There is no shortage of those lamenting the death of comedy in the United States and the poor quality of entertainment that is sludged out of Hollywood. Disney is the most egregious offender. In this entertainment vacuum, there was room for legitimate competitors to Hollywood to rise up and seize the moment. The Daily Wire presupposed itself as one such competitor. But the Daily Wire ahs done to right-wing art what God’s Not Dead has done to Christian movies.
God’s Not Dead commodified Christianity to sell a movie. It was Big Eva youth recruitment filled with celebrity cameos whose presence in the movie was externally meant to sell the movie. Last year, Steve Deace’s Nefarious followed this trend by having Glenn Beck in the movie (to sell the movie) which dramatically reduced the quality of the movie. The Daily Wire is running the same playbook but creating even worse art.
Enter Mr. Birchum which follows in the footsteps of Lady Ballers. But instead of a Dodgeball wannabee film without comedic adlib acting talent or concise directing, the Daily Wire produced a Family Guy esque adult animation. Adult animation is a struggling genre as every new show is going for Family Guy, Archer, or Rick and Morty. Mr Birchum clearly falls into Family Guy territory.
However, the Daily Wire does not understand the basics of comedy given the trailer. When the funniest line is a reference to Will Smith slapping Chris Rock and not your characters, there’s a serious problem there. And the problem is in the premise.
The titular Mr. Birchum is a woodshop teacher and the irreverent boomercom. The guy with the manbun is a liberal. Quoth Squidward, “How original.” Instead, the Daily Wire would have had some building blocks of comedy had they made the English/theater teacher rightwing while making the woodshop teacher woke. Flip the premise, introduce a little irony and things can be funny. For instance, the Daily Wire could have had the theater teacher fight to introduce students to Shakespearean classics amidst pushback from the administration who ignorantly claim that Othello is too White. I could spitball more ideas, but it’s not my job to write a TV show for Ben Shapiro. But if you want the scientific explanation for why Mr. Birchum isn’t funny, it’s because the show is on the nose and lacks irony.
Blatant toxic masculinity…
“Mr. Birchum” is streaming now on DailyWire+! https://t.co/p95qq5sKEj pic.twitter.com/un5TfDJBeB
— DailyWire+ (@dailywireplus) May 16, 2024
However, the trailer showcased how this show was not actually a comedy at all. Mr. Birchum is more accurately a power fantasy. A power fantasy is a narrative or story in which the protagonist is endowed with extraordinary abilities or attributes, allowing them to overcome challenges and obstacles with relative ease. This typically results in a sense of satisfaction and escapism for the reader or viewer, as they become immersed in a world where the protagonist is powerful and dominant. In the case of Mr. Birchum being an irreverent boomercon highschool teacher in a sea of wokeness is evidently the height of imagination over at the Daily Wire. The audience is meant to feel smug after watching.
Enter Netflix, one of the wokest studios around. Netflix is well-known for race swapping characters and inserting gayness. However, in 2024, Netflix is leading the return to mainstream politically incorrect comedy. The Roast of Tom Brady roasted Netflix for being woke. They made so many Black jokes, White jokes, Jew jokes, gay jokes, and suicide jokes becoming a cultural phenomenon. Ironically, Christians got off easy.
Moreover, Jerry Seinfeld, who recently went viral for criticizing wokeness for killing comedy, released his Pop-Tart movie, Unfrosted which was also politically incorrect, parodying January 6 and the Cuban Missile Crisis. This was done on Netflix.
The Daily Wire wanted to insert itself to fill a void, but the market share leaders are already filling it and doing a better job than the Daily Wire is capable of doing. Instead what the Daily Wire is actually accomplishing is setting back overtly right wing art from being taken seriously. This is because the Daily Wire is more interested in drifting its audience than producing quality art.
Powered by RedCircle
