Don't touch that dial!

Wow, this is a mean cartoon. I guess I was in a bad mood when I wrote it.

 

I’ve deliberately steered clear of a number the usual targets of riduclue in my cartoon such as Ann Coulter, Rush Limbaugh, Fox News, bad Bush caricatures and so on, as they've basically been beaten to death. Sometimes a great idea or desperation comes and I’ll use the usual suspects, but I prefer to look for fresh mines of comedy.

 

Right-wing talk radio is definitely, definitely a well-trod field, but I thought the jokes were funny enough to justify its use here.

 

Willy Dunningham is an amalgamation of two guys: Mark Levin and… Billy Cunningham. Both specialize in “near yelling,” where their speaking voices are always almost ready to crack into a scream. I hope they talk like that in real life.

 

Cunningham is a big proponent of using Barack Obama’s full name at all times so we’re always aware that his middle name is Hussein. You could make a drinking game about this, and take a shot every time he says Obama’s full name. I should point out that the ensuing car accident will not be my fault.

Cunningham also, for awhile, referred to John McCain as Juan Pablo McCain because he was born in a U.S. base in Panama. He now calls him John Wayne McCain, which I think is a compliment.

Mark Levin wrote a book about dogs and for some time that was all he talked about on his show.

Really!

 

What makes this cartoon work and be something more than a pointless attack on talk radio is the final panel where the host breaks down. I like to imagine that Bill O’Reilly, after a particularly nasty show, sits down and quietly thinks to himself, “Is this why I got into journalism?” This strikes me as far more realistic than “Bill O’Reilly’s pure evil!” as that need to be significant has engulfed his belief in journalistic ethics.

 

Aside from that, the true inspiration for this cartoon came from somehow thinking up the phrase “Barack 'Dead Child on Your Doorstep' Obama,” which struck me then (and still does) as hilarious. There were many, many alternates to this, including:

• Barack “When the Revolution Comes You Will Be the First Against the Wall” Obama
• Barack “The Blood of the Dead on Your Hands” Obama
• Barack “Black, Black as the Night” Obama
• Barack “Better Get Used to Praying to Allah” Obama
• Barack “I Have No Mouth but I Must Scream” Obama
• Barack “Rap, More Like 'Crap' Am I Right?” Obama"

There’s a comedy term called the Wacky Stack; it’s when you pile on so many jokes onto the previous joke that it suddenly loses all relevance and becomes unfunny. You can see that happen with that series of jokes.

 

Fun Fact #41: Dunningham wasn’t supposed to be a caricature of Billy Cunningham, but after looking at him, the drawing does resemble him somewhat.

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