I think the media landscape will be changing quite a bit in the coming years. I noticed this back in 2016, also, when a certain President came in and the news became a 24/7 mania of sensational non-ending news of episodic soap-operic proportions.
I recall that is was actually quite difficult for people in the comedy-related world to parody and make fun of this era of media back then. People even spoke directly about how hard it was to parody this paradoxical figure. I remember the South Park guys were saying they don't want to directly make fun of Donald Trump because it is difficult to parody a person such as him. I think they replaced him in their election episodes with Mr. Garrison running for President in a Trump-like manner rather than straight-out making a parody character of Trump.
Many people in the comedy world didn't know what to do with him. They didn't really perceive correctly what was the correct fashion to make fun of him or to satirize him and just sort of didn't attempt to.
I think the people doing impressions of him failed very miserably. A. Baldwin on SNL or A. Atamanuik doing impressions of him couldn't even really capture the simple somewhat-hard-to-grasp fact that... this man is a self-parody of his own self. You are attempting to exaggerate the mannerisms and speech of a man who is exaggerating the mannerisms and speech of his own self. They simply couldn't impersonate him to the level he already impersonates himself.
I even view the long red tie he has made his trademark look as a tribute to Rodney Dangerfield who made that his trademark look for decades. He is a person who wants to be seen as funny. He is a comedic person. He is a character.
He is knowingly a self-parody of his own self.
People used to say this about both Elvis and Liberace. They would say that once Elvis stopped being young Elvis he gradually evolved into a parody version of himself in real time. Of course, the unmatched Liberace, took this concept to a much further extreme... even opening up a museum for himself to display his tacky treasures for the world to see amongst other remarkable feats.
I remember back in that time, 2016, when the first Trump election was in full swing... I was attempting to satirize that era but in a more broader fashion. I attempted to satirize the entire media landscape of that era. I was writing articles on another comedy website that was short lived. I won't even mention the name for I don't think anyone knew about it or remembers it existing even if they did know about.
The website had multiple pseudonyms I would write under. Parodies of characters that you would see in that era, all the time, on the internet. The out-of-his mind conspiracy theorist, the obsessed political mark, even the venerable Ghost of James Brown would sometimes contribute essays, and a few others. It parodied the entire landscape of media rather than just a specific concept or opinion. The characters were inspired by the Weekly World News to an extent but much dumber and with a lot of swear words. I had an "Ed Anger" sort of guy too that I'd write as.
I think to try and parody something so broad as "media" itself is probably only for a niche market. Most people want comedy to attack and make fun of things they dislike and want to see made a fool of. A lot of the things you dislike are created by the media landscape itself. You probably got mad at something you saw on the news and want that anger inside of you created by that news story to be ridiculed by a witty person who represents your correct views.
It's odd to think that this monolith known as "media" can create problems that are ridiculous to our minds and then on the next segment two "talking heads" or "loudmouths" (Morton Downeysian term) can argue about the problem made up in the last segment... and then conclude with a comedian poking fun at the absurdity of the loudmouths arguing about it... and in the end... what it really was about... was keeping your eyes hooked on the television for the three commercial spots that aired between the creation, arguing-over, and making fun of... the non-existent problem.
I would sort of aim to parody this "form" in that defunct comedy website back in 2016. Not a person, not really a concept... but the "form" it is presented to the viewer, reader, gamer as. A parody of the form itself.
I'm not saying I'm any good at this, by the way, I just like to think about these things. If you were to ask me about people in the comedy world who I believe are actually good at parodying the form itself of how media is presented to us... I can't think of anyone, really, right away.
All that comes to mind are two people, really.
I think Tim Heidecker is probably the only person in the world today who not only does something like this correctly but really strives to make this his art form. I read once that his comedy special was one of the only comedy specials not shown on Netflix, which at one point had endless of these, due to the reason that they viewed it as... him making fun of comedy. I remember reading the article and thinking... they wouldn't show this because they were mad he was making fun of "comedy" itself. Which is a strange thought to think about.
Making fun of comedy.
Another person, I can think of is one whom during the pandemic, when nothing was open and there was nothing to do... I got caught up in AEW to have something to look forward to on Wednesdays. There was a guy on AEW who was very disliked by many people back then who I thought was unendingly entertaining to watch perform wrestling. Now a days he's an accepted star and even won some championships... but back when he first started people really hated... Orange Cassidy. Now the reason for this is similar to the above reason... people said he was making fun of Wrestling. They were angry about this.
