Intermarkets' Privacy Policy Support
Donate to Ace of Spades HQ! Contact
Ace:aceofspadeshq at gee mail.com Buck: buck.throckmorton at protonmail.com CBD: cbd at cutjibnewsletter.com joe mannix: mannix2024 at proton.me MisHum: petmorons at gee mail.com J.J. Sefton: sefton at cutjibnewsletter.com Recent Entries
Daily Tech News 10 December 2024
Monday Overnight Open Thread (12/9/24) - Doof Christmas Catastrophe Cafe Quick Hits Ditzy Democrat Propagandist Alisyn (That Name!) Camerota Out at CNN The Bulwark: Now That Hispanics Are Not Voting for the Democrat Party, the True Conservative (TM) Position Is To Deport Their Unapprovedly-Diverse Asses CNN and Fake Jake Tapper Lose Again in Defamation Case Calls for "Black Vigilantes" to Even the Score and (Get This) Riots After the Daniel Penny Verdict "Person of Interest" In Health Care CEO Assassination Caught in Altoona, PA, Identified as Luigi Mangione, "Former Ivy League Student" NYT: He Carried a Manifesto Decrying Health Care Corporations' Greed Verdict: Daniel Penny Is Not Guilty of Anything Absent Friends
Bandersnatch 2024
GnuBreed 2024 Captain Hate 2023 moon_over_vermont 2023 westminsterdogshow 2023 Ann Wilson(Empire1) 2022 Dave In Texas 2022 Jesse in D.C. 2022 OregonMuse 2022 redc1c4 2021 Tami 2021 Chavez the Hugo 2020 Ibguy 2020 Rickl 2019 Joffen 2014 AoSHQ Writers Group
A site for members of the Horde to post their stories seeking beta readers, editing help, brainstorming, and story ideas. Also to share links to potential publishing outlets, writing help sites, and videos posting tips to get published.
Contact OrangeEnt for info:
maildrop62 at proton dot me Cutting The Cord And Email Security
Moron Meet-Ups
|
« Chris Wallace PWNs Jon Stewart Anew |
Main
| Hobo Port-a-Potty Pervert Speaks »
June 26, 2011
Oh Right: Bill Maher Was Pretty Damn Proud of His "Afterbirthers/Placenta" Not-Funny JokeI forgot. Treacher reminded me. Bill Maher accused The Onion of stealing a joke he'd made about "Afterbirthers." Not birthers, but afterbirthers. Ha-ha. There are two problems with this. Once again, I would like to look past the obvious problem. The first problem -- the obvious one -- is that it would be very difficult for The Onion to have stolen Bill Maher's joke, given that The Onion made the joke in August 2009, whereas Bill Maher "created" the joke in February 2010. So Bill Maher actually lifted it. One of his writers pitched it to him (yes, they all read The Onion), or he saw it himself in The Onion, or someone who saw it in The Onion said it in casual conversation as a joke and Bill Maher "wrote" it in the sense that after having heard it he then wrote it down. Or there's another possibility, which brings up the point I really want to talk about: The other possibility is that Maher thought it up, and The Onion thought up before that, and other people also thought it up, because... it's an obvious joke and not very funny. This is what I want to talk about. This is not a good joke. Would I tell it myself? Ehhh... I don't know, maybe. It's weak. But sure, you pitch out weak stuff a lot. As I keep saying, it happens. Weak jokes are frankly the biggest part of any comic's repetoir. But here's what I wouldn't have done: I would not have jumped up screaming about someone lifting my killer joke saying "Mine! Mine! Mine! Mine!" I would have had no pride in it, no pride of authorship. I would have chalked it up as a very weak joke, just barely good enough as filler on TV (if it rises to that level at all), and furthermore a very obvious bit of wordplay that literally anyone could have thought of. Including amateurs who aren't funny. Such as Bill Maher. I want you to note how The Onion treated this joke. It's a quickie headline, with a short paragraph appended, largely for purposes of supporting the illusion that The Onion is a real news organization. The joke is not prominent on the website. It's a disposable "News In Brief" throwaway line. See? The Onion did publish it, but The Onion also gave it the prominence it deserved, which is to say, not much. It's filler. It's a smile at most. It's not like The Onion seized on this wordplay and constructed one of its more extensive bits on it, like a long article, or one of their traffic-drawing video report bits. They elevate the best jokes to that level of prominence. This is throwaway snark like you might see here as a took-me-five-seconds gag in the headlines. It's a joke, barely, but nothing to get all worked up about. But for Bill Maher, this was really top-drawer, banging-on-all-cylinders stuff that he had to proudly announce he'd thought of first and then accuse The Onion of stealing his super-funny stuff. This gag -- which barely even made The Onion at all -- was a treasure to Bill Maher, a fine moment, a carefully-crafted, inventive joke he wanted the world to know he'd created himself. Well, he hadn't, but who cares, what really interests me is what the hell is going on this no-talent's head that he imagines this is a joke to to go the mattresses over? This is why I say: His writers, who are funny, cannot rescue him, because Bill Maher is not only not funny on a creative level, he is also not funny on an editorial/simple recognition of other people's comedy level. His writers cannot save him, because he cannot tell when they've proposed a strong joke and when they've fed him yet more audience-validating clapper material. He actually thinks the clapper material is awesome, awesome enough to accuse a well-respected, real, professional comedy troupe of thievery over. I'm curious. There are a lot of lower-level stand-up comics at The Onion. Did one of those stand-ups propose this joke? Did they actually bother to use it in their live act, or dismiss it as "only good enough for a quickie headline?" I have a feeling no one except Bill Maher deemed this strong enough to use in a stand-up act. It didn't make the cut. It was a throwaway. Filler for the headlines. But here's Bill Maher, parading around his own lack of talent as he rants about people stealing all his hilarious stuff. What a loser. What an absolute, unmitigated embarrassment to comedy. | Recent Comments
Skip :
"Time to get moving ..."
