Are you one of those crazy nuts who thinks there's no difference between the parties? Who thinks maybe that a small, elite ruling class just rearranges the nameplates every couple years to keep the rubes happy? Who suspects perhaps that the English Royal Family, along with the Illuminati, run a massive conspiracy to keep American political power in the hands of a secretive class of lizard aliens? Well then you certainly won't be dissuaded from your beliefs by the annual Al Smith dinner, an annual white tie affair at which the supposedly bitter rivals for the presidency swap funny funny jokes at each others' expense. DC has like three of these things every year too. Because partisanship is just a distraction to keep you from learning the truth! The truth that is exposed every year only by the cameras of C-SPAN! Oh, John McCain killed it. He was really funny! His speech is attached. Barack Obama's speech was actually pretty great too, his is after the jump.

For some reason Denis Leary, who is actually an accomplished TV and movie star and halfway-decent comedian, has joined with reliable moron and talk-radio screamer Michael Savage and misguided trashy-TV host Jenny McCarthy in spreading scientifically-dubious pap about autism. The charitable explanation is that Leary was rushing to meet the deadline for his book, Why We Suck, or, as all-too-many comedians do, filling it with unfiltered, subliterate transcriptions of experimental new stand-up comedy material when he wrote, "there is a huge boom in autism... because inattentive mothers and competitive dads want an explanation for why their dumb-ass kids can't compete academically." The Autism Society is obviously thrilled. More, via Page Six:

So many people in the Tina Fey thread were talking up the skit "Mark Wahlberg Talks to Animals" from last night's SNL, that I had to see what all the fuss was about. And... Holy shit that's good! It feels almost like that moment 20 years or so back when some genius suddenly realized that a Christopher Walken imitation was needed in the world. Don't believe it? Click through and see!

Comedy goddess Tina Fey came back to Saturday Night Live again last night to further demonstrate that she's the only good thing about Sarah Palin. The skit is just like the real VP debate, except not completely frustrating and pathetic. Also, props to the writers for having Joe Biden call Scranton, PA, a "genetic cesspool." Clip after the jump.

Pretty little gaffe machine Sarah Palin says so many ridiculous things that it's getting hard to keep track. Gosh, darn, isn't there a way we can get all of her jaw-dropping utterances and untruths in one place? There is now. The folks at 23/6 bring us "The Best of Sarah Palin." Check it out after the jump. Pew-pew-pew!

Comedy goddess Tina Fey isn't the only funnylady who can pull off a mean Sarah Palin imitation. Harry Shearer-of The Simpsons, This is Spinal Tap, SNL's male synchronized swimming movie, and just about every other funny thing in the last 30 years-has just written and posted this fun song, "Bridge to Nowhere." It stars his wife, actress Judith Owen, whose Palin is spot-on and will make you eat the nearest hunk of rusted iron when you reflect that they are singing about a real candidate for a real fucking office. And try not to remember that John McCain will probably die in office when you watch this, coz that lessens the funny. Update: God you guys are hard to please! Now there's video of drunk-ass monkeys after the jump!! Click to view

Dave Hill is a legitimate funnyman who got famous on the internet with his Black Metal Dialogues, and continues to float around New York being funny in various funny places. The latest of those places: Fashion Week. Dave digs for the answers to questions like, "What does Anna Wintour put behind her ears to be more attractive?" and "Have you heard of that new designer Trig Palin?" The answers will shock and amaze you. This is the best fashion show-related comedy (yes, it's an easy target) since Ali G's Bruno. Japery!:

Goldman Sachs has never had to depend on TV advertising. It's far too populist a medium for the king of investment banks. But now that Wall Street is dead, Goldman may have to actually go after the public at large. So Gawker video maven Richard Blakeley "recontextualized" some work by comedian Fritz Donnelly , ending up with this ad prototype that Goldman will likely want to steal. Pay attention, fancy financiers: this is how you sell to real people. Click to watch the future of American economic messaging.

So I was looking for that new "Thank You, John McCain" ad on Youtube and couldn't find it, but I found this clip of Sandra Bernhard's Sarah Palin riff. Transcribing does not do it justice, it turns out, so watch it below.

Comedian Sandra Bernhard has liberals and conservatives alike crying and moaning because she recently joked to a Washington D.C. audience that Sarah Palin is a "turncoat bitch" who "would be gang raped by blacks in Manhattan" if she followed through on her threat to visit New York. Because, you know, a comic saying things is much more dangerous than putting a maniac a heartbeat away from the weak, weak heart of the would-be oldest President ever. "[The gang rape comment] is part of a much larger, nuanced and, yes, provocative—that's what I do—piece from my show about racism, freedom, women's rights and the extreme views of Gov. Sarah Palin, a woman who doesn't believe that other women should have the right to choose," Bernhard said. More of her Palin routine after the jump.

