A sketch for Women created by SNL is a sketch surrounding the movement of a day without women in 2017. Where the female cast mates did not show up for work that day, which meant they ended up missing the writing day. This sketch is written by Men for Women about discussing issues that women deal with. However, Even though women’s issues are the topic of discussions women are still sidelined and do not have large roles and the only lines they get to say are “That is very kind of you to say”. It is a very satirical spin of the serous conversations the are being talked about concerning women’s issues.

Irony is a large part of this sketch because the issues being discussed by 2 male castmates. However, the women that are present in the sketch are shown to be struggling with the exact issues that are being discussed. However, they are being ignored and unimportant, sitting by and letting the men take the lead (not intentionally). At a point in the sketch Kyle gestures to Scarlett and Aidy to ask their opinions on the matter and then as Scarlet starts to say something is immediately cut off. The Irony of the whole situation is extremely obvious.

Hyperbole is also used throughout the sketch with Kyle stating that “It’s not fair how, women are taught that they are only valued for their looks, why aren’t we [guys] being taught that”. The tone used is definitely a joking one showing the statement to be a hyperbole.

The sketch is trying to bring attention to women’s issues by first talking about them on live TV, because those topics are often left out or pushed to the side. A reason they have the men talking that is not as obvious is that certain people may listen to what a man has to say rather than a woman. The sketch as a whole is making fun of the conversation about women’s rights and its effects, showcasing some of the actions women have to put up with while talking about the issues.  

South Park over the past two decades has evolved into the purest form of satire in television history. South Park has been pushing the limits from the very first day from making fun of celebrities, politicians, religion, and any controversial event.

South Park brings satire to the most controversial events in America. For example, in episode “World War Zimmerman,” the death of Trayvon Martin, and George Zimmerman being acquitted from all charges puts South Park to the test with this serious situation. In the episode, South Park satires the Stand Your Ground gun laws in America. Another example, of satire in South Park is when Stan’s little brother has an affair with his kindergarten teacher. In the episode, ” Miss Teacher Bangs A Boy.” The show show uses satire to show the serious issue of child molestation. An example of an celebrity being made fun of in South Park are Kim Kardashian and Kanye West. The episode ” The Hobbit,” shows the problem of trying to be perfect to match Hollywood’s standard. Also, the episode makes fun of Kanye for having no sense of humor, by making Kanye in the episode have outrageous outbursts. South Park is the best form of satire in television history because they show no limits in making points of celebrities, politicians, and controversial events. Of course, many South Park episodes have been banned on television. Also, China has the whole program of South Park banned.

On birthdays she brings up hurricane victims, at Disney she mentions terrorist attacks and mad cow disease, at Christmas she makes Santa depressed, and at every waking moment she’s concerned with feline AIDS (it’s the number one killer of domestic cats) …she’s Debbie Downer. 

Debbie Downer, created and portrayed by Rachel Dratch, is one of the funniest, recurring satirical characters on SNL. The first sketch came out back in May 2004 and included then Snl cast members Amy Poehler and Jimmy Fallon. In one of my favorite sketches- and a great example of satire- Debbie Downer goes to Disney World and brings down the mood while simultaneously making her cast mates completely break (also why it’s hilarious). While Lindsey Lohan is excited to meet Pluto, Debbie says, “It must be fun to work here! Although the biggest drawback to working in a theme park is that you must live under constant fear of deadly terrorist attacks.” She continues to only bring up depressing topics around her excited friends by saying things like, “”By the way, it’s official…I can’t have children!”

This sketch is a fantastic example of hyperbole, irony, and situational humor all working together. It’s ironic that at the “happiest place on earth” all Debbie can bring up are diseases and global crisis. The settings of all of the sketches take a similar approach by centering around birthday parties, weddings, and holidays- seemingly happy times. The entire sketch also exaggerates the “debbie downer” persona by only having her mention sad things for 5 minutes straight with the wah-wah sound of a trumpet after each depressing fact. 

This sketch also represents how satire doesn’t solely function to make fun of people, but instead functions as a form of social commentary and catalyst of change. While this sketch isn’t as politically-charged as more recent SNL ones are, it’s still relevant and satirical. The point they are trying to get across is that people shouldn’t just be negative all of the time. Even though bad things are happening in the world, people should avoid being a debbie downer and try to focus on positive stories as well. I think that while paying attention to world news and being aware of catastrophic events is extremely important, you don’t need to feel constantly depressed by it and bring others down as a result. I think it’s also commenting on how the news in the past decade tends to focus on really sad things. If you turn on the news at night, there are good chances that it will be about death, crime, or global crisis.

