South Park was and is still an animated series that has pushed the boundaries of modern day animated comedies and how they approach political and social culture of the day. Premiering in 1999 but really taking to popularity in 2000 the show was Created by Trey Parker, Matt Stone, and Brian Granden and has been criticized for its multiple stabs at political satire, racism, LGBT community, social satire, and religious humor and has been challenged several times in legal battles from celebrities like Tom Cruise and the FCC for censorship issues. Having aired now for more than 19 seasons it is the 2nd longest running animated series behind “The Simpsons”.
One of the greatest political comedians of all time, George Carlin faced the most controversial issues of the modern day world head on through his use of vulgarity in jokes and language, and pressed the idea of the people vs. the government throughout his career. In his comedic special “I Kinda Like It When A lot of People Die” Carlin one day before 9/11 addresses his view of humor in the chaos of natural disasters and killings, never knowing what was to lie ahead Carlin shelved the HBO special the next day.
In 2001 after the attacks of 9/11 Saturday Night Live carried one of the heaviest weights in the comedy world as a sketch comedy show that was located in the heart on New York City. The show having premiering in 1975 has always been one to address topics such as political and social satire and has experienced much of a roller coaster ride in its ratings and popularity. However, in 2001 the all-star cast of Rachel Dracht, Jimmy Fallon, Tina Fey, Will Ferrell, and many others had once again brought the show to popular ratings with their many sketches of the then president George Bush, and other sketches that would carry on to rebuild the laughter America had lost in looking at its political leaders of that time. It is the longest running sketch comedy show of all time.
Hosting the show from 1996-2015, Jon Stewart rocked Comedy Central for 19 years before stepping down from his comedic satire thrown. The Daily Show similarly shadowed that of SNL’s weekend update with a much more satirical approach, actually reporting on real news topics every now and again with its host Jon Stewart never straying from controversial discussion of the nation’s current political leaders and controversies, attempting to remain neutral in his political stance Stewart often transformed the show into a political arena with many of his guest.
Starring Mike Bonanno and Andy Bichlbaum, the movie “Yes Men” was released in 2003 and was the first project in what is now a series of satirical documentaries with a comedic edge. The movie itself is about two anti-corporate activists that travel around the world impersonating members of the World Trade Organization, and pull outrageous and absurd pranks in protest of the wrong doings in corporate America and other countries. The movie’s cast included Michael Moore, and was nominated for a Political Film Society Award in 2005 based on its expose’ in Human Rights, and also won the Audience Award at the Amsterdam International Documentary Film Festival in 2005.
In 2003 Comedy Central hit gold with Dave Chappelle’s, “Chappelle’s Show” a sketch-comedy show that parodied many of the nuances of race and culture and social satire. Chappelle known for his outrageous portrayals of celebrities like Prince and Lil’ John created his own characters that allowed the show to cover an array of controversial topics such as drug use, and the KKK. The show often criticized for its blatant use of the N-word stood out above the rest for pushing creative limits on a cable network. Due to differences in creative style Chappelle abruptly left the show after 3 seasons and went on hiatus. The show although only running 3 seasons was nominated for 3 prime-time Emmy’s and won countless other awards.
Premiering in 1999 and still running Family Guy is a show that has never steered away from topics of religion, race, culture, sex, sexual identity, and politics amongst many other controversial topics. Often referred to as “Sick, twisted and politically incorrect”, the show created by Seth McFarlane and David Zuckerman is one of the longest running show just behind” South Park”, having surpassed “King of the Hill”. The show often impersonating celebrities and politicians such as Bill Clinton, has led to development of other animated series similar to that of its own like “American Dad” which also strikes laughter in political satire.
This film is highly narrowed on the self-centered attitude of the group of teenage girls who have no qualms about lying, gossiping and manipulating each other in rather vicious ways. The satire begins in this by mocking homeschooled kids, assuming they are all "geeks or homophobic weirdos". The film is also pointing fingers at parents such as Regina George's mother, played by Amy Pohler, who are desperately trying to relive their youth through their kids. Overall, the main direction of satire is pointed cliques in high school and the cruelty among young girls, and is done with a distinct SNL feel. Tina Fey, who is the head writer of this movie, penned the fictional comedy script off of Rosalind Wiseman's New York Times best seller, "Queen Bees and Wannabes: Helping Your Daughter Survive Cliques, Gossip, Boyfriends and Other Realities of Adolescence". Little fun fact, Tina Fey left it to Amy Pohler to come up with and choreograph Kevin G.'s talent show rap.
Anchorman satirizes men's take on the era of women progressively making their way into the workforce. Ron Burgundy, played by Will Farrell, who is a top-rated newsman in the male-dominated broadcasting time of the 1970s, is baffled when an ambitious woman, Veronica Corningstone, joins the team. Comedy comes to play in efforts of Ron and his fellow news friends to get this woman out of the job, considering it is such a big deal that she is even there in the first place. Although Ron and Veronica end up falling in love, there are still satirical jabs throughout the whole movie in regards to the 'working women'.
Stephen Colbert is a satirical newscaster that provides humorous commentary on the big issues going on in the United States and the rest of the world, with his larger-than-life ego and overly-patriotic spirit along with him every step of the way. It was an offshoot of The Daily Show and a parody of shows like "The O'Reilly Factor." With high rankings it went on for ten years.
