One of the more interesting developments in the post cold war world has been the endless comedy engendered by various thugs, hypocrites, dirty necked galoots, and bloodthirsty tyrants who have been thrown up by mobs, mullahs, and militaries across the world since the wall fell.

The entertainment value in watching the rank anti-Americanism, the twisting of history, the deliberate lies and exaggerated rhetoric has been immense - better than the first episode of Survivor anyway. And in their own ways, Hugo Chavez and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad have shown that each have missed their calling in life. Instead of being brutal tyrants oppressing the masses of their people, they very well could have been paired up to star in their very own sit-com. Or better yet, how about “The Hugo and Mahmoud Comedy Hour?”

The physical contrast is funny enough; Chavez - big, beefy, goat face ugly with a personality that seethes below the surface, ready to erupt at a moment’s notice