November 30, 2009 • Vol. 15, No. 11
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« Political Myths about the Bush Presidency | The Blog home page | Germany Pushes for Gas Pipeline with Russia »

Thou Shalt Not Mock

The comedy world's aversion to mocking President Obama is well documented.

But this morning I heard a new radio ad for the local fast-food chain Jerry's. For years, Jerry's has run a radio campaign based on the idea that the founder, Jerry, is having little conversations with various celebrities, whose voices and tics are impersonated with Caliendo-like precision and mockery. The ads are particularly well-done, with clever writing and dead-on voice acting.

A constant in the campaign has been ads mocking the president--Clinton and Bush each appeared in several ads. The tone was always mocking--the kind of gentle poking of fun that's close enough to the edge to induce a grin, but not mean-spirited enough to provoke anger from the president's supporters.

So how does the Jerry's campaign handle our new president? Simple: Their first ad of the Obama administration features Sarah Palin.

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