Pride and Prejudice and Zombies

Braaaaaaains!

Are you a zombie fan? Are you a Jane Austen fan? If you can answer “yes” to either of these questions, there’s a treat in store for you! Philly publisher Quirk Books has a new take on a classic read, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. Yes, you heard me correctly. Author Seth Grahame-Smith (see also Big Book of Porn, Pardon My President, and How to Survive a Horror Movie) has injected zombie mayhem into the original work, a totally legal maneuver allowed by public domain law.

Seemingly out of nowhere, a blurb hit the internet a few weeks ago, and spread like wildfire through Austen blogs and zombie blogs to places like Entertainment Weekly’s Pop Watch and the London Sunday Times. Rumors of movie deals abound. Ah, the power of the internet. Isn’t it perfect for film?

Quirk featured the title last week at NYC’s Comic Con, besieged equally by Austen and zombie fans, and quickly ran out of promotional postcards. All this, and the book is not even available yet. The publication date of April 1 approaches, as do those brain-thirsty zombies. Some say Jane Austen would be rolling in her grave, while others say she would approve of the parody, and is just trying to get out! (Perhaps she would like to read it!)

Since Barack Obama is coming to town tomorrow and screwing up everyone’s morning commute…. (Well, I guess Sarah Palin is gonna be there too….maybe she’ll make me some moose chili?) I’ll share this chestnut with you all:

I saw a story the other day on Channel 10 or Channel 6 or some other news program that isn’t anchored by Hot Dawn. The story was about how much of a “hard time” comedians are having making jokes about President-Elect Obama.

I’ve watched late night television a lot less since the election because it’s a little irritating that it’s been pretty much a month since the election and there are still jokes being made about Sarah Palin and how old McCain is. I think it was Fox News who said the ratio was 7:1, Republican to Democrat, when it came to jokes on late night shows and SNL. I know about sore losers…but it seems like there’s a lot of sore winners out there, too.

Anyhow, the way this “news” story made it seem (and the way late night TV makes it seem, at least, to me) – political comedians and late night hosts are going to be “out of jobs” because Obama is just so popular and likeable (yes, the 59,417,826 – including myself – who didn’t vote for the guy just don’t seem to count!). “We’re so lucky there’s Joe Biden!” snarked Jay Leno in one of his monologues. There will be absolutely no way to make fun of the guy, right?

Are comedians completely out of material? Maybe they’re being cautious? After all – a lot of people have been in some deep water for criticizing Obama – like a radio show almost getting shut down. It’s also so hard to make fun of the guy because it’s easy to be mistaken as a racist by the spastic pointy-finger of the Left.

I decided it was time for some half-assed investigative journalism. I put out an ad for local comedians to reply to and chime in with their thoughts. I received some excellent responses that I’d like to share with all of you.

Tony DiGerolamo – Blue Anchor, New Jersey native and writer for Comedy Central’s Indecision `08 blog (as well as superfrat.com) – doesn’t think comedians are at their wit’s end. “I think they’re waiting for a good moment to pounce. Plus it’s hard to let go of George Bush. Just so much material there.”

But isn’t it gonna be pretty damn hard to make fun of a guy who has enamored so many people? I mean, we all know that everyone who voted for Obama is super intelligent and well-informed, right?

“Obama will be even easier”, continues DiGerolamo. “Bush was lame when he was elected, so he didn’t have far to fall. Obama, on the other hand, is already disappointing thousands of people and he’s not even in office yet! Plus he brought the Clintons back. Call backs in comedy are even funnier than the original joke.”

You don’t tug on Obama’s cape….

Mala Wright, a sketch comedienne from Trenton, New Jersey, offers a different perspective. “I do think it would be harder for anyone to make a joke about him without sounding racist. I actually worked on a comedy sitcom pilot (called “Sistergirl”) over the winter with an all African American cast and we did a sketch about Obama if and when he becomes president. But, it was kinda hard to do it… So, I do think it would be harder to find material about him. I do think that some African American comics would be able to get away with it to a certain extent. It all depends on how you do it. I still think people – no matter who they are – may be offended either way.”

