An evening of ‘conservative comedy’

So last night I motored down to the Laugh Factory on Sunset, lured by a “conservative” standup comedy show. I wanted to see how much that would suck.

I expected a fair degree of suckitude because the organizer was Evan Sayet, a hack comic who relentlessly promotes himself on right- wing talk radio. (I blogged about him last year.)

Sayet’s Hollywood résumé includes writing for Bill Maher’s “Politically Incorrect” and “The Arsenio Hall Show.” But I hadn’t heard a good joke out of him yet.

I was curious to see what other conservative comics would be performing.

Well, guess what? There were some decent comics. And in the midst of all the partisan knife-throwing, there were some decent punch lines.

Not from Evan Sayet, however. Dude cracked two “teleprompter” jokes within his first two minutes onstage. Seriously... is that the best shot they can take at Barack Obama? That he knows how to read a speech?

“He’s not a bright man,” Sayet said of President Obama. “He was asked about Hamas. He said it goes good with pita bread. Not a bright man, that’s all I’m saying.”

Okay... first thing: After “Bruno,” Sacha Baron Cohen owns the Hamas-hummus pun. Second: A good joke has to be grounded in some kind of reality. You cannot goof on Obama’s intellect. It makes no sense.

There was a lot of Obama-bashing last night, naturally. A woman in the corner was selling “Obaaaama” bumper stickers, with a drawing of a sheep alongside the Obama “O” logo.

Steven Crowder, a Dane Cook wannabe, mocked the fact that Obama was named one of People magazine’s sexiest men. “We’re not talking about Hugh Jackman here,” Crowder said. “He looks like a photo negative of Alfred E. Neuman.”

The audience – about 100 people, including many white-haired white folks – dug it.

My note-taking wasn’t pristine, so I forget who delivered this pip: “This country is going down faster than Barney Frank at a West Hollywood bathhouse.”

The “edgiest” comedian was Bo “Bald Eagle” Clark... whom even Evan Sayet described as a “redneck.”

Clark wore a camouflage vest with an American flag patch. He was the only comic who cursed. And his recurring punch line was “Nuke ’em.” As in North Korea: “Nuke ’em. South Korea is enough Koreans.” (I laughed.)

Clark was so over-the-top with his references to “camel jockeys” and “diaper-heads,” I half suspect his whole act is a mockery of rednecks.

The most surprising performer was Al Sonja Schmidt, a black woman who has written for such shows as “In Living Color” and “The Parent ’Hood.” Her standup act is based upon her being “ostracized” by friends and family since she became a Republican.

I say Ms. Schmidt has a future in bashing Barack Obama for white audiences. Here’s one of her Obama jokes: “Hollywood gave us the Marx Brothers, and this year they gave us a Marxist brother.”

Here’s a brief video clip of Al Sonja Schmidt: