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September, 2001

By Daniel Kurtzman

There is precious little to laugh about these days. But in the spirit of renewal and healing, America's humorists have returned to the scene, hoping to do their part to help lift the country's spirits.

It has been a delicate undertaking for late-night comedians, stand-up comics, and satirists, who have been trying to bring a measure of levity to a difficult time without the humor appearing unseemly.

For the late-night TV hosts, the task has been particularly difficult. David Letterman, the first to return to the airwaves following the terrorist attacks, dropped his usual comic monologue and instead offered an eloquent and emotional tribute to New York's residents, policemen, firefighters, and mayor Rudy Giuliani.

Letterman and the other hosts have since been easing back into jokes about politics and current events, and the humor has been playing surprisingly well with audiences — a testament not only to the cathartic value of a good joke, but to the bonding power of laughter.

Just as the political discourse has changed, so too has the focus of political comedy. Gone are the disparaging one-liners about President Bush's intelligence and work ethic, replaced instead by a new salvo of jokes aimed at the likes of Osama bin Laden, the Taliban, and Jerry Falwell, as well as easy, familiar targets like Bill Clinton and Gary Condit.

Some humor publications, meanwhile, have even managed to derive some brilliant satire from the events of recent weeks. The Onion, one of the most widely read humor publications in the country, took a bold stab at humor this week with a special report featuring such headlines as "U.S. Vows to Defeat Whoever It Is We're at War With," "Hijackers Surprised To Find Selves In Hell," and "President Urges Calm, Restraint Among Nation's Ballad Singers." Modern Humorist, National Lampoon, and others have also come up with a few satirical gems of their own.

Elsewhere on the Net, humor has taken on a distinctly patriotic flavor. Dozens of Photoshopped images and cartoons have been circulating denigrating Osama bin Laden and boosting America's war on terrorism. Some, like the proposed new design for the World Trade Center, are truly funny, while others are a bit more vitriolic.

To be sure, many people will find nothing at all to laugh about, possibly for quite some time. That is understandable. But part of America's indomitable spirit has always been its ability to laugh during difficult times — just as previous generations turned to entertainers and comedians in the months following the attack on Pearl Harbor and the assassination of John F. Kennedy.

Here at About Political Humor, we'll proceed respectfully, feeling our way as we go. If you're looking for a momentary diversion and perhaps even a few laughs about the news of the day, this is a good place to come. But we won't for a minute pretend that what we do here is important. Frankly, you're much better off logging on to a real news site for the latest analysis and commentary about the war on terrorism, or checking About.com's first-rate team coverage.

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