What does pseudo-nationalist Stephen Colbert give his show's guests in their gift baskets? Lipstick and bacon, zing? No, that's just what a tired hack would say in a weak attempt at a joke, demonstrating why said hack will never be good enough to write for the Colbert Report. The paper of record infiltrated the Colbert green room and found this in the gift bags: "Bottled water. Altoids. Gum. Ground coffee. Tooth whitener. Vodka." In reverse order, that's exactly what politicians consume before going on the show. [City Room]

Seth MacFarlane's Cavalcade of Cartoon Comedy is here! Half of you are like "GOD, I hate that nonsensical hack and his stupid storyline-lacking Family Guy." The other half of you lie, "Yea, me too." This new project doesn't hide the Burger King sponsorship, but these cartoon shorts actually fit MacFarlane's style better than the TV show; there's only time for one joke, so a storyline is a moot point. Seeing these things all over the web will only speed up the looming (unjustified) MacFarlane backlash, but we'll go out on a limb and predict: It will make him a(nother) shitload of money. The first two shorts are after the jump. Dogs and video games are the stars, naturally:

Granted, this ckip of Late Night With Conan O'Brien star Triumph the Insult Comic Dog's trip to the Republican National Convention is a couple days late. But, hey, it just went up on Youtube yesterday. And besides, as NBC always says, if you haven't seen it yet, it's new to you! The Fox News/Ann Coulter strap-on joke alone is worth watching. Canine comedy after the jump.

The more we learn about the true extent of Seth MacFarlane's empire, the more we become quietly frightened. MacFarlane, the 34-year-old creator of Family Guy, is just about to roll out his huge new online cartoon series in partnership with Google, which will reap him just a disgusting amount of money from sponsors like Burger King. And yes, Family Guy is well on its way to becoming the Simpsons of a new generation. Sorry, haters:

Now and then some clever Youtube users actually produce an intentionally funny political video. Case in point, "McCake," which came out this weekend. It explores just what kind of a birthday cake would be baked by a bitter, short-fused, intemperate lifetime politician who bristles violently at even the suggestion of criticism and who just knows that it's his turn to be the President, goddamit! Clip after the jump.

Today has been rather grim. Everything in the news is politics and disaster. And the last weekend of the summer is supposed to be fun! So, here is the broadest One More Thing theme ever: Funny. Just post funny things from movies-any movie from anytime ever. Please, please, please let's crack each other up and forget about all the tedious and ominous crap for a while? I will start us off.

Are you havin' a laugh? The Brits aren't great at that many things. I mean, geez, they let a bunch of freaking drunken farmers steal their best set of colonies right out from under them. But they are a funny lot! So let's celebrate their bizarre sense of humor this evening with our favorite bits of English mirth. As usual, I've got something obvious to get us started after Ye Olde Jump.

Poor Maureen Dowd doesn't know how to make fun of Barack Obama. It's actually pretty easy! Everyone misses Bill Clinton because he enjoyed extramarital sex with interns and oddly unattractive women, he had a southern accent, and he was kind of chubby. Everyone will miss George W. Bush because he's stupid. Those traits are so, so easy to mock! But the problem is jokes about those traits were and are and always have been terrible. Have another Big Mac, Bubba! Then put a cigar in someone's vagina! Hey George Bush you look like a chimp! And, like a chimp, your grasp of complex concepts like grammar is often lacking! Jesus. Stop already. Obama's a godsend, because he lacks those easy buttons. So everyone has to be more creative with their humor. Allow us to help you!

Last week, comedian/author/VH1 dude Michael Ian Black started a feud with memoirist David Sedaris in preparation for the release of his own book, My Custom Van: And 50 Other Essays That Will Blow Your Mind All Over Your Face. I decided to ask him about that, and a bunch of other things, at around the time of night when I used to watch Battlestar Galactica. The deeply insightful results after the jump.

Nine days before comedian George Carlin's death, he gave a wide-ranging, two-hour interview to Jay Dixit of Psychology Today. It was originally intended as a 350-word Q&A for the back page of the magazine but today, in the aftermath of Carlin's passing, was published online at much greater length. In the interview, Carlin talks about how he collects and sifts through potential material, the advantages of being an older comedian, how hallucinogenic drugs enhanced his work and life, his extensive use of computers and whether his act is "angry." But most interesting, perhaps, are the parts of the conversation where the rough-and-tumble performer opens up about how his career is tied to his relationship with his Mom, who raised Carlin and his brother alone amid the Great Depression: