How The Right Makes Comedy Work For Them

I know we say this a lot, but this week, host Jesse David Fox is bringing something a little different to the Good One feed: Instead of a comedian talking about a bit they wrote and love that explains what they're trying to do with their comedy, he brought two academics into the (digital) studio!

Meet Matt Sienkiewicz and Nick Marx, authors of the new book That's Not Funny: How The Right Makes Comedy Work For Them. The book is a call to pay attention to the emergence of right-wing comedy and the political power of humor. That's Not Funny argues that it is both an intellectual and politically strategic mistake to assume that comedy has a liberal bias. Matt Sienkiewicz and Nick Marx take readers––particularly self-described liberals––on a tour of contemporary conservative comedy and the "right-wing comedy complex."

Together, Matt and Nick walk Jesse through every section of the book, and discuss everything from Jesse Watters's branding as the "conservative John Stewart", to Joe Rogan's hold on pop culture, to the intentional political incorrectness of shows like Legion of Skanks. They also cover the history of right wing comedy, and how the genre manages to successfully capture the ad dollars of the straight while male.

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