Red State Update
Encyclopedia
Satire
Satire is primarily a literary genre or form, although in practice it can also be found in the graphic and performing arts. In satire, vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ideally with the intent of shaming individuals, and society itself, into improvement...
political
Politics
Politics is a process by which groups of people make collective decisions. The term is generally applied to the art or science of running governmental or state affairs, including behavior within civil governments, but also applies to institutions, fields, and special interest groups such as the...
series of short films produced in the United States by performers Jonathan Shockley and Travis Harmon.
Jackie Broyles and Dunlap
Jackie Broyles (played by Travis Harmon) is the older and more levelheaded of the two main characters. He frequently responds to controversial comments made by Dunlap (played by Jonathan Shockley). Both characters hail from Murfreesboro, TennesseeMurfreesboro, Tennessee
Murfreesboro is a city in and the county seat of Rutherford County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 108,755 according to the United States Census Bureau's 2010 U.S. Census, up from 68,816 residents certified during the 2000 census. The center of population of Tennessee is located in...
.
Shimmysham
An early addition to Red State Update, Shimmysham is a ventriloquistVentriloquism
Ventriloquism, or ventriloquy, is an act of stagecraft in which a person manipulates his or her voice so that it appears that the voice is coming from elsewhere, usually a puppeteered "dummy"...
's dummy who made his debut in January 2006 as a counterbalance to Jackie and Dunlap's conservative Republican
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
perspective .
Mr. Slaw and "Cooking with Jackie Time"
Jackie Broyles, who runs a store that sells barbecueBarbecue
Barbecue or barbeque , used chiefly in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, New Zealand and Australia is a method and apparatus for cooking meat, poultry and occasionally fish with the heat and hot smoke of a fire, smoking wood, or hot coals of...
, enjoys cooking and tries to teach new recipes to RSU viewers during the occasional segment "Cooking with Jackie Time". Jackie's cooking show is regularly disrupted by visits from his friend Mr. Slaw, a sickly, pessimistic
Pessimism
Pessimism, from the Latin word pessimus , is a state of mind in which one perceives life negatively. Value judgments may vary dramatically between individuals, even when judgments of fact are undisputed. The most common example of this phenomenon is the "Is the glass half empty or half full?"...
character who lives in a bowl of coleslaw
Coleslaw
Coleslaw, sometimes simply called slaw in some American dialects, is a salad consisting primarily of shredded raw cabbage. It may also include shredded carrots and other ingredients such as fruits and vegetables, apples, onions, green onions, peppers and various spices.-History:The term "coleslaw"...
. "Cooking with Jackie Time" and Mr. Slaw first appeared in the episode "Red State Update Retires".
"Jackie Broyles for President"
Dunlap made a string of commercials for a "Jackie Broyles for President" campaign during the 2008 presidential primariesRepublican Party (United States) presidential primaries, 2008
The 2008 Republican presidential primaries were the selection process by which voters of the Republican Party chose its nominee for President of the United States in the 2008 U.S. presidential election...
. Jackie issued a Shermanesque statement
Shermanesque statement
"Sherman statement" or "Sherman speech" is American political jargon for a clear and direct statement by a potential candidate indicating that he or she will not run for a particular elected position....
denying his intention to run and declared that he had voted for Fred Thompson in the primary, even though Thompson had already left the race.
$120 Campaign Ads
Ahead of the 2010 mid-term electionsUnited States elections, 2010
The 2010 United States elections were held on Tuesday, November 2, 2010. During this midterm election year, all 435 seats in the United States House of Representatives and 37 of the 100 seats in the United States Senate were contested in this election along with 38 state and territorial...