Making fun of wrestling.
If you actually become too enveloping and broad in your parody and depart from more specific concepts ... you will confuse people in a way that actually does offend them.
Anyways, let's get back to the topic now...
So, everyone's ire is once again up. The mean ol' President is back. If you were to listen to Canadian terrestrial radio or read Canadian print media these days... it's almost a scramble to figure out how to respond to the President of the USA... who is essentially "calling out" Canada to see what it's all about.
To even say that Canadian officials are wigging out right now that his steely eyes have moved their gaze to their region... is an understatement. In fact, the next Canadian election, might even be decided on how a politician responds to Donald Trump's rhetoric.
I bet there's focus groups and clever strategists convening in wherever Canadian officials convene, Ottawa I guess somewhere... arguing over how to digest his clever ruses and mental mind games... and figure out clever responses that show how strong-willed yet polite Canada is. Oh, what shall his next move be in his wicked game of four dimensional chess?
I watch the news sometimes and there's actual straight-laced politicians cutting center-of-the-ring style hard-cam promos on him right on the 6 o'clock news. Pointing at the hard cam yelling "This 'aint your country, daddy! This 'aint your land, baby!" and common wrestling promo counter-taunts.
I bet many smart people, or pseudo-smart people, make great fun of the wrestling fan... but... I bet all those millions of dollars on focus groups and strategists figuring out how officials should respond to him could have been saved by growing up in a youth blessed with pro wrestling.
The form of media. Creating problems, arguing about fake problems... and then getting bored and laughing at how dumb our fake problems are. It's apparent in every instance of media...
Right now we're in the arguing phase of this problem that Canada shall be annexed by the USA that everyone here is wigging out over. There's jabroni-ass marks working themselves into shoots as well as mark-ass jabronies shooting themselves into works.
But it remains as true as yesterday as it does today, as the immortal Hulk Hogan said on twitter more than a decade ago...
"... Jabronie marks without a life that don't know it['s] a work when you work a work and work yourself into a shoot, marks[.]" -H.H.
Yes, I can attest, listening to news in this region that marks are seriously marking out whilst jabronies are working themselves into shoots. People are refusing to buy a certain type of Ketchup because they heard it was made in the USA and they have to buy Canadian Ketchup! Guys are selling mark-ass merch like "Canada belongs 2 Canada" t-shirts and the like.
I bet this will have a cascading effect to it that will spread naturally to other countries like a gentle hurricane of soft power. I bet Xi Jinping is watching this and thinking that if Donald Trump will even attack America's long-heard-of ally Canada... it's only a matter of time until Trumpamania runs wild on China, brother.
What about that ol' aging war boy Vlad Pooptin? I'll tell you what he's thinking. He must be thinking if Trump can annex his own friend northernly Canada... it won't be long until the knife is squarely inside of his Russian back! His best friend Donald Trump is gonna pull the ol' switcheroo on ol' Vlad... and I bet the man is poopin' in his Russian pants! That barbecue stealin' Russian*!
Eventually we'll get to the parody portion of this created problem... which already was made by the way. The pinnacle satire, of course, of this concept already exists. John Candy starred alongside Rhea Perlman in a film from 1995 with a run time of 90 minutes called... Canadian Bacon. Our fears were dashed of Canada being annexed thanks to the comedy stylings of Michael Moore and John Candy. We should show Candadian Bacon in schools, it is an educational film.
I think Steven Wright was in that. That guy's good.
I've lived in Canada my whole life and I can tell you that I've never actually seen a product called Canadian Bacon. I didn't even know what it was until I saw it at an American pizza store in the early nineties. It's this circular ham-like bacon. No wonder everyone hates us... they think we eat this out-of-touch loser bacon. I don't eat that weirdo bacon and have never even seen it at the market. I eat real bacon... like a normal person.
*This is an inside joke. It's hard for me to explain if you're not from a place I used to work at. It basically breaks down to Russia will just rob someone's barbecue from their backyard but not enter the home to rob the inside out of fear of consequences. In real life they will fool around and try to steal Ukraine but they would never actually go into Europe. They're just a buncha cowardly BBQ thieves runnin' around stealing barbecues.