In Barry Levinson’s Wag the Dog, a spin doctor and a hollywood producer fabricate a war in Albania to distract voters from a presidential sex scandal two weeks before the presidential election. They create a theme song, fake footage of an orphaned girl running through a village on fire, and a POW narrative for someone who they later find out is a convict. The war is a success because the public believes it the entire time even after the CIA tries to shut down the operation and their attention is taken off of the sex scandal. The president wins his re-election and the public believes that the war in Albania ended.

The whole movie is an example of dramatic irony because the American public in the film does not know that the war is fake. Only the audience is aware that Albania is not actually at war with the U.S. A specific example of this dramatic irony is when the orphaned Albanian girl runs through a village of burning buildings to get to safety. This girl is actually an American actress who was hired by the producer to create footage from the war and demonstrate how Albania is being affected. The public believes that this footage is live from the war but in reality it is happening in a TV studio. This specific moment emphasizes the message that the movie is trying to get across, the American public will believe anything that they see in the news. The public is so naive that they believe anything that the government advertises as being true and anything that they see on TV and on the internet. The government made up a war and the public was convinced that people in Albania were dying, even though many people do not know where Albania is more much else about it.

The movie is a parody to today’s society because people still put a lot of trust in the media and believe everything they see in the news. Whatever the government says the people believe since Americans have a large sense of blind patriotism. The movie shows how political leaders can abuse their power and how the American public will not do anything about it. The media is able to exploit the opinion of the people and it is still happening toda

In the late month’s of 2018, Netflix US released a show called the “Patriot Act” where popular comedian Hasan Minhaj addressed serious issues in a satirical manner.

Hasan Minhaj is brilliant in his work and throughout the show makes what he is saying hilarious, yet also sharp and factual. For every episode of the Patriot Act, Minhaj covers serious world problems and topics ranging from economics to global warming. Minhaj uses his comedic background as a way to communicate facts and information on the episode topic.

The Patriot Act has covered heavy topics such as the stigmas and exposing of health care when it comes to mental health, the darker side of the gaming industry where Minhaj speaks about the hardships gaming companies put their employees through, how the NRA is spreading gun violence globally, and more.

Minhaj uses sarcasm and tons of irony to push his facts and work on creating a more efficient and relatable way. Minhaj’s use of comedic strategies and help enhance the true seriousness of the many topics the show covers throughout the seasons/volumes. For example, during an episode titled: “The Ugly Truth of Fast Fashion”, which comments on the new trend of cheaply made clothing that is mass produced and sold online, used different strategies. Minhaj commented, “It’s (fast fashion) is like toilet paper that almost makes you look like Ariana Grande.” Minhaj is able to get his points across (that fast fashion is simply an industry that creates cheap, disposable, and fast clothing) by poking fun at the industry using pop culture references. This could also be considered hyperbole because it’s not as bad as toilet paper, yet at the same time, maybe it is.

Overall, it’s a fantastic show. I may or may not have binge-watched several episodes of this tonight and I plan on watching so many more episodes. In all seriousness, the topics that Patriot Act covers are actually really important and Minhaj’s comedic experience helps convey these topics really well.

Clickhole.com is a satirical “news” outlet that publishes daily content ranging from articles to quizzes on seemingly crude and unimportant matters. These images are representative examples of the content one would find there:

It is difficult to believe that this vile stream of content has a purpose more significant to make people laugh, but through these messages, clickhole.com is able to parody online outlets such as Buzzfeed and Upworthy that rely on clickbait to make a living. Clickhole does this by hyperbolizing the various techniques clickbaiters use to attract attention to themselves.

One of these techniques is the classic list. Whether it is “10 things you can do RIGHT NOW to lose weight” or “15 things you didn’t know you could do with an eraser,” lists tend to be attractive because the audience expects to gain multiple pieces of insight in a short period of time that they believe will change their lifestyle. Once the unsuspecting internet surfer clicks on the article and glances at the list, they realize there is nothing there for them to take in. But it does not matter for the creators of the advertisement-infested article, they make money whether the user likes the content or not. Articles like these are hyperbolized to cause internet users to ask themselves, “Who would click on this garbage?” and to discourage them from falling in the clickbait trap.

