effect by many Satirists. “Racism is wrong” worked well for Mark Twain. “Totalitarian government is dehumanizing” and “Power corrupts” worked very well for George Orwell. Subtext that’s worked well for other satirists over the years: “Relationships are not special”; “People who have kids are selfish”; “Governments are incompetent”; “We’re all slaves.” Not only are some of these not funny—many are downright sad, even scary! This kind of dark Subtext can make for extremely powerful and memorable humor writing. Steve Allen said, “Comedy equals tragedy plus time.” In fact, he believed the source
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