The Yes Men

Last Friday I found myself in the audience of one of Toronto’s many Upper Canadian quasi-intellectual gab fests, listening to some rather sharp, and sharp-tongued, satirists mull over the question of whether political satire actually matters. I count myself a professional in the world of satire, and therefore had more than a passing interest in what was being said.

The Spur Festival event, moderated by Leacock award-winning novelist Terry Fallis, brought together Andy Bichlbaum of the Yes Men, Todd Hanson of The Onion, and Robin Duke of both SNL and SCTV.

Hilarious stories peppered the discussion, much of which actually focused on panelists’ respective answers to the topic at hand. For instance, The Onion once claimed that the governor of Wisconsin had declared November “Masturbation Month.” When the governor demanded a retraction, The Onion complied, stating that the governor had not declared November masturbation month, but had in fact declared November sodomy month. Pure gold right there.

 But the evening’s discussion wasn’t all fun and games. Terry Fallis nailed the challenges faced by our post-industrial democracy with his phrase “the apathy of affluence” — as political scientist Elizabeth Gidengel has argued, the steady decline in political engagement in Canada is actually less about being disenchanted or frustrated with the system, and more about plain old disinterest in politics. When we’ve got so much entertainment out there, what the hell do we need to pay attention to politics for, right?

And I think that’s where satire comes in. As Bichlbaum noted, “If the idea is to appeal out [to a wider audience] then comedy can be better than a protest action.” Satire is never only about the jokes — it’s always about bringing attention to something crazy, and getting people to think about it. By getting people laughing, you can plant ideas in their mind, and spur reflection.

That’s probably why, according to Todd Hanson, “You can’t have an agenda that is a lie because people won’t laugh.” In many ways, satire can get to the truth that straight up non-fiction can’t.

As the publisher of riotwire.com I’m hoping that Hanson is right. One of the main goals in bringing riotwire to life has been to re-engage young people in politics by making it fun and interesting. There are hundreds of thousands of Canadians watching Jon Stewart every night because he’s funny and makes the news matter. And as one member of the audience made clear last Friday, the CBC’s brand of safe, saccharin “satire” just isn’t cutting it for young people.

We need something savage and brazen. Not to blow my own horn, but I think that riotwire has started bringing that to Canada.

So far we’ve had some great responses, and plenty of hate mail. For instance, I can safely say that we offended 100 per cent of baby boomer Facebook users whose profile picture features Justin Trudeau. Apparently when we reanimated Pierre Trudeau outside the Liberal Party’s “national leadership showcase” last weekend, we weren’t practicing satire. We were just being mean.

But perhaps the politicians in this country have had it too easy for too long. Rick Mercer is a brilliant national treasure — but he seems pretty concerned about being friends with the same people he’s charged with lampooning. That’s one conflict of interest that we have successfully avoided so far – we pride ourselves in being equal opportunity eye-pokers.

I left the Spur event last Friday with fresh energy. Members of the panel have been sticking it to the man for years, with a lot of success. And I think that their work shows that political satire does indeed matter.

As Todd Hanson claimed, Tina Fey may have been one of the most important factors in the 2008 presidential election — by simply embodying Sarah Palin, she demonstrated the Republicans’ ridiculousness.

Bichlbaum’s Yes Men have been pointing to the disgusting excesses of multinational corporations for over a decade, and in the process have helped make issues like the Union Carbide/Dow Chemical’s disgraceful handling of the Bhopal disaster front page news twenty years after the fact.

Satire does indeed matter. And, with help from rabble.ca, the team at riotwire are trying to rejuvenate Canada’s culture of satire. So if you’re fed up with being fed up, check us out.

It’s always better to laugh than cry.

 

Andreas Krebs is the publisher of riotwire.com. rabble.ca is a co-promotional partner with riotwire, Canada’s new hub for political satire.