Humor Explained: Palin vs. Letterman

Humor Explained: Sarah Palin vs. David Letterman
Klaus Varley

By the time you read this, the whole "Sarah Palin vs. David Letterman" debacle may be old news. Here at The Brothel we regularly deal in old news, so it doesn't faze us.

To catch you up, below Letterman reads the jokes, the prepared statements from Governor Palin and her husband Todd, and responds to them. Check it out.



There are a lot of humor going on in Letterman's explanation, but we'll concentrate on the two jokes that got Letterman into hot water.

"Sarah Palin was in town this week. The hardest part of the trip was keeping Eliot Spitzer away from her daughter."

When Letterman quips, "I'm surprised we haven't heard from Eliot Spitzer..." he seems to be explaining who should be offended by the joke. That joke only works because the former governor of New York is known for his involvement with a prostitution ring (sting? both?). As in, "You're in New York, a town known for Spitzer's activities, watch out."

But the joke does mention her daughter, so can the Palins be outraged by it? Can they say Letterman promotes the "rape of underage girls?"

Absolutely not. In fact, this joke does the completed opposite. As The Young Turks point out, the punchline condemns someone who would lurch after a governor's daughter, by associating such activity with a man known for his penchant for high-end prostitutes.

The first joke was obviously harmless. Let's address the other joke:

"Sarah Palin went a Yankees game yesterday. There was one awkward moment during the seventh-inning stretch: her daughter was knocked up by Alex Rodriguez."

What Letterman conveniently omits from his explanation is that Palin didn't go to the Yankee's game with her older daughter Bristol, but with her 14-year old daughter, Willow.

This is probably why Letterman clarifies the joke was "about her 18-year old daughter." Could this be true even though Palin was at the game with Willow?* Sure. It's entirely possible Letterman's staff didn't research which kid was at the game with Palin. Or as Sam Kinison once said after being attacked for his work, "Sorry, apparently I've been telling medically innacuate jokes. Because when I went to medical school, to write fucking jokes..."

But it doesn't matter, because the humorous part of Letterman's joke is its absurdity: it's impossible for a player to knock someone up during the seventh-inning stretch, let alone the daughter of a celebrity governor. Ha, that's crazy talk! And crazy things make us laugh.**

So if the act is impossible, how does the joke advocate raping underage girls?

First, Palin's statement is misleading when she says "rape." She should say "committing statutory rape" because she assumes that Rodriguez - if he were able to perform the impossible task of leaving the game, taking off his uniform, meeting up with Palin's daughter - would have to force himself upon the daughter. That too, seems unlikely. C'mon, it's A-Rod."

Second, the joke advocates no such thing. Palin's claim is absurd.

But not in a humorous way.

-KV

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* Who knew the name "Willow" could be used so many times in a post not about the 1988 movie staring Val Kilmer.

**Two more things that make the joke funny:

1. We know that Sarah Palin has a daughter who was impregnated, and though Governor Palin touts "family values" and "abstinance only" education, it's hard not to see the irony in the situation...and joke about it.

2. Alex Rodriguez is good looking and has a propensity to sleep with women. Did I say "good looking?" I mean, "he's alright."