The State of Slapstick

While chatting with friends recently I mentioned that I would be keeping a long standing personal tradition alive on Wednesday evening by continuing to direct my attention elsewhere while the farcical TV comedy called "The State of the Union Address" was being aired.

I'm not sure if it was appropriately carried on Comedy Central, but if so, it would only be added to the ever lengthening lineup of un-amusing fare crowding out some truly funny stuff found there. Hillary couldn't be bothered to show up, and that is truly amusing.

Calling it an "address" is just being kind. It is a political stump speech for the already elected, and it's almost always boring. Oh, such speeches to joint sessions usually have a few interesting moments, such as last year when one semi-brave (and thankfully rude) US Representative audibly called the President a liar, or this year when a Justice of the Supreme Court did the same thing (albeit a little more tactfully) by mouthing the word "untrue" as the President made claims about the recent partial reinstatement of the first amendment. It should also be noted that the President himself set a new standard in rude-ness when he referred directly to the Court, a no-no in polite politics during an "address".

Meanwhile, over an excellent glass of Pinot Noir with my unpaid editor/proofreader before the speech commenced, we discussed the possibility of breaking the tradition, watching the whole thing, diligently taking notes and writing a compelling report for this blog. As suspected from other experiential evidence, that notion was proof positive that wine has higher alcohol content than desirable for optimal rational thought. After regaining my somewhat dulled none-to-powerful reasoning skills, I demurred.

Instead I have decided to leave the work to real professionals. Below you can view a short round-up of which gags worked and which didn't.