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COPYRIGHT 2004 All rights reserved. Reproduced by permission of The Condé Nast Publications Inc.
Three days after placing third in the Iowa caucuses and delivering the much replayed "scream," Howard Dean made a taped appearance on the "Late Show with David Letterman." His task was to deliver the Top Ten list of "ways I, Howard Dean, can turn things around":
10. Switch to decaf. , 9. Unveil new slogan: "Vote for Dean and get one dollar off your next purchase at Blimpie." , 8. Marry Rachel on the final episode of "Friends." , 7. Don't change a thing--it's going great. , 6. Show a little more skin. , 5. Go on "American Idol" and give 'em a taste of these pipes. , 4. Start working out and speaking with Austrian accent. , 3. I can't give specifics yet, but it involves Ted Danson. , 2. Fire the staffer who suggested we do this lousy Top Ten List instead of actually campaigning. , 1. Oh, I don't know--maybe fewer crazy, red-faced rants.
Dean followed up the "Letterman" appearance with an interview with Jon Stewart on Comedy Central's "The Daily Show." When the segment aired, the day before the New Hampshire primary, it consisted mostly of voice-overs of the two men's "thoughts." At one point, Dean was asked his position on gay marriage. As he held forth, his answer was drowned out by Stewart's interior monologue: "Mrs. Jon Dean . . . Mr. Howard Stewart . . . Howard and Jon Dean . . . Dr. and Mr. Jon Dean-Stewart."
Dean's performances on late-night television in no way distinguished him from his rivals. While stumping in Iowa, Representative Dick Gephardt, of Missouri, also showed up on "Letterman," in his case to enumerate the ten "signs you've been on the campaign trail too long." (No. 6: "You ask yourself, 'What would Schwarzenegger do?' " No. 2: "You agree to appear on a lame late-night talk show.") Right before officially entering the Presidential race, last September, Senator John Edwards, of North Carolina, "announced" his candidacy on "The Daily Show." And, the day after the Missouri primary, Edwards duly recited his list of ten "things never before said by a Presidential candidate." (No. 7: "I'd give you my plan for economic recovery if I wasn't rip-stinkin' drunk.")
Making fun of politicians is a pastime practically as old as politics itself. Before the Greeks got around to inventing romantic comedy, they amused themselves by lampooning their leaders; in Aristophanes' "The Knights," for instance, the Athenian despot Cleon is replaced in office by a sausage seller. (Standard garb for actors in the days of "old comedy" was a padded suit and a large red leather phallus.) The Romans, too, loved a witty put-down, like this one, aimed at Caesar and reported by Dio Cassius: "If you behave well, you will be punished; if you behave badly, you will be king."
What sets contemporary political humor apart is its curious--one is tempted to say unprecedented--configuration. In the new comic order, the most devastating joke is circulated not by an irreverent observer or a sly opponent but by the target himself, who appears on national television solely in order to deliver...
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