(I first wrote this for Matchflick (now defunct) in 2009. I’m posting it here today in honor of Tom Smothers’s passing.)

I don’t know what’s going in your stockings this year, but if I had my way (why do I never get my way?), it would be a copy of David Bianculli’s DANGEROUSLY FUNNY: THE UNCENSORED STORY OF THE SMOTHERS BROTHERS COMEDY HOUR. I would probably throw in some DVDs of the show just to make sure you were able to appreciate the master comedy show Bianculli is talking about.

None of my college students knows who the Smothers Brothers are, which is a shame, since all of the political satire the students enjoy (on THE DAILY SHOW WITH JON STEWART, THE COLBERT REPORT, and SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE) owes its existence to the brothers and the show they created.

Of course, they’ve heard of THE SIMPSONS, which featured the Smothers Brothers last Sunday. They’ve also heard of Steve Martin, who got his comedy chops as a writer for the show, but they don’t know the other great writers or the impact the show had.

A few years ago, I did a unit on censorship with some classes and I showed the students a great documentary on THE SMOTHERS BROTHERS COMEDY HOUR called SMOTHERED. It illustrated the spirit of the show with fantastic clips and interviews and then took the viewer into what the show is most remembered for—being taken off the air.

THE SMOTHERS BROTHERS COMEDY HOUR made a lot of people uncomfortable because of its progressive politics. It was against racism, against politics and religion as usual, and against the Vietnam war.

My students were unimpressed—the satire seemed tame, but we must remember that comedy shows had not tackled politics or race or war or religion on T.V. before. All of a sudden, a T.V. show had the attention of the White House (and not in a good way). Network executives came under fire for allowing the show on the air.

It’s hard to put ourselves back in time to this moment. Try to imagine watching the news about Kent State—the National Guard opens fire on unarmed student protestors (and quite a few students who were merely walking to their next classes). Now try to imagine your neighbors being happy that those students are dead; many people said the students deserved to die because they were protesting the war. To protest the war was un-American and thus exercising your freedom of speech made you a target.

The SMOTHERS BROTHERS came under similar scrutiny. In fact, I asked my grandmother about them a couple of years ago and she was still mad—she saw their Vietnam protests as a direct insult to her husband who was serving in the war. (Strangely, it was my grandfather who first introduced me to THE SMOTHERS BROTHERS.)

The network wanted to get rid of them, but there was a contract. Thus, the network ended the contract at the first chance, when they claimed that a tape was delivered to an affiliate a few hours late. That same year, THE SMOTHERS BROTHERS won the Emmy for best writing. The show also sued the network for breach of contract and won.

But by then it was too late. Decades later, the network wanted another SMOTHERS BROTHERS special. They said they wanted edgy. A lot had changed. TV had changed and THE SMOTHERS BROTHERS was the germ of that change.

Now, when you watch the DVDs, you’ll note that a lot of the numbers are silly; it’s a variety show after all. And like all shows, it’s uneven. But just as MONTY PYTHON’S FLYING CIRCUS changed and defined British comedy, THE SMOTHERS BROTHERS made American television satire what it is today.

We luckily have a great adjective to describe that which the British wrought: Pythonesque. We don’t have a similar word for the comedy THE SMOTHERS BROTHERS gave us, except, as Bianculli reminds us, “dangerous.”

I am unable to hear Henry Kissinger’s name without picturing him as depicted on The Simpsons, having dropped his glasses into the toilet at the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant.

Monty’s Python’s song about him gets stuck in my head too:

If my brain has to keep doing this right now, at least it’s because he’s dead.

If Republicans tell you not to talk about guns today, that’s fine.

They aren’t just ok with guns.

They’re okay with each ambulance ride costing at least 1,300, out of pocket, even if a survivor has insurance.

They’re ok with survivors paying at least a few hundred to enter the ER.

They’re ok with survivors going bankrupt as they struggle through surgeries and PT.

They’re ok with not funding PTSD help the survivors will need.

They’re ok with uninsured survivors being discharged once they’re stable, with no access to further surgeries, to PT, to medication, and with those people’s crippling debt and bankruptcy.