So is it just race preventing more jokes in the mainstream about Obama? “I think it is harder to make jokes about someone popular”, Wright continues. “Obama is well liked by everyone it seems and I do think a lot of people would be offended by jokes about him. I think it all boils down to how you use him in your joke. It was so easy to make jokes about W…but with Obama it is like he stands for change and he is an inspiration to everyone regardless of color. I don’t know if it will get easier over time.”

Aaron David Ward, who is from New York but plies his trade often in the Illadel, sends the response I seek into even another tangent. “”The notion professional stand up comedians will avoid making jokes about President Barack Obama out of fear of being labeled “racist” is based on the faulty premise that his race has something to do with
finding him or his proposed policies funny.” (AP note: And I think a LOT of people need to understand that!)

We all tend to like comedians who say more of the things that we’re looking to hear. That’s why there are people who love Eddie Izzard and who love Larry The Cable Guy and who don’t really cross paths. However, isn’t it the job (or more sensible in terms of business and advertising revenue?) of someone on a national platform – that is getting viewers from Columns A, B, and J – to be a fairer with their punchlines?

Ward gives his own personal comedic mantra. “As a stand up comedian, speaking truth to power is my primary goal regardless of whether those who represent power are black, white, or any other color. In a country founded on the principle of individual liberty, I’m amazed so many people have elected a president who wants to ’spread the wealth
around’. I’m equally amazed by how many people put their faith in government instead of themselves. The only leader people really need resides in their own hearts, minds, and souls or so someone told me.”

So I guess we’ll just have to wait and see. I’m hoping to die laughing at jokes about Barack just as much as I did at jokes about Dubya, Clinton, Bush I, and Reagan. As of right now, late night talk shows aren’t a part of my TV watching schedule. And if comedians don’t want to stop the egregious amount of sucking up to the guy – they’re going to lose more viewers very quickly.

Be seeing you,

- AP
Mala Wright is an actress and performance artist. Check out her personal website here and her IMDB profile here.

Tony DiGerolamo writes for Comedy Central’s Indecision `08 blog and can be found on the web here.

Aaron David Ward is automatically awesome because his first name is Aaron. Check out his website here.

While Obama overwhelmingly won the support of Philadelphians (65% to Clinton’s 35%), Clinton proved that she is the clear choice for Pennsylvanians state-wide. Being a huge supporter of Senator Clinton, I listened intently to her victory speech last night. She said one thing that really stuck in my mind (not verbatim), “…I’ve seen parent’s with their daughters saying – See? You can be anything you want to be.”

On an even more local level, Larry Farnese won the 1st District Senate Seat – proudly representing South Philadelphia. While I voted for Anne Dicker, I was very satisfied that union boss John Dougherty did not clinch the victory. Dougherty also “killed” more trees then Farnese and Dicker – and if anyone knows, I am all about greening South Philadelphia.

You thought he’d PARDON Scooter Libby.

Ha!

You were wrong. Sooooooo, so wrong.

Bush COMMUTED him. Not pardoned, commuted.

See?

What a great guy he is.

But here’s the rub, chet…

Granted Scoot doesn’t have to serve any jail time, but he is STILL going to get hit with that kinda-hefty fine and the charge WON’T get taken off his personal record like it would have if he had gotten pardoned (balls!.) Soooooo, when Scoot goes to apply for a job in say, sunny Philadelphia, at maybe Wawa or Rita’s Water Ice to pay off said fine, he’ll still have to say, “yes,” when asked if he’s ever been convicted of a felony.

That’s annoying.

He’ll never get hired at Wawa now.

Bush really should have thought of that.

THE MORAL OF THE STORY: Don’t get mad at Bush for lettin’ Scoot off. Get mad at Bush for screwing up Scoot’s chances of working at Wawa.

The End.