This morning, we published a satirical piece by Daniel Payne, who jokingly lambasted Zack Galifianakis for not asking Hillary Clinton hard-hitting questions in a new episode of “Between Two Ferns.” Payne’s intention was to mock everyone’s over-the-top reaction to Jimmy Fallon’s softball interview with Donald Trump last week, but a lot of people missed the joke.
In his piece, Payne used the same phrases liberal media types used to criticize Fallon. Maxwell Strachan of The Huffington Post accused Fallon of humanizing a “dangerous man.” David Sims of The Atlantic mocked Fallon for ruffling Trump’s hair instead of demanding copies of his tax returns. Sonia Saraiya of Variety declared that Fallon had “lost all credibility.”
Payne used a lot of the language from these finger-wagging progressives to make a point that comedians are allowed to be funny, and don’t always have to rake Republicans over the coals. But the over-the-top reaction we’ve seen from progressive media types shows just how ridiculous their initial freakout over Fallon’s Trump interview was.
Reed F. Richardson, a contributor to Talking Points Memo and The Nation, who obviously missed the joke, had this smug response:
Nobody satirizes conservative punditry better The Federalist's own earnest columns. #lostallcredibility!! pic.twitter.com/OrZUQmfG7C
— Reed F. Richardson (@reedfrich) September 23, 2016
Then Richardson tried to pretend like he knew it was satire all along, and kept digging himself deeper into a massive hole.
Whole post is here. If you can detect an arch, self-awareness to this, you're better than me.https://t.co/4ra9UbiOt9
— Reed F. Richardson (@reedfrich) September 23, 2016
That's the *intent*. But it's so stilted & chock full of angry links (incl. Breitbart), it comes off desperate.
— Reed F. Richardson (@reedfrich) September 23, 2016
My larger pt: even as satire it fails and reads like a normal outraged Federalist post. https://t.co/3P73Xi336y
— Reed F. Richardson (@reedfrich) September 23, 2016
ThinkProgress’s Zach Ford admitted he didn’t get the joke.
I can't tell if this @FDRLST critique of @galifianakisz is satire or not. Poe's Law reigns supreme over there. https://t.co/AJZluCYGLU
— Zack Ford (@ZackFord) September 23, 2016
CNN’s Jake Tapper had to explain that it was satire.
@reedfrich i think they were satirizing the blowback @jimmyfallon got for his Trump interview, Reed
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) September 23, 2016
Others quickly followed suit and outed themselves.
— Ralph Douthat (@ralphdouthat) September 23, 2016
Nonsense..(insert eye roll emoji) BTF is a silly comedy show.
It is odd that conservative media is disappointed by the content of BTF. https://t.co/Kq24JBWMSP
— Paul Z. (@zoll_p) September 23, 2016
@AdamBaldwin @FDRLST What responsibility did he have as a comedian?
— The Great Merman (@TheGreatMerman) September 23, 2016
The author here is either trolling or utterly clueless https://t.co/niKWRXGoMF
— Doug Mataconis (@dmataconis) September 23, 2016
Here’s some more exclusive footage of media types freaking out over this piece of satire.
