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Self-deprecating humor, humor for the sheer fun of it, humor that makes us all (of whatever political persuasion) laugh because in it we see ourselves, our human frailties and peculiarities, these are to be preferred over the kind of humor that is haughty, nasty, crude-for-crudeness-sake, and demeaning of it's objects.

The first categories concern shared humanity, the second an attempt to vanquish and humiliate those who you see as different, those you want to marginalize, those who disagree with you.

The first type: Dick Van Dyke, Red Skelton, Jackie Gleason

The second type, in my lifetime, started with The Smothers Brothers and George Carlin, and graduated into the current politically oriented late-night comedians. These latter are quite funny if you are part of their know-it-all in-group. But if you're not, it's not nearly so funny. Those comics cater to a subset and look down their noses at those they consider their inferiors.

I wish comedy would go back to the first type, where we could all laugh together.

(These are generalizations, of course. There have always been politically-oriented comics, crude comics, and mean-spirited comics (of this latter Don Rickles comes to mind). 

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