John Howard

[panther]

Hi, I have a criticism about Australian comedians in general.
U.S. comedians are going after George Bush in a really big
way over the Iraq war. I've seen lots of examples of this on the
Internet. But Aussie comedians aren't going after John Howard
in a similar manner.

Last night I saw David Letterman savage George Bush and this
Is part of how he did it. (I can only remember two examples).

The top 10 ways really really dumb guys get cheap petrol.


Sneak up at night and change the prices on the boards.

Get Oprah Winfrey to buy all the petrol and give it away.

And the number one way the really really dumb guys get cheap petrol by
......


Invading Iraq

I've thought that Australian comedians are as good as the Yanks.
But for some reason we seem to be lacking in this area. Maybe we
need to have someone lead by example. Any suggestions?

Chris

[Mythor]

Perhaps you've not been seeing the right comedians?

There's usually some criticisms of him on The Glass House, so perhaps try tuning in tonight to see if there's anything happening there?

I know at least one comedian thinks it's really bad to criticise Howard, no matter what his decisions are, because he's our leader and deserves our respect, yada yada. Perhaps that's a more prevalent view than I'd imagined.

[Nick]

Who was the comedian?

You have been seeing the wrong comedians, I have seen many comic's have a go at John Howard.

*giggles at the concept of John Howard being a shaved Ewok*

[hails]

if you want aussie comedy that slags the rightwing bitches like noone else, go see rod quantock. he's a legend. any member of the libs is fair game for him; it's great

[stevie]

Is the issue comedians not going after John Howard or not going after him about Iraq?

I too think you must be seeing the wrong comedians?!

I think it's classically Australian to have an issue with authority figures. Sure when it comes to the crunch we'll all sit down and listen to them but in the mean time we all bag them out for one thing or another, Howard included, in my observations for his decisions on Iraq to having a fantastic set of eyebrows!

I've seen Aussie comedians poke fun at George W too, I bet ya don't get a whole lot of American's poking fun at Little Johnny! Or Blair for that matter... You can only fit so much political criticism into one comedic set.

Maybe some of the comedians are trying to do good material instead of taking cheap shots at George W. and Howard. It's better to have no Iraq jokes than crap ones.

[Mythor]

Originally Posted by stevie

I've seen Aussie comedians poke fun at George W too, I bet ya don't get a whole lot of American's poking fun at Little Johnny! [...] You can only fit so much political criticism into one comedic set.

I think that would actually have more to do with much of the American public's lack of knowledge when it comes to Australia and our Prime Minister.
This was brilliantly illustrated on CNNNN when they had Julian Morrow (I think?) go to the US, pretend to be John Howard and chat to the average person in the street. Most of them didn't have a clue that it was a complete setup and even agreed with the outrageous statements he made.

Plus, Dubya provides a heck of a lot of material anyways.

[stevie]

Originally Posted by Mythor

I think that would actually have more to do with much of the American public's lack of knowledge when it comes to Australia and our Prime Minister.
This was brilliantly illustrated on CNNNN when they had Julian Morrow (I think?) go to the US, pretend to be John Howard and chat to the average person in the street. Most of them didn't have a clue that it was a complete setup and even agreed with the outrageous statements he made.

That was exactly my point, that the Yanks wouldn't have a clue as to who the hell John Howard is...and possibly even not know who Tony Blair is.

That segment on CNNNN was awesome...illustrates the point brilliantly!

[Gutter Monkey]

Letterman is doing *amazing* work poking fun at Dubya. Just had to say that.

And although there are a bunch of Oz comedians chucking brickbats in the direction of Our Fearless Leader, the general malaise over the Iraqi war seems to be reflected in Australia's general malaise over the whole affair. Tony Blair is in the middle of a shitstorm over the whole thing, Donald Rumsfeld may get the chop, Condaleeza Rice isn't looking that happy these days, George W Bush had to apologise over the prison torture debacle (although he had a dumb grin on his face at the time) but here in Australia we're not really calling anyone to account.
It might have to do with the fact that we know that Johnny didn't actually decide to start a war, he just decided to support America's war. It still doesn't feel like 'our' war, even though we've been there since before the official start and we're still there.
If the Iraqi's were killing Aussie troops and cutting off Australian's heads then you can bet our comedians would be covering it much further.

[Sam]

I reckon it's because Little Johnnie is just so damn boring. Can't remember the original line from Gud, but, "John Howard - what a dick!" I mean what else is there to say about the guy. On the other hand, George WYA! He's a loose comedy cannon - he's out there you don't know what he's gonna say or do, institutions are all over the states ready for action, waiting for the call. I for one hope his manager has set up an account for the percentages American Comics should be sending in, the guy's writing their material and they should just pay up.