Another technique used by many companies to attract attention to their content is wholesomeness, or in other words, the “aww factor.” Clickhole satirizes this technique by beginning with a sarcastic phrase (“Absolutely Heartwarming” or “True Love” in the examples above) hinting at wholesomeness only to destroy that feeling with gore within the same sentence. This allows internet users to see how easily their emotions can be played and teaches them to avoid falling for this trickery.

Clickhole has the underlying theme of combating clickbait, but each article also has its own message, usually being that society pays too much attention to meaningless things such as royal families and celebrities and scandals that will be forgotten in a day or two. Despite being a load of fun to play around on and laugh at, clickhole.com was created for a purpose: to educate internet users the ways companies will use them to gain revenue and to waste their time. Unfortunately, Clickhole was bought by Cards Against Humanity and will no longer continue to produce new content as of just one week ago, but I believe that its message will continue to live on.

Many of us agree we have seen one or two SNL skits. In fact, in almost every episode they seem to have at least one fake commercial. I feel that this sketch in particular is pretty much the definition of satire. The sketch has the same structure as a jewelry commercial. It starts out with moments in people’s lives where love is clearly present (a date, father son bonding, and child birth ). It is even being narrated in a way that makes it look like the product is going to be a sentimental thing. But it turns out to be a gun in every scene even though the commercial continues on with the same tone.

This sketch is one of the best examples of a parody. To start off, the entire thing is prerecorded with the quality similar to a high budget jewelry commercial. If you didn’t know who these actors were it would be reasonable to infer that this is a commercial for Kay Jewelers, that is until you see the guns. The use of guns in every milestone of their lives is similar to showing clips of a woman with a bracelet at many different points in her life. On top of that, this skit also uses understatement considering these people are carrying guns in very public places. One person is shooting one in the air and another shows a pregnant woman bursting into a hospital with a shotgun. If this were to happen in real life, it would be terrifying and fatal but the sketch is making the idea of open carry “normal”.

The entire point of the skit is to call out our current political climate and our issue with gun restrictions. One line from the “commercial” says that guns “unite us” when in fact, they do the opposite. When they made this in the style of a commercial it shows how normalized guns can become if we don’t do something about it. We live in an era where mass shootings have become a common occurrence. SNL is poking fun and adding comedy to the situation to show how messed up our world is.

In an episode of Hasan Minhaj’s Patriot Act that focused on the streetwear brand Supreme, Hasan Minhaj examined hype culture and how hype streetwear is produced. Minhaj related hype culture to the concept of conspicuous consumption and pointed out the ridiculousness of the lucrative resale industry created by hype culture. Minhaj also brought attention to the fact that 50% of Supreme is now controlled by the Carlyle Group, a private equity linked to military profits and defense contracting.

To drive his point home, Hasan Minhaj launched the Carlyle Supremium website and sold a limited amount of parody Supreme white t-shirts with slogans referencing the Carlyle Group’s involvement in Supreme. Some shirts read “Private Equity”, “Oil and Gas”, “Defense Contracting” and “Corporation”. Minhaj parodizes hype culture further when he describes the shirts as a “collab” between Supreme and the Carlyle Group and “perfect for wearing 72 hours straight while you wait in line outside a store for a new product launch”.

The website features a home page and an about page where he says “Carlyle are the real ballers that people should know and love, and everyone should recognize them as the force behind the street-wear brand Supreme. Whether it’s oil production, defense contracting, or acquiring a stake in top fashion companies, Carlyle is absolutely killing it right now and people need to hear about it!” He utilizes dramatic irony in his public declaration of admiration for the Carlyle Group because the private equity has been actively trying to keep their connections secret.

Through his parody website, Minhaj suggests that hype culture is a nonsensical form of modern day conspicuous consumption and that it should not be as widely celebrated and participated in as it is. He also suggests that society should be more conscious of where our clothing is coming from and who we are really buying from.

The song Rockin’ The Suburbs was released by Ben Folds in 2001. The song is a reaction to a set of aggressive comments made during an interview by one of the members of the metal band Korn. In the interview, musician Jonathan Davis spoke about Ben Fold’s music style and stated, “All we want to do is bring heavy back into rock n’ roll. Because goddamned Ben Folds Five sucks.”

