by Vera H-C Chan

Add another gloomy outlook to America's short-term future: The online appetite for poking fun at President-elect Barack Obama has fallen more than 61% in the past week.

The precipitous drop follows an all-time Search high for "obama jokes" in the days immediately after the election. Given that America has seen enough negative numbers these days, do these figures portend a moody humor forecast?

Entertainment Weekly wistfully asked last week, "Is it safe to make Obama jokes yet?" The Huffington Post deconstructed comedian anxiety in its entry, "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the White House—Not." Days after, another Post writer rounded up articles that fretted over a "Crisis of Comedy" and "Where's the funny in Barack Obama?"

EW argued that the low supply of yuks isn't as much comics afraid to trample through delicate race issues, but that incoming jefe is, well, kind of a straight man. His unflappable calm and the fact that he "hasn't done anything yet" don't provide much punchline fodder.

According to the San Francisco Chronicle, a study—yes, a real academic one—counted late-night jokes on politicians and came out with these numbers: Sarah Palin (283), John McCain (245), President George W. Bush (141), while Obama punchlines were an anemic 58.

Black comedic hosts though are going where their white counterparts fear to tread in the Obama humor deficit. David Alan Grier, D.L. Hughley and Larry Wilmore have assembled task forces to probe the subject, and the Chronicle sums up some of their policy positions so far.

The groundwork being laid out now should should stymie any need for a humor bailout package. Now more than ever, during this current state of Obama exultation, America's confidence needs to be restored in its ability to laugh at its No. 1. And if not, as many point out with relief, there's always No. 2.