Jeff Dye posts through it on Rowling and Newsom
Four posts, zero punchlines in the usual shape, and a sarcastic defense of JK Rowling aimed at Hollywood.
Jeff Dye spent a run of posts on politics instead of setups and punchlines. The centerpiece is a defense of JK Rowling written entirely straight and meant entirely as a bit, posted here.
I’ll never forgive JK Rowling for having her own thoughts.
It opens with "I'll never forgive JK Rowling for having her own thoughts" and keeps the sarcasm going from there. Dye writes that her understanding of biology as it has been understood for 3000 years is offensive, and asks whether she knows that thinking for yourself in modern times is racist, homophobic and transphobic. The kicker is him telling Rowling to do better or Hollywood will keep treating her terrible for what he calls basic common sense that they secretly understand but will not admit, because they like work more than truth. Every word of it points the other way. That is the joke.
The list
In a separate post he lists out the parts of himself he considers conservative. The part that believes in a capitalist free market. The part that is patriotic about his country the way anyone else is about their country. The part that knows the difference between a man and a woman. The part that supports the military that keeps his country safe. It ends on a shrug emoji, which is doing the same work a punchline would normally do.
Then there is Gavin Newsom. Dye posted an image captioned as what Mount Rushmore would look like if Newsom was in charge after getting 15 billion dollars to build it. No further explanation offered, and none really needed given the number.
And one that is not political at all
Tucked in the same stretch is a three word post with a raised hands emoji. "Normalize not talking to sports media." It is the lightest thing in the run and the only one that does not pick a side of anything, unless you count sideline reporters.
Normalize not talking to sports media.
The real story is what this stretch says about where Dye is putting his output. These are not jokes with a shape, they are opinions with a rhythm, and the Rowling one only reads as comedy if you clock the sarcasm on the first line. Nobody in the sources is arguing with him about any of it, which is its own data point. Dye is posting into a room where the response, at least so far, is quiet.
Worth noting for anyone keeping score at home, this is the same Jeff Dye whose recent output has leaned on one image doing all the work. This week the images got replaced with a position.