But, Karma, what if the survivors are disabled?

Then remember they’re ok with Republican states making them wait 2 full years after being certified as disabled before they have access to care, and that they’re actively trying to cut medicaid, medicare, and social security.

Oh, and if the doctor looks at your haircut and decides you’re queer, they ok with the doctor refusing to save your life in the ER, in the operating room, etc. “Religious freedom” laws allow that. In Florida, an insurance company employee can simply take your coverage away under the same policy.

But, Karma, surely Republicans aren’t ok with everything?!?

They’re not ok with white children learning about Rosa Parks.

Let’s put aside that the woman who sued to discriminate against gays a) wasn’t a wedding website designer b) had not been asked to design a gay wedding website c) violated a Biblical commandment by lying about a request.

I want to focus on her insistence that she shouldn’t have to use “her words” on a gay marriage site.

As someone who has hired site designers, I’ve never asked them for words. How the hell should they know what to say about my topic? They’ve been hired to put banners in the right place, install widgets, import themes, etc.

In other words, she didn’t have to sue anyone to not write anything or create “artwork” for a gay wedding.

All she would need to do is say, “Hey, since I’m a bigot, I couldn’t effectively write anything about love for you. Jesus, as I’m sure you’re aware, was anti-tolerance and pro-judgement. My “original art,” if you wanted any, would likely include images of gays burning in hell that I would pull off the Westboro Baptist Church site. I could definitely still install your plugins, though.”

That would have been a lot easier.

The recent news about Biden’s plans have a lot of friends contacting me. They’re familiar enough with my saga to hope I will finally be free.

A lot of them are hoping this new TEPSLF thing will work, so they suggest I apply.

Y’all, that was the program I applied for last summer, the one that advised me to consolidate, which screwed everything up!

I did, however, get the loans de-consolidated, which was a miracle. How do I know? Because every servicer I talk to doesn’t even believe that it happened.

For many moons, the DOE information wasn’t updated properly, so it said I owed the de-consolidated amount and the consolidated amount: double, in other words.

When only the de-consolidated loans appeared again, I filed for TEPSLF again. (UCD has to fill out part of the information–in pen–and everything has to be mailed in.)

In the months since then, I have received a letter from DOE saying I “may” have loan payments that qualify.

Since the TEPSLF final application deadline is next month, I’ve recently emailed my servicer to see if the application is at least logged on their end.

Will it work? Who knows.

I AM eligible for the 20,000 dollars off, though the total I owe will still be higher than what I initially borrowed, despite always making my payments on time. The form for that money isn’t up yet.

I’ve heard that the Biden plan is supposed to stop what happened to me: that if a borrower is making payments, their total owed shouldn’t go up. I haven’t seen verification of this, but that alone would save many future borrowers from suffering the way so many of us have.

One of my friends posted about pride, saying straight people have not been bullied for being straight. One of his friends then wrote several long comments about how critical race theory was going to lead to bullying of straight cis white men. And then there would be suicides cause we wouldn’t take it seriously.

Critical race theory is, at its most simplistic level, about bullying. About the ways in which POC have been bullied historically and about the ways in which bullying of POC has been codified into the law and our existing power structure.

It’s so telling that anytime we fight for gay rights, for women’s rights, for equal rights of any kind, privileged people think that what we want to do is to turn the tables, to reimpose a hierarchy, except with us at the top.

The problem is that their limited imagination can’t fathom a society free of sexism, racism, homophobia, classism . . .

But their nightmare of a society in which they’re oppressed is no match for our dream of one in which no one is.

I’ve just started venturing out a little bit–I’ve eaten inside a restaurant, and I’ve seen other friends who have been vaccinated.

It’s ironic that as safe as I’ve been this whole time, I had to get a Covid test after one of my friends tested positive. We still don’t know how she got it, and so far she’s fine. I’m guessing she was more vulnerable to infection than the rest of us because she got the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, which had lower protection against initial infection than the other vaccines.

My vaccine has kept me from getting infected, for example, even though we were in close contact for a few hours.

