Unfunny Girl

In the movie “Yentl,” Barbra Streisand plays a young woman who wants nothing more than to study the Jewish scriptures and the Talmud, but she is unable to do so because of her gender. In real life, it’s becoming increasingly clear that Streisand wants nothing more than to be a political activist, but she is unable to do so because she’s a singer.

Streisand, in fact, suffers from a common malady among Hollywood elites: an inability to recognize that actors and singers are meant to act and sing, not to pontificate on the political matters of the day. Most who try to cross over into politics end up looking foolish and out of touch with the nation.

People are rightfully reluctant to take political cues from the motley group of college dropouts and well-intentioned pseudo-intellectuals that set opinion in Hollywood. Streisand should rest on her laurels as one of the most overrated vocalists of all time and not seek further accolades for political involvement and social awareness.

Long known for her political activism, including singing at special concerts and fundraisers for Bill Clinton, Streisand has lately become even more entrenched in progressive causes. Her personal blog reads like the DailyKos, filled with statements about the upcoming midterm election. Furthermore, her political beliefs are also becoming part of her onstage persona as never before. No longer content with mediocre renditions of standards, Streisand’s new tour now includes a professional George W. Bush impersonator, who engages in an extended skit with Streisand in which the president is depicted as a bumbling moron.

While a little bit of political humor may be okay, entertainers should generally stick to their act. Most people would rather be entertained than given a political lesson, a fact seemingly lost on Streisand at Madison Square Garden on Oct. 9, when she seriously misread her fans by pushing her agenda just a little too much. The results were predictably absurd and decidedly unfunny.

For starters, Streisand’s banter with her faux Bush dragged on a little too long in the evening’s show. A “Dubya double” has the potential to be humorous but it was decidedly unfunny for her crowd to have this long partisan commercial foisted upon them between songs. People came to the show to hear Streisand sing (already a boring proposition) not to hear the current president belittled (even more so).

This was not lost on Streisand’s New York audience. Everyone knows that Dubya is not that bright, and any skit over 30 seconds long merely belabors the point. As Streisand’s lackluster satire went forward, order collapsed faster than Air America’s ratings. One audience member began to heckle Streisand and her Bush lookalike, setting off a major showdown with the Brooklyn-born diva. Not to be upstaged by someone offstage, Streisand decided to meet chutzpah with chutzpah.

Streisand, of course, could have been clever with her comeback, but she chose a different route. Although never subtle in anything that she has ever done, Streisand decided to be more blunt than usual. The singer had had enough, and in decidedly impolitic words Barbra let everyone else know.

“Shut the (expletive) up,” the diva wailed. She was not going to let anyone criticize her partisan comedy bit. Moreover, she didn’t care whether she was entertaining her audience or not.

And with her four crass words Streisand had finally transformed herself from politically opinionated singer to full-fledged political activist. No longer was her show about pleasing her audience, instead it was about presenting a set of talking points to be made so that the Democrats can take back the House. Her audience had come to see her perform, but her performance took second seat to her political message. Although her display of righteous indignation was met with applause, the applause should really have been for her singing, not for her politics.

In her subsequent apology Streisand pretentiously told us that the artist’s role is “to disturb.” While this is true to some extent (Streisand’s behavior has certainly seemed disturbing to me for a number of years), actors and singers should realize that political advocacy should not be their primary focus. Politics should be left to politicians, not to singers, and if an entertainer does feel the need to opine, it should be done with as much tact as possible.

Streisand and others need to recognize that they lack credibility in commenting on politics. Dropping the F-bomb at a concert may be disturbing, but it doesn’t strike me as a credible or convincing way to get one’s message across.



Charles R. Drummond ’09 is a history concentrator in Adams House. His column appears on alternate Wednesdays.