The conservative comedy world is still seeking its Tina Fey, who shook the political landscape with her dead-on impression of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin during the 2008 presidential campaign.
So where are the GOP comedy all-stars? Are they wasting a golden opportunity with President Obama's poll numbers at all-time lows, or are other forces at work that prevent them from breaking through the public consciousness as Miss Fey did two years ago?
It depends on whom you ask — and what one considers a "mainstream" media outlet. While the stand-up comedy world has yet to produce a conservative breakthrough, right-branded humor percolates on the Web, on Fox News' commentary shows and on talk radio.
Conservative comic Evan Sayet blames media gatekeepers for keeping right-of-center comics out of traditional media outlets.
"It's very difficult for conservative comics to find an outlet on conventional television programs like [David] Letterman, Jon Stewart and Bill Maher," Mr. Sayet said. "The left doesn't want what they see as 'the enemy' being allowed to spread … propaganda and hurt the causes they hold dear."
Jimmy Tingle, making Meryl Streep laugh at Harvard's May commencement, says it's hard to satirize an "underdog" president. (Associated Press)Mr. Sayet said conservative comics take alternate paths, working the church circuit and private and corporate events. He compares the phenomenon to how director Mel Gibson scored a massive box-office hit by working around the existing system after Hollywood refused to make his movie "The Passion of the Christ."
With a dig at a certain former Democratic vice president, Mr. Sayet said the digital age is providing ways for conservative humorists to find an audience.
"All I can say is, thank God Al Gore invented the Internet when he did, because now we don't need the folks in their mansions in the Hollywood Hills in order to be seen," he said. "All we have to do is post things on YouTube or link to them on our own sites, and we're on 'television.' "
"The Daily Show's" Mr. Stewart is one of the few liberal comics willing to ding Mr. Obama. Others, such as Mr. Letterman and Mr. Maher, have mostly held their fire or trained it on the conservative opposition.
Kip Perry, a top executive of RightNetwork, a just-launched conservative entertainment channel, said one reason his new company came into existence earlier this year was to provide "an oasis of laughter for the right-minded in our country."
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