As the sun sets on the current presidential administration, the United States has inadvertently slipped into an economic recession rivaled only by the Great Depression. In an effort to counteract the downward spiral, President Bush and the U.S. Congress began to enact a series of industry-affiliated bailouts.
The first of these was the ambiguously-defined “Wall Street Bailout”, which involved donating $700 Billion dollars to various financial institutions. A few months later, Congress voted to bailout a flailing, oil-driven U.S. Auto industry, with a $17.4 Billion dollar transfusion.
The most recent faction to request a dip into the government’s ever-dwindling coffers is the pornography industry, citing the need for a $5 billion boost to an industry the country “couldn’t live without.” No word from Congress yet.
Despite its infinite wisdom and traditional foresight, Congress has failed to anticipate the imminent financial woes of a somewhat obscure trade that, nevertheless, accounts for millions of dollars in revenue and, therefore, a significant number of jobs. For the last 9 years, this industry has been dependent on the current presidential administration for a good portion of its affluence.
The oil cartels? Nope.
Comedians.
From stand-up to literature to television sitcoms, no topic has created the continuous flow of innovative material as 'Dubya’s' Administration. Without him, economic pundits in the know should be anticipating a considerable loss of profits.
With his goofy facial expressions, frequent verbal blunders, creative usage of the English language, and frequent eccentric executive decisions, President George W. Bush has graciously provided the entertainment industry and general merchandisers with unimaginable quantities of raw, unembellished comedy.
The general populace is probably not aware of the extent of Bush’s influence. Aside from unintentional humor on legitimate 24-hour news networks, Bush has also extensively infiltrated comedy news shows. “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart” has featured Bush and his antics just about every new episode for the last 9 years, rhapsodizing about everything from his decisions to his new words.
The Daily Show’s spin-off, “The Colbert Report”, adopted similar Bush-related topics, only approached from a conservative angle while not-so-subtly ridiculing them. Bill Maher, host of HBO’s “Real Time with Bill Maher”, also discovered comedy gold in his roundtable-discussion-styled talk show, utilizing Bush’s antics as the basis of many of his discussion topics.
While it is traditional for talk shows to utilize humor to ridicule a President, it is not everyday that his actions spur the development of animated sitcoms. Comedy Central’s “Lil’ Bush: Resident of the United States”, which featured Lil’ Bush, Lil’ Cheney, Lil’ Rummy, and Lil’ Condi in roles reminiscent of the “South Park” gang.
Bush also inspired Trey Parker and Matt Stone (creators of “South Park”) to create the sitcom, “That’s My Bush”, written in the style of a classic sitcom and supposedly not deviating far from the truth. Author and filmmaker, Michael Moore, has made a mint from the royalties of his darkly humorous literary and cinematic documentaries.
Critics of such entertainment may make a case for Stewart’s or Colbert’s interpretations to be gross embellishments of Bush’s actions. However, volumes of books, such as Jacob Weisberg’s The Ultimate George W. Bushisms: Bush at War (With the English Language), have been released over the past 8 years, dedicated to bizarre and ironic phrases that are frozen in immortality by audio and video. His memorable phrases and facial expressions also spurred the development of quote-a-day calendars, providing cubicle farmers with their daily dose of grammatical inspiration.
Admittedly, books and variety shows may seem a normal and mundane method of critiquing a President; however Bush’s comedic influence has leaked into the live entertainment industry as well. “The Capitol Steps”, a DC-based satirical musical revue troop, has expressed their enjoyment of Bush’s presidency through songs such as “Son of a Bush” and “The Chap who threw his Two Shoes.” Furthering Bush’s stage presence, Will Ferrell will be reprising his role as the current Commander-in-Chief in the Cort Theater on Broadway in a show called “You’re Welcome America”, which will run from January 20 through March 15 2009.
In addition to the aforementioned accolades, Bush’s physical and verbal talents have inspired a number of games, from arcade-style to BINGO. The most widespread of these is The State of the Union Drinking Game (www.drinkinggame.us), a game that involves watching the State of the Union Address and taking a sip (or more) of your beverage when a certain phrase or action happens (such as Bush using the word “nuclear”) Due to recent Middle-Eastern Press Conference events, several versions of an animated game known as the “Bush Shoe Game” (http://www.metacafe.com/watch/2208255/bush_shoe_game/) have cropped up on the internet, providing further entertainment for cubicle farmers during an otherwise dull workday.
Although the entertainment industry has long known that, much to his chagrin, Bush’s reign would one day end, it is often easier to stave off accepting doom until the latest possible moment. Bush has been a comedic gold mine, providing a cheap punch-line for any floundering comedian.
The entertainment industry felt a brief glimmer of hope once Sarah Palin was announced as McCain’s VP candidate. Her similarities to Bush made Palin a likely successor to the throne of political satire. Alas, with Obama’s decisive victory little hope remains for an industry that will likely flounder without significant Congressional support.