Skip : "tinyurl.com/56zwvn24 Bad Blue- 10 Covid Facts the ..." m: ">>>thanks for stopping tonight’s ONT NO! ..." News on crypto adoption: "Hmm it looks like your website ate my first commen ..." Casino: "This is a good tip especially to those new to the ..." JQ: "Hubby & I both miss our old girl-doggy "Baby"-- sh ..." JQ: "Farmer, did Flash finally come in? Hope you can ..." Adriane the Easily Confused Critic . . .: "Crap. Brush fire in Malibu, CA. Stay safe all. ..." Farmer, with his own historical take: "Flash misses Jules. And freedom. Poor doggeh, he d ..." JQ: "Flash misses Jules. And freedom. Poor doggeh, he d ..." Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM)[/b][/i][/s][/u]: "[i] Was this on here earlier? Trump gives Rosie O ..." JQ: "It's after 1 am here, should I leave his sorry ass ..." Recent Entries
Daily Tech News 10 December 2024
Monday Overnight Open Thread (12/9/24) - Doof Christmas Catastrophe Cafe Quick Hits Ditzy Democrat Propagandist Alisyn (That Name!) Camerota Out at CNN The Bulwark: Now That Hispanics Are Not Voting for the Democrat Party, the True Conservative (TM) Position Is To Deport Their Unapprovedly-Diverse Asses CNN and Fake Jake Tapper Lose Again in Defamation Case Calls for "Black Vigilantes" to Even the Score and (Get This) Riots After the Daniel Penny Verdict "Person of Interest" In Health Care CEO Assassination Caught in Altoona, PA, Identified as Luigi Mangione, "Former Ivy League Student" NYT: He Carried a Manifesto Decrying Health Care Corporations' Greed Verdict: Daniel Penny Is Not Guilty of Anything Search
Polls! Polls! Polls!
Frequently Asked Questions
The (Almost) Complete Paul Anka Integrity Kick
Primary Document: The Audio
Paul Anka Haiku Contest Announcement Integrity SAT's: Entrance Exam for Paul Anka's Band AllahPundit's Paul Anka 45's Collection AnkaPundit: Paul Anka Takes Over the Site for a Weekend (Continues through to Monday's postings) George Bush Slices Don Rumsfeld Like an F*ckin' Hammer Top Top Tens
Democratic Forays into Erotica New Shows On Gore's DNC/MTV Network Nicknames for Potatoes, By People Who Really Hate Potatoes Star Wars Euphemisms for Self-Abuse Signs You're at an Iraqi "Wedding Party" Signs Your Clown Has Gone Bad Signs That You, Geroge Michael, Should Probably Just Give It Up Signs of Hip-Hop Influence on John Kerry NYT Headlines Spinning Bush's Jobs Boom Things People Are More Likely to Say Than "Did You Hear What Al Franken Said Yesterday?" Signs that Paul Krugman Has Lost His Frickin' Mind All-Time Best NBA Players, According to Senator Robert Byrd Other Bad Things About the Jews, According to the Koran Signs That David Letterman Just Doesn't Care Anymore Examples of Bob Kerrey's Insufferable Racial Jackassery Signs Andy Rooney Is Going Senile Other Judgments Dick Clarke Made About Condi Rice Based on Her Appearance Collective Names for Groups of People John Kerry's Other Vietnam Super-Pets Cool Things About the XM8 Assault Rifle Media-Approved Facts About the Democrat Spy Changes to Make Christianity More "Inclusive" Secret John Kerry Senatorial Accomplishments John Edwards Campaign Excuses John Kerry Pick-Up Lines Changes Liberal Senator George Michell Will Make at Disney Torments in Dog-Hell Greatest Hitjobs
The Ace of Spades HQ Sex-for-Money Skankathon A D&D Guide to the Democratic Candidates Margaret Cho: Just Not Funny More Margaret Cho Abuse Margaret Cho: Still Not Funny Iraqi Prisoner Claims He Was Raped... By Woman Wonkette Announces "Morning Zoo" Format John Kerry's "Plan" Causes Surrender of Moqtada al-Sadr's Militia World Muslim Leaders Apologize for Nick Berg's Beheading Michael Moore Goes on Lunchtime Manhattan Death-Spree Milestone: Oliver Willis Posts 400th "Fake News Article" Referencing Britney Spears Liberal Economists Rue a "New Decade of Greed" Artificial Insouciance: Maureen Dowd's Word Processor Revolts Against Her Numbing Imbecility Intelligence Officials Eye Blogs for Tips They Done Found Us Out, Cletus: Intrepid Internet Detective Figures Out Our Master Plan Shock: Josh Marshall Almost Mentions Sarin Discovery in Iraq Leather-Clad Biker Freaks Terrorize Australian Town When Clinton Was President, Torture Was Cool What Wonkette Means When She Explains What Tina Brown Means Wonkette's Stand-Up Act Wankette HQ Gay-Rumors Du Jour Here's What's Bugging Me: Goose and Slider My Own Micah Wright Style Confession of Dishonesty Outraged "Conservatives" React to the FMA An On-Line Impression of Dennis Miller Having Sex with a Kodiak Bear The Story the Rightwing Media Refuses to Report! Our Lunch with David "Glengarry Glen Ross" Mamet The House of Love: Paul Krugman A Michael Moore Mystery (TM) The Dowd-O-Matic! Liberal Consistency and Other Myths Kepler's Laws of Liberal Media Bias John Kerry-- The Splunge! Candidate "Divisive" Politics & "Attacks on Patriotism" (very long) The Donkey ("The Raven" parody) |