The one where Fonzie invades Iraq

A Laughing Matter (Transcript of a panel discussion)

Andy Borowitz in the New Yorker: I do think we’re in a good age for satire right now, because it’s a very target-rich environment. The past couple of weeks, the White House has been doing all the heavy lifting. Just the Dick Cheney thing—I started looking at what has gone on in the last couple of weeks and thinking, the White House has now jumped the shark. If the White House were a TV show, if it were “Scooby-Doo,” this is the fifth season, where they introduce Scrappy Doo. If you were looking at TV Guide, and it said, “This week at the White House, trouble ensues when the Vice-President shoots his friend in the face,” you’d be, like, “Aw, shit, they’re running out of ideas. This has got to be the last season. . . . What could happen next week? They’re going to give the ports to the Arabs?” So I think satire is big now because we’ve got so much to play with.

Unfortunately, of course, one man's material is another man's suicide-bomber reality. Harry Whittington was just wounded, there are a hundred Iraqis a day who can't say the same.

Photo of Dick Cheney accepting a rifle from National Rifle Association President Kayne Robinson, right, and NRA Vice President Wayne R. LaPierre by Gene J. Puskar/ AP.