass page AND one of the other editorial pages (like the current set-up that allows us to post to Election Central and/or Muckraker).
Of course, smartass bloggers wouldn't have to post to the Horse's Ass page. Bloggers can still plant stealth comedy pieces on the serious pages in order to delight us with that element of surprise and the bonus amusing spectacle of watching the indignant reaction of some bloggers who fall for the trick before figuring it out!
June 12, 2008 10:54 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yeah, cscs was good. I haven't seen him/her in ages. Maybe he/she went off to the lucidity project with the other old-timers. Yes, crankypants is hilarious. I hope that he returns.
PS I miss idiotic
June 13, 2008 12:31 AM | Reply | Permalink
Or TrollCritic 3000?
Or better still, a rotation, hosting for a week at a time by invitation, like the book club?
June 12, 2008 6:55 PM | Reply | Permalink
SILENCE!
Before we talk about improving the TPM site, we must take back TPMMuckraker from the Underpants Gnomes!
June 12, 2008 3:41 PM | Reply | Permalink
A place for less serious posts? Good idea...
June 12, 2008 5:41 PM | Reply | Permalink
You mean this isn't the humor section?
June 12, 2008 9:58 PM | Reply | Permalink
I fully agree. How to set it up?
June 12, 2008 11:13 PM | Reply | Permalink
For the short run, just put another check box on the "blog now" page for people to check off if they intend their post to be humorous... Then aggregate to a separate page just as you do with the book club, special guests, etc.
See how it works for awhile.
June 12, 2008 11:37 PM | Reply | Permalink
Josh, I'm not sure if you read my comment above, but my concern is that with only reader-produced content, a satire section may not draw enough readers or blogs to be viable. Currently, it's my impression that the cafe's recommended list averages less than one satire post a day. Without much content, there would be few readers, and with few readers, there would be even fewer blog posts.
But I would be enthusiastic about a great political satire blog that pulled and linked content from across the web in the tradition of the other TPM sections. Occasionally, readers post links to outside satirical content, but it's sporadic. If staff-edited links to such content were combined with reader contributions, I think that you'd have a very compelling new space at TPM.
PS Great discussion at the Strand today. It was a pleasure to say hello to you in person.
June 12, 2008 11:56 PM | Reply | Permalink
I wasn't thinking of strictly a "snark" section as some have suggested. I was thinking quality satire and intellectual humor in the vein of The Onion or McSweeny's. The main objective is to appeal to a wider audience that normally wouldn't have anything to say and/or read, not to dumb down TPM Cafe. Personally, I would be more inclined to contribute because I mostly write (on my own site) humorous pieces on the political scene. I'm not a journalist, nor do I care to be, but that doesn't mean I can't make a damn good point underscored with a smirking subtext.
I agree with Marquis de SeaToShiningSea: A simple checkbox of "humor/satire" or something when posting would suffice for the time being. It could easily be a test run of sorts before rolling out the official "TPM Horse's Ass" section...
Of course some others have raised the biggest issue: Everybody's a comedian. For every truly intelligently humorous post, there will be several epic fails. But that's okay. That's all part of the process to bring out the comic potential of TPM contributors. Then, down the road, if it turns out to be a rounding success, an entire new blog could be born.
Someone else suggested this could be a blog where we could also post clips from The Daily Show/Colbert ect. I don't think that's too wise. I'm sure there is enough talent to generate completely original content.
June 13, 2008 3:48 PM | Reply | Permalink
I doubt that anyone is still on this thread besides the two of us. Or maybe it's just me now.
That would be incredible but hard to pull off with amateur writers. You could definitely get some good material, but I expect that much of it would be inferior.
There are only a few regular contributors who write decent satire and some occasional drive-by bloggers. I haven't seen decent satire posts here more than once or twice a week. Maybe that's OK. A
satire section would not have to turnover at the same pace as Election Central and probably shouldn't. My concern would be that if there weren't enough regular content, readers wouldn't visit the page, and if they didn't visit the page, writers wouldn't contribute. If my posts were to get a hundred readers at EC and twenty readers at the satire page, I wouldn't check the satire box (unless I could also check the EC box).
BTW, if TPM doesn't do something like this, I've been thinking about doing it on my own (with cross-posts at TPM) and have discussed it with one of the other satire writers at TPM. If you're interested, you can contact me over at my.barackobama.com:
http://my.barackobama.com/page/dashboard/public/gGnyqX
(or search for user Genghis)
June 15, 2008 3:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
Whenever I post about politics on my own blog, it's usually of the comic nature. Very seldom do I post something series--that goes for my entire blog too, not just the politics section. Then again, I'm not a very serious person.
I could cross-post to TPM but more than that I would probably limit most of my political posts to TPM and just not post them on my regular blog. Some of my loyal readers don't agree with my politics, so they don't visit my site as much, especially lately when I've been posting about nothing but politics.
TPM should try and woo Jon Stewart away from Comedy Central.
:)
June 15, 2008 8:03 PM | Reply | Permalink
Culture, you seem to have a winning idea. If it ever happens, it's likely to be TPMHorse's Ass.
Good for you!!
June 13, 2008 12:18 AM | Reply | Permalink
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