“No More Bullshit?”: Tim Heidecker, Satire, and the Futility of Paleoconservative and Libertarian Comedy
The common belief is that conservative comedy is not funny. However, how then would one explain the recent rise of conservative, right-wing comedians such as FOX News’ Greg Gutfeld or podcasters Joe Rogan and Tim Dillon? If measured by sheer numbers and influence, the right indeed took over comedy,...
Enregistré dans:
| Udgivet i: | URI:https://journals.openedition.org/ejas, |
|---|---|
| Auteurs principaux: | , |
| Format: | Article ou chapitre numérique |
| Sprog: | Anglais |
| Udgivet: |
European journal of American studies
2026
|
| Fag: | |
| Online adgang: | Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM |
| Summary: | The common belief is that conservative comedy is not funny. However, how then would one explain the recent rise of conservative, right-wing comedians such as FOX News’ Greg Gutfeld or podcasters Joe Rogan and Tim Dillon? If measured by sheer numbers and influence, the right indeed took over comedy, which, until recently, was the domain of liberals. The important branches of right-wing comedy are libertarian- and paleoconservative comedy. The terms, introduced by Sienkiewicz and Marx, denote a particular brand of humor based on a nostalgia for how things used to be and how jokes used to be told. This article attempts to deconstruct libertarian- and paleocomedy by analyzing Tim Heidecker’s stand-up special An Evening with Tim Heidecker (2020). In it Heidecker satirizes both by becoming––for the duration of the show––the thing he detests: an unfunny, conservative comedian. One of the main arguments of this article is that because in satire the argument implied by the joke is never explicitly stated within it, satire is the perfect device to expose the hypocrisy and sheer unfunniness of libertarian- and paleocomedy. |
|---|