Watching so many Republicans refuse to get vaccinated, especially while countries like India and Brazil are in such danger, and while so many other people around the world don’t have access to vaccines, is infuriating. And I know it’s not just Republicans–there are conspiracy-theorists in all parties, but the Republicans were lied to by their leaders for so long that their reluctance to vaccinate has solidified into something dangerous to all of us–even knowing their leaders have been vaccinated can’t undo it.

Studies show that giving anti-vaxxers scientific information just makes the dig their heels in.

So what are we to do?

This American Life did a great episode recently, in which Republican strategist Frank Luntz (the guy who brought us manipulative political slanting like “the death tax”) worked to trump Trumpers’ concerns, using a focus group.

What he discovered has been reported elsewhere, but I highly recommend listening to the episode.

Despite all of our doubts, there was a way to reach them.

Bonus points if you can guess at which moment I screamed at an interviewee the most.

Every time I hear the Republicans report what a Democrat said, I freak out a little bit.

Remember when Obama said he was moved by Treyvon Martin’s death because if he had a son, he would look like Treyvon?

And remember how Republican pundits said that what he said was “I only care if black children die. Kill whitey!”?

Recently Joe Biden said we could maybe safely have 4th of July BBQs.

Republican pundits lost their shit, claiming Biden was saying people aren’t allowed to have a BBQ without his express permission.

I freak out when I hear stuff like that because I’ve been gaslit like that my whole life, by a couple of family members with undiagnosed and untreated Borderline Personality Disorder.

Let’s review the symptoms, according to the Mayo Clinic:

• An intense fear of abandonment, even going to extreme measures to avoid real or imagined separation or rejection [let’s overthrow the government so King Trump won’t leave us!]
• A pattern of unstable intense relationships, such as idealizing someone one moment and then suddenly believing the person doesn’t care enough or is cruel [John McCain is a hero! Wait, nevermind, he’s a coward. Let’s insult his family!]
• Rapid changes in self-identity and self-image that include shifting goals and values, and seeing yourself as bad or as if you don’t exist at all [2020: We don’t even have a platform anymore!]
• Periods of stress-related paranoia and loss of contact with reality, lasting from a few minutes to a few hours [Fake news! Qanon! Democrats are massive idiots who somehow stole an election!]
• Impulsive and risky behavior, such as gambling, reckless driving, unsafe sex, spending sprees, binge eating or drug abuse, or sabotaging success by suddenly quitting a good job or ending a positive relationship [Nothing could possibly go wrong with aligning with white supremacists!]
• Suicidal threats or behavior or self-injury, often in response to fear of separation or rejection [If you end the filibuster, this will be a scorched-Earth Congress!]
• Wide mood swings lasting from a few hours to a few days, which can include intense happiness, irritability, shame or anxiety [We’re #1. No, wait, we’re a terrible country full of pedophiles and traitors! No, wait, we need to do everything to resist any change, cause we’re #1!]
• Ongoing feelings of emptiness [Life isn’t even worth living if I can’t show my dick to women at work and read a couple of Dr. Seuss books I’d never heard of before I learned they’re racist.]
• Inappropriate, intense anger, such as frequently losing your temper, being sarcastic or bitter, or having physical fights [Let’s dox all the cucks and have a civil war!]

We do a unit on trauma in my Doctor Who class. Thus, I find myself watching “Father’s Day” a lot.

It always triggers tears–I lost my own father to a car accident; I don’t remember him. When I was a teenager, I also learned awful things about him that contradicted the rosy picture my mother had tried to paint.

I watched it again, but what I’m thinking about today is how two of my students have lost their fathers to Covid this week.

Two.

This week.

Yesterday, I spent the better part of an hour doing impromptu grief therapy for one of them. I had to remind him that although his father’s dream is for him to finish college (and thus the student thinks he must push through this quarter, despite the loss), he also has to cut himself some slack–to heal and protect himself since his dad isn’t there to do it anymore.

This week, I’m torn between sadness and anger.

Trump should have been honest about how dangerous this was. We should have listened to the scientists, and we should have had a plan. Instead, he made this a partisan issue.

His party is still lying, even about the basics of wearing masks.

These students’ fathers did not have to die.