The annotations on this episode will focus on some of the aspects of dark humor in “Deaf Boys,” an original song by Harry Shearer. It will also highlight one of the other news segments that he does to allow for some comparison. The commentary will be shown in green text. To get to the next page, either go through the drop-down menu on the top left, or click the link below titled “July 04, 2010”.
July 04, 2010
| Time | Annotation | Layer |
|---|---|---|
| 2:35 | Reparations for slave owners | News |
| 37:00 | Invasion of Iraq: 10th anniversary | News |
| 3:55 | Leak of the Week: Chevron | News segment |
| 8:02 | News of the Digital Wonderland | News segment |
| 11:08 | News of the Atom | News segment |
| 24:03 | The Apologies of the Week | News segment |
| 46:56 | News of the Warm | News segment |
| 49:31 | News of Nice Corp | News segment |
| 50:29 | News of the Godly | News segment |
| 0:00 | Open/ Genetically modified fungus escapes | Opening |
| 5:18 | "Hominy Grove" by Van Dyke Parks | Song |
| 32:21 | "Sitting in Limbo" by Jimmy Cliff | Song |
| 42:45 | "Jet Full of Loot" by Harry Shearer | Song |
| 53:10 | "Deaf Boys" by Harry Shearer | Song |
| 56:30 | "Viper's Drag" by Tom McDermott /Close | Song |
| 24:04 | "The Apologies of the Week" is one of the few segments that Le Show continuously broadcasts. As a broadcast that focuses on public events and news stories, it might initially seem strange for Shearer to focus heavily on apologies. However, we start to see, especially through his use of satire in his response and conversation with the apologies of the week, that his focal point seems to be on their lack of authenticity. This emphasizes, like what we see especially in the understanding of dark humor, a focus on truth. | Commentary |
| 26:16 | Here we see directly a point where he questions the authenticity of the statement that high-ranking officials don't have the "time" to acknowledge the priority of the victim. | Commentary |
| 47:30 | "News of the Warm" is another common segment in Le Show that reads news that regard to global warming. | Commentary |
| 48:40 | Here we see Shearer stating that "if it were inches, get back to me," which is him playing the character of a careless, lazy and probably American person. The play here is that the information that Shearer is reading is in-fact correct and truthful, but now, instead of him providing the satire as the intelligible, he is caricaturizing himself to crticize the idea of someone that plays off the importance of global warming for "silly" reasons like thinking the difference in measure from centimeters or inches would make a real difference to reality. What is also interesting here is the play of how the inch is larger than the centimeter, so in a way the character that Shearer is playing is utilizing some knowledge about the subject, yet it is completely misguided and not applicable to the analysis that the character makes. Overall, adding to the criticism of people who criticize the reality of global warming. | Commentary |
| 48:41 | Again, we are seeing Shearer play with truth in all of his regular segments, either through himself as the truthful or the document/reading as the truthful. | Commentary |
| 51:22 | As we enter the "News of the Godly" segment, again one of the few regular segments we see in this episode, it starts off automatically with a bit of a different tone. Here he is bringing to light the observation about how the news coverage of the Catholic Church, or more specifically the Vatican, is treated compared to the Anglican Church. | Commentary |
| 51:48 | Shearer specifically states here that his obsevation was strictly made as something to just note, which is interesting because as we've seen throughout this episode, it is common for him to use wit or satire to respond to things that appear to be withholding some truth, yet here he doesn't explicitly say anything, but he also doesn't make a joke. | Commentary |
| 52:10 | As you listen to him speak about things in "News of the Godly", he makes no attempt at joking around in speech. Many aspects of comedy or humor-centered radio broadcasts put together their show based on what jokes or bits they can make, yet here, and maybe for most of the segments in teh show, it seems that Shearer included it to bring to light the importance of sharing the news rather than utilizing it to make comedy. | Commentary |
| 53:40 | The line "I can be loud" is what strikes many as one of the first aspects of "dark humor" that we can see in the song. It is playing off of the dynamics of how "silencing" deaf children can be easy due to their hearing impediment. However, it is also showcasing how it is the Priests who have the ability and credibility to use their voice to protect themselves from being caught. | Commentary |
| 53:50 | This song would be considered "dark humor" based off of our distinction made on the previous page, as it clearly deals with the suffering of humans as well as the cruetly of others. The comedic affect is also through playing to emphasize the violence rather than pushing for a moral answer or way for reform, a common "family resemblance" that we discussed with satire. | Commentary |
| 53:58 | This line is also striking in that Shearer makes a very borderline and taboo reference to the fact that deaf children can't hear, by also indicating that they can't "hear" the Priest coming to sexually abuse them. The situation seems more like an artisitc representation of how their hearing impediment reflects in their relationship to the Priests as children as well, typing together their identity as deaf persons as well as children. | Commentary |
| 56:10 | "A shepherd with a closet full of toys" seems to be a reference to the themes that appear in many of the cases surrounding child sexual abuse towards deaf children. Much of what these Priests would say to the children is that the Priest was told by God to do what he would do, and that he would be a "teacher". Shearer seems to be tying here that he, playing the character of one of these molester Priests, thinks of himself as a shepherd, yet is obviously not fulfilling the duties of a shepherd, as his closet is filled with toys, seemingly pointing to the fact that the Priest is not being truthful about his intentions. | Commentary |