, Dunlap decided to get Red State Update into the "political advertisement game" and offered to make "any political ad for anybody for $120." Jackie and Dunlap subsequently released 9 campaign ads. The first 8 ads were related to upcoming elections and the Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear. The final ad was released after the 2010 election, and promoted a campaign to write in Aleister Crowley
Aleister Crowley
Aleister Crowley , born Edward Alexander Crowley, and also known as both Frater Perdurabo and The Great Beast, was an influential English occultist, astrologer, mystic and ceremonial magician, responsible for founding the religious philosophy of Thelema. He was also successful in various other...
for the 2012 campaign for U.S. President
United States presidential election
Elections for President and Vice President of the United States are indirect elections in which voters cast ballots for a slate of electors of the U.S. Electoral College, who in turn directly elect the President and Vice President...
.
CNN and the YouTube debate
Red State Update came to national prominence during the primary season for the 2008 presidential electionUnited States presidential election, 2008
The United States presidential election of 2008 was the 56th quadrennial presidential election. It was held on November 4, 2008. Democrat Barack Obama, then the junior United States Senator from Illinois, defeated Republican John McCain, the senior U.S. Senator from Arizona. Obama received 365...
. RSU's first appearance on national television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
was during the CNN-YouTube Democratic primary debate
CNN-YouTube presidential debates
The CNN-YouTube presidential debates were a series of televised debates in which United States presidential hopefuls field questions submitted through the social networking site YouTube. The Democratic Party installment took place in Charleston, South Carolina and aired on July 23, 2007. The...
on July 23, 2007, which posed prerecorded, viewer-submitted questions to the candidates. Of Democrats who were entertaining the idea of former Vice-President Al Gore
Al Gore
Albert Arnold "Al" Gore, Jr. served as the 45th Vice President of the United States , under President Bill Clinton. He was the Democratic Party's nominee for President in the 2000 U.S. presidential election....
joining the race, Red State Update asked, "does that hurt y'all's feelings?" Joe Biden
Joe Biden
Joseph Robinette "Joe" Biden, Jr. is the 47th and current Vice President of the United States, serving under President Barack Obama...
made a tongue-in-cheek observation that "I think the people of Tennessee
Tennessee
Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...
(the home state of both Gore and the RSU pair) had their feelings hurt," prompting a video response entitled "Fightin' Joe Biden". The subsequent publicity generated led to a number of appearances on different news stations and a semi-regular spot on CNN's short-lived program Out in the Open. They gained prominence again in December 2007 when former Senator and long-shot presidential candidate Mike Gravel
Mike Gravel
Maurice Robert "Mike" Gravel is a former Democratic United States Senator from Alaska, who served two terms from 1969 to 1981, and a former candidate in the 2008 presidential election....
appeared in one of their clips as Santa Claus
Santa Claus
Santa Claus is a folklore figure in various cultures who distributes gifts to children, normally on Christmas Eve. Each name is a variation of Saint Nicholas, but refers to Santa Claus...
.
Red State Update has since been repeatedly referenced by CNN's offbeat reporter Jeanne Moos
Jeanne Moos
Jeanne Moos is a national news correspondent for CNN. She is based at the network's studios in Manhattan.A native of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Moos originally wanted to pursue a career in print journalism, but while attending Syracuse University , she decided to go into the television business...
.
Popularity and syndication
Red State Update is one of the most widely viewed political satire series on the internet; its channel is the 20th "most viewed" and 26th "most subscribed" comedy channel on YouTubeYouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
. It is also syndicated weekly through the popular online magazine Salon.com
Salon.com
Salon.com, part of Salon Media Group , often just called Salon, is an online liberal magazine, with content updated each weekday. Salon was founded by David Talbot and launched on November 20, 1995. It was the internet's first online-only commercial publication. The magazine focuses on U.S...
.
Related projects
The duo released How Freedom Sounds, an album of comedy and novelty songNovelty song
A novelty song is a comical or nonsensical song, performed principally for its comical effect. Humorous songs, or those containing humorous elements, are not necessarily novelty songs. The term arose in Tin Pan Alley to describe one of the major divisions of popular music. The other two divisions...
s, on July 22, 2008.