Mike Huckabee Went on a Twitter Comedy Press Tour This Week

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Mike Huckabee has recently taken it upon himself to begin a second career as a Twitter comedian, and his terrible jokes have already been the target of late night ridicule like Patton Oswalt’s hilarious March appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live. Clearly not one to turn down anything resembling a setup, Huckabee found a way to turn the Kimmel segment into a bad joke of its own the day after it aired:

It appears that Huckabee wants to take his comedy career to the next level, because within the past few days, at least three separate interviews with the former Arkansas governor have been published online. And they’re not more general interviews that briefly touch on Twitter and Huckabee’s comedy philosophy – all three interviews focus solely on what he labels his trademark “groan humor†and why he definitely doesn’t care that people make fun of his tweets.

First up was this April 19th interview with Yahoo News. A couple quotes:

I find Twitter amusing to me. And so I share it, and a lot of people — you know, most of my humor is what I call groan humor, groaning people, oh boy. Groaning, g-r-o-a-n. Intentionally, It’s just sort of the kind of stuff that causes people to just maybe smile but they’re in on the joke, they get it, that it’s intended, tongue-in-cheek.
Yeah, you know, one of the things that amazes me most is that everyday I probably have a hundred people tell me, “Delete your account,†“Why are you doing this?†“You’re not funny,†“You’re miserable.†And I’m thinking, “Last time I checked, there’s not a single law in any one of the 50 states that require you to follow me on Twitter.†So, if this is killing you, if it is absolutely causing you to be constipated, then for heaven sakes, get off my Twitter feed.

The next day, Washingtonian published their own Huckabee Twitter interview, and it’s strikingly similar to interview #1. Here’s an excerpt:

What advice does Huckabee have for those looking to make their marks on Twitter, to have the confidence it takes to put yourself out there, haters be damned? “Two things,†he says. “Be who you are. Be yourself. And number two, expect a backlash if you say anything that isn’t bland.†“Elaina, I have a simple philosophy,†he concludes. “Most people take themselves too seriously, and they don’t take God seriously. I try to do the opposite.â€

And another:

The “haters†and “trolls†are plenty, Huckabee says. “But the part that gets me is that nobody is required by law to follow anyone on Twitter. When they tell me, ‘Delete your account!’ I’m thinking, well, just delete me!â€

Interview #3 arrived today thanks to Dave Holmes at Esquire, and like the previous interviews, Huckabee complains about political correctness and triggered snowflakes:

But you know, Dave, the sad thing is, there used to be a time everybody could laugh at themselves and laugh at the things that surround them. But political correctness has robbed people of the ability to be able to enjoy the simple things in life. I find that people now take offense at everything. I cannot believe that people are so unbelievably fragile, that they run to a safe room and get triggered if something is said that they don’t agree with. If that’s true, then God help us. We are in real trouble. My gosh, I look back at the comedy that was a part of our culture for so many years. It was funny because there was an element of truth to it, and that’s what makes comedy funny. There has to be some element of truth, and it has to accentuate the absurdity of something. And that’s what causes people to say, “Yeah, that’s funny,†because it reveals an absurdity, an irony, some type of human foible. That’s what makes it funny.

…gives Jerry Seinfeld a shout-out so he can double down on triggered snowflakes:

I was reading Jerry Seinfeld, who I saw in concert a few months ago. He won’t play college campuses anymore because he says there’s just too many people getting all worked up about everything he says. And that’s a tragedy, because he is outrageously funny. It’s a sad thing that a lot of these snowflakes are going to grow up never appreciating the comedy genius that he is, because he might upset them.

…goes super in-depth about his comedic process on Twitter, one tweet at a time:

I flew 487,000 miles last year, so I feel like I’m somewhat of a familiar person when it comes to understanding the whole process of passenger flying these days. I mean, that stuff, it just pops into my head. If I’m on my phone, I might tap it out on a phone, if I’m on my laptop I’ll do it there.

…and repeats his favorite canned answer about his “hatersâ€:

My attitude is: Nobody is required to follow me on Twitter. The only people who should even sign up are the people who want to know what I say. If they find it amusing, then terrific. And if they don’t, rather than telling me to delete my account, they should delete me from their following.

Whether this the end of the Mike Huckabee 2017 Comedy Press Tour or just the beginning is yet to be seen, but no matter what you think of his jokes, you’ve got to hand it to him: The man knows how to self-promote.

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Mike Huckabee Went on a Twitter Comedy Press Tour This […]