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Comment by hydrox24 | Hacker News Reader

> political commentary sprinkled with humor.

I think you're right about their shows, but both Hasan Minhaj and Samantha Bee are comedians, so why are we entrusting political commentary to comedians?

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Being neutral on any spectrum, Richard Pryor and George Carlin are socially accepted as two of the greatest comdeians of this time and they spoke on politics often. If doing so does anything, it accomplishes bringing awareness to bigger issues to an audience who it may not normally be exposed to.

Under the harshest rulers, very often the only person allowed to speak truth to power is the buffoon.

The same reason we trust it to anyone else. I’ve never understood the “he/she is a comedian therefore unfit to comment on serious matters.

I think we have all seen comedians shoehorn their version of values into their routine and come off unfunny and preachy. It turns out comedians write about what they think about. Even Carlin childed comedians who put their politics first. Its more a matter of You have to be funny First.

> Its more a matter of You have to be funny First.

Exactly, but then being funny renders you unable to talk about anything but funny stuff.

Because much of the best comedy is about real life, which often involves politics.

This is perhaps reductive, but maybe we should treat these shows as exposure to a certain viewpoint and nothing more: You are still absolutely free to make up your own mind on a given matter.

Political Commentary is also not something to be rationed - as per se, it would be extremely misguided (and illegal, in the US) to regulate who can be televised on a given matter (Although I assume that you mean "we" as in society rather than the state?)

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