What do armpits and Kathy Griffin have in common?
Stand by.
The D list's favorite poster child is on a tear, of late, choosing to forego actually writing any material and simply taking advantage of the mother lode of zingers and bingers being freshened up on a minute by minute basis by the current cast of candidates for high office.
Most notably, in Chatty Kathy's case, those zany Bachmanns.
Here's the latest...
Now that making fun of Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann is so yesterday, comedienne Kathy Griffin is going after the Republican presidential hopeful’s husband of 33 years, Marcus Bachmann.
During a recent appearance on Craig Ferguson’s “Late Late Show,” the red-haired television personality took jabs at Marcus Bachmann, who runs a center that uses prayer to turn gays straight again.
“The Bravo special was supposed to be called ‘Pray the Gay Back.’ You get the Marcus Bachmann joke? Marcus Bachmann is one of my new favorite targets, he’s Michele Bachmann’s husband,” Griffin said. (RELATED: Kathy Griffin’s ‘D-List’ Bravo show to go off the air)
Griffin went on to hint that perhaps Marcus Bachmann opposes same-sex couples because he himself is attracted to men.
“Okay, he’s very anti-gay and LGBT rights, and it’s odd, because if you look at him on YouTube, it’s almost as if he himself … or, it’s as if …” Griffin said, trailing off.
Before the former “My Life on the D-List” host could finish her sentence, Ferguson advised the memoir writer to be careful. Starting over, Griffin said Bachmann seems similar to the guys who attend her stand-up acts. A known gay rights activist, Griffin has previously referred to her gay friends as “the gays.”
“I would say that Marcus Bachmann reminds me of a lot of the type of men who come see my live shows,” Griffin said. “And he wants people to pray the gay away, and so I was going to call the [my TV] special ‘Pray the Gay Back.’”
Instead, Bravo will title the special, “Kathy Griffin: Pants Off.”
The thing about humor, especially in the form of political satire, is that the only rule can be that there are no rules.
"Restrictions" on humor are like restrictions on sex.
No matter how well intended to save us from ourselves, ultimately an exercise in futility.
Because we wacky mortals will do what we do.
And who.
And while a reasonable debate is often inevitable as to the taste, or lack of, exhibited by any particular comedic point of view, the hard truth is that freedom, in order to function correctly, must be allowed to run wild and free.
So while jokes about Mitt Romney's Mormonism, Rick Perry's Elmer Gantryism, Michele and Marcus Bachmann's pray the gay away-ism, even Sarah Palin's dysfunctional/special needs family-ism might be rude, crude, tacky, even dictionary definably offensive, freedom of expression requires agreeing to allow the freedom to express.
No matter what flavor that freedom comes in, be it sweet, salty...even sour.
Little bit free. Little bit pregnant.
Six of one.
That said, here's what occurs to me every time I listen to the D list diva.
Kathy Griffin is funny.
In much the same way Ronnie Robicheaux was funny.
In the second grade.
When we were six.
And he made fart noises with his armpits.
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