In politics, as in comedy, relying on shock value to command an audience requires employing an ever-increasing dose of shock to have the same effect – until the audience becomes so desensitized that the tactic becomes impotent – take, for example, “comedian” Kathy Griffin’s latest attempt to recapture her “inglorious days.”
In a sad, desperate attempt to use shock value to gain attention over the weekend, Griffin resurrected a bit that worked for her eight years ago, when she posted an image of herself holding the severed “head” of President Trump during his first term.
In 2017, Griffin’s severed-head bit killed, drawing the attention of national media, conservatives, liberals – and even the Secret Service. Like a bad child acting out to get attention, she got it. But, she also paid a price, losing fans, gigs and a job as a paid spokesperson (albeit, for a toilet stool company).
This time, in a self-plagiarizing effort to one-up herself, she’s quadrupled the number of severed heads in her not-so-subtle call for violence.
In a video she posted on TikTok, Griffin is shown with sketches of the bloodied, severed heads of not one, but four, victims: Amazon Founder Jeff Bezos, Facebook Founder Mark Zuckerberg, SpaceX Founder Elon Musk and, of course, Pres. Trump.
The audience response this time around appears to be: “Sorry, but I’ve already heard that one.”
Turning up the voltage in either politics or comedy (and this stunt tries to be both) eventually hits a point where it loses all its impact. Case-in-point: the attempt to use name-calling to prevent Donald Trump from winning the 2024 presidential election.
When calling your opponent Hitler doesn’t work, where can you go from there?
So, too, with Griffin’s severed-head routine. Maybe, she’ll be contacted by the Secret Service again, giving her another opportunity to pretend to cry and claim to be a “victim.” But, that bit’s already been played out, too.
Then, again, maybe her video wasn’t meant to be political, but just a call for “Death to all billionaires.” She’s certainly got good reason to be jealous.
After all, she’s worth only $50 billion.