Crossballs

Crossballs, or The Debate Show, is a short-lived tv show that aired on Comedy Central. The show was meant to parody political debate shows, specifically CNN's Crossfire and MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews. Each episode involves comedians posing as experts on a specific topic. In the case of this clip, the comedians are the host, the "stoner" sitting all the way on the left, and the anti-marijuana hippy. These comedians then debate two real commentators on the topic, such as the legalization of marijuana. These real commentators have no idea that the show is fake. The comedy not only comes from the comedians poking fun at their stance on the topic, but also from the real commentators who get frustrated with the actors. If the real commentator has a weird or nonsensical point of view, it is made to look even more ridiculous by the comedian who is trying to back him up. Although the main point of the show is comedy, there is still some real debating involved.

"Drugs." Crossballs. Host Chris Tallman. Comedy Central. 8 July 2004.

In The Know: Should We Be Shaming Obese Children More?

"In The Know: Should We Be Shaming Obese Children More? | The Onion - America's Finest News Source." Home | The Onion - America's Finest News Source. 28 Mar. 2009 . This is a video clip on The Onion website which is associated with the joke newspaper. This clip discusses the merits of shaming obese children into losing weight. It satirizes the idea that American children are fat because our society is too nice or accepting of it. The material consists mainly of “experts” (including a professor from American University) discussing their opinions and experience with the effects of the use of shame as a corrective device. They specifically mention the effectiveness of making shaming a fat child a family activity, and the role of the media in this problem by allowing fat characters to be considered witty or to get dates. Also, being in association with the newspaper, this clip satirizes the news media more generally by discussing this issue on a mock news show. The newspaper and this clip of its associated news show is designed to mock the trivial topics covered by real news media. It satirizes the lack of depth in news coverage and this specific clip especially deals with the callousness, ignorance and hypocrisy seen in the news media. The audience for this piece would be mostly young American adults who read or are at least familiar with The Onion newspaper and who "get" the joke.

Humor and Health