Hollywood’s Last Laugh is None

This morning’s MSNBC commentary by Andy Denhart gets right to what’s wrong with Hollywood. Andy pretty much described satirist Jon Stewart’s Oscar officiation as a flop. I agree, but not for lack of being funny. The audience had no tolerance for laughing at itself. Jon made fun of the stars, but they weren’t laughing at themselves.

Writes Andy, in one example: “An admitted and unashamed progressive himself, Stewart later made fun of the film industry’s perceived liberalness, telling viewers the Oscars are a chance to ‘see all your favorite stars without having to donate any money to the Democratic party’. Our favorite stars barely chuckled”. Self-deprecation wasn’t the humor of the evening. 

As if the stars aren’t pampered enough. Their Oscar Swag is best commentary on the harrowing lives of the rich and famous.

Cintra Wilson’s scathing Salon column, “Oscar castrates Himself,” is better than best commentary about what was wrong with Hollywood on Oscar night. And for the great comedian humbled by stars so dim they couldn’t get a good joke, she writes: “Look what coloring too far inside the lines did to our boy Jon Stewart Sunday evening. Do we need more proof that this kind of conformity is evil and deadly and soul-assassinating?”

Photo Credit: Donna Grayson