This past weekend I had the distinct honor of joining the crew of The Babylon Bee for their first ever live show. The event was held in Ft.Worth, Texas, and over 1500 people were in attendance. We hosted a live podcast, sketches, a panel discussion and even had an awards segment.
In case you were curious, Rachel Levine won Man of the Year.
People came from all over the country for the show. I met so many different people from so many walks and stages of life, yet they all had the same story…The Babylon Bee made me laugh when I was feeling sad, hopeless, lonely, frustrated.
Steve told me this was only the second time he’d been out to a social event since his wife passed 34 months ago – that’s how he put it…34 months ago. He is 70, and traveled all the way from Florida to be in the audience. He said the community forums at The Bee kept him encouraged and connected, and the headlines and sketches brightened his day.
Suzanne’s husband sent her to the show as a nice little get-away, a short respite from being the mother of two special needs teenagers who are her whole world. She told me she loved being a mother more than anything on earth, but that it was hard, and the community she found at The Bee kept her sane. She said she’d always enjoyed my podcast appearances – they made her think and laugh; and of course, the videos kept her grinning. She was excited to get back to her family, but soaked in every second of her special weekend away.
I met a young couple from Michigan, and I can’t remember their names because they had a 5-month-old baby with them (Jackson) and he was just so adorable it erased most of the information they gave me about themselves. I began thinking I might have time to squeeze one more baby out before I sail off into middle-age. Right?
Right?
Anyway, as it turns out, Jackson was the youngest of four, and they had driven all the way from Grand Rapids as a vacation (or as close as they could get to one with a baby in tow). Jackson’s mom told me it really did feel like a vacation with only one child to look after. They loved The Bee because it was a shared laugh for them each day, in a sea full of responsibility.
Laughter is good. Laugher is a tie that binds, but it also so much more. “Laughter is the best medicine” is a cliche for a reason.
Laughter can heal broken bonds, lift the soul, break the ice…it can even lighten the atmosphere in a tense conversation or exchange. People are much more likely to hear out your ideas, and even absorb them, when they are presented with a measure of humor.
South Park has been on the air for 26 years now, and has skewered some of the most sacred political cows in the nation during that time. They have been sued repeatedly. They have been criticized. They have been threatened with cancellation and deplatforming. The South Park creators have faced every type of progressive temper tantrum there is to be seen, and yet they still produce a show every single week. They have been some of the few creators allowed to criticize our progressive overlords and GenZ snowflakes because they make people laugh.
Laughter is not just medicine, it is a weapon.
Right now we have a huge gap between conservative investors and conservative creators. Those with the means to fund media projects still have a tendency to skew towards the “news” end of this cultural battle. I have watched the creation of half a dozen new streaming channels over the last decade, and every single one has promised to deliver a “new angle” on news and culture; and every single one has just been yet another news channel with different versions of talking heads discussing the same headlines day in and day out. I’m not saying there isn’t a market for it, but I am saying that none of it is the “fresh take” that keeps being promised.
The Babylon Bee (and its predecessors at South Park) has found a way to highlight relevant political issues while entertaining their audience with laughter. They have been hugely successful at it, even financially. A Bee sketch about Joe Biden constantly getting lost goes a lot farther than yet another panel discussion on the economy.
New streamers and investors who want to change the culture really need to be looking into alternative content like comedy, cultural podcasting, and scripted content. The Bee has proven such things can make money. South Park has proven such things can help shift public opinion, or at least hold down a space for alternative opinions that swim against the tide of progressivism.
Laughter is fruitful. Conservatives need to be investing in more of it.