Being the incredibly creative musician that Ben Folds is, he produced the satrical tune, Rockin’ The Suburbs, to mock the band’s whiny and angry attitude. The song is extremely multidimensional though. Not only does the song provide a comedic retaliation to the snarky comments that were made, but the song also addresses the incessant drone of the privileged middle class. Ben Folds specifically targets the social sphere of middle-aged white men. Being that he himself is a middle-aged white man, the tone of the song is exceedingly sarcastic.

Ben Folds begins with the earnest stanza,

"Let me tell y'all what it's like
Being male, middle-class and white.
It's a bitch, if you don't believe, listen up to my new CD."

The first stanza pokes fun at a bitter man who is trapped in a self-obsessed bubble of privilege. He goes on to say,

"I got sh*t running thought my brain,
It's so intense that I can't explain.
All alone in my white-boy pain,
Shake your booty while the band complains."

Folds’s hyperbolizes a sense of self-obsessed isolation. With no “real” problems, Folds has turned inwardly. The result of this mindset, is an edgy, pissed off man who can’t fully communicate his distress. In the next stanza, Fold’s makes a statement about the music industry itself. He goes on to say,

"I'm rockin' the suburbs, just like Michael Jackson did,
I'm rockin' the suburbs, except that he was talented.
I'm rockin' the suburbs, I take the checks and face the facts,
That some producer with computers fixes all my sh*tty tracks."

In this stanza, Folds calls out the musicians who have become “sell-outs” to the music business and giant recording comapanies. Folds makes a sarcastic jab at the musicians who pump out mediocre music for the sake of the payout.

In the following stanza, Folds compares the disgruntled middle-class to that of an overreacting, upset child. In the absence of urgent issues, this group moans about the deficiency of their parents.

"I'm pissed off, but I'm too polite,
When people break in the McDonald's line.
Mom and Dad you made me so uptight,
I'm gonna cuss on the mic tonight.
I don't know how much I can take,
Girl, give me something I can break."

The following stanza addresses how the privileged “never asked” for their status, yet gleefully reap the benefits of the system. Instead of actually trying to manifest change, this group stays complicit with the status quo.

"I'm rockin' the suburbs, just like Quiet Riot did,
I'm rockin' the suburbs, except that they were talented.
I'm rockin' the suburbs, I take the cheques and face the facts,
That some producer with computers fixes all my shitty tracks."

As the song comes to a close, Folds builds up to furiously say,

"It gets me real pissed off, it makes me want to say,
It gets me real pissed off and it makes me want to say,
It gets me real pissed off and it makes me want to say,
F*ck!"

Folds comedically demonstrates the “constraint” of the privileged middle-class, and the “burden” of remaining silent.

Folds does not dance around his subject matter, he gets into the nitty-gritty with little restraint. Nothing about his music idealizes the social and political issues he addresses. Rockin’ The Suburbs is only one example of his satirical abilities. On the same album, Ben Folds produced the song, All U Can Eat. This song captures the plague of materialism and the consuming qualities of capitalism. What makes Folds’ argument so captivating, is his ability to intertwine hysterical satirical content, while also not shying away from major social issues.

Regularly scheduled satire can sometimes be hard to find, but you can always count on a clip of Weekend Update in the TV show Saturday Night Live.

Colin Jost and Michael Che pose as news anchors, reporting on the current events and politics of the past week. In this episode, the hosts talk about the length of Donald Trump’s impeachment trial, commenting on Adam Schiff’s time on TV, the republican defense (a shrug emoji), and the fidget spinners brought by some members of congress. They also mention Hunter Biden’s involvement in the trial, the government’s inability to throw Trump out of office, and Trump’s leaked conversation with “adult cabbage patch doll” Lev Parnas.

The predominant satirical technique used in this show is parody: SNL is replicating the news, complete with a blue back ground, pop-up pictures, anchors reading from teleprompters, and current events.

Depending on the episode, Weekend Update uses a variety of other techniques. For example in this episode, Collin Jost uses hyperbole asking, “Was Adam Schiff on my television for 100 hours?” He also uses sarcasm, saying “Some republican senators even brought fidget spinners to play with. I assume to symbolize how the founding fathers are spinning in their graves”

Despite the laughs, the writers of SNL are commenting on more serious aspects of current events. In this episode, they show Trump’s inability to speak eloquently in times of distress, an important tool to have as a leader. Michael Che’s character especially comments on how the average american has gotten used to this behavior, and has become bored with the impeachment trial. Citizens are not asking more from their president but instead settling for the name-calling and bullying of our current president, which should be changed.