Kath and Kim
are the clueless, flamboyant, and extremely tacky Australian mother and
daughter on the show of the same name. The Aussie series—whose
cocreators, Jane Turner and Gina Riley,
are also its stars—is a hysterical parody of suburban life in
Australia. EVERYthing is over the top—the accents, the clothes, the
props, the plotlines. And from the first time I saw the show, the thing
I loved about it was the fact that the two female leads were willing to
wear silly prosthetics and unflattering clothes for the sake of good
comedy.
Kate Clinton has been called the lesbian Jon Stewart. Her fans, however, prefer to think of Stewart as the straight Kate Clinton. Her career as a political humorist spans several White House administrations, but the current regime has offered her, like most liberal comedians, endless material for both her onstage comic monologues and her monthly columns for the Progressive and the Advocate.
Once upon a time, politics was serious business. These days, however, presidential merit is measured as much by frat-house standards as by traditional approval ratings (apparently, American voters would rather have a beer with Bush than with Kerry), and a well-timed joke can sometimes sway public opinion more effectively than a reasoned argument.
Imagine the jolt to my feminist sensibilities when I arrived, ready to serve, at the local Taste of the County dinner event and was presented with a plastic apron that had housewife emblazoned under my name. Shame heaped upon humiliation when I noticed—slack-jawed—that a potted plant, needle and thread, and recipe box (!) illustrated the damnable word. I, if the truth had been sought, have no visible gardening skills, find no personal satisfaction at the sewing machine, and sprint from any connection to the culinary arts.