When The New Yorker ran its Barry Blitt-illustrated cover cheekily portraying Michelle and Barack Obama as fist-bumping radical terrorists, it touched off a firestorm. The New Yorker was speaking to its tribe (see cover No. 1) and likely thought it was safe to do so. Wrong! The image, titled "The Politics of Fear," inflamed everyone in all the rings of the political circus, and the magazine had to explain its intentions and the concept of satire to the world. Amid all the hubbub came Entertainment Weekly, whose cover subjects, Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart, make their livings by pointing out the pervasive folly of the political process. By spoofing the original New Yorker cover, this one actually trumps it. In addition to making the reader (me, anyway) laugh out loud, it wryly comments on the controversy. In comedy, timing is everything, and the timing, spirit and execution of this cover made it stand out, and even helped defuse the rancor unintentionally created by the original. Bravo!
The Top 10 Everything of 2008
- Top 10 Albums
- Top 10 Animal Stories
- Top 10 Awkward Moments
- Top 10 Best Business Deals
- Top 10 Worst Business Deals
- Top 10 Breakups
- Top 10 Buzzwords
- Top 10 Campaign Gaffes
- Top 10 Campaign Video Moments
- Top 10 Children's Books
- Top 10 Crime Stories
- Top 10 Editorial Cartoons
- Top 10 Election Photos
- Top 10 Fashion Faux Pas
- Top 10 Fashion Moments
- Top 10 Fiction Books
- Top 10 Financial Collapses
- Top 10 Fleeting Celebrities
- Top 10 Food Trends
- Top 10 Gadgets
- Top 10 Green Stories
- Top 10 iPhone Apps
- Top 10 Late Night Gags
- Top 10 Magazine Covers
- Top 10 Medical Breakthroughs
- Top 10 Movies
- Top 10 Movie Performances
- Top 10 Museum Exhibits
- Top 10 News Stories
- Top 10 Non-fiction Books
- Top 10 Oddball News Stories
- Top 10 Olympic Moments
- Top 10 Open Mike Moments
- Top 10 Outrageous Earmarks
- Top 10 Photos
- Top 10 Plays and Musicals
- Top 10 Political Lines
- Top 10 Quotes
- Top 10 Religion Stories
- Top 10 Scandals
- Top 10 Scientific Discoveries
- Top 10 Songs
- Top 10 Sports Moments
- Top 10 T-shirt Worthy Slogans
- Top 10 TV Ads
- Top 10 TV Episodes
- Top 10 TV Series
- Top 10 Underreported News Stories
- Top 10 Video Games
- Top 10 Viral Videos
A yearbook of all the top events you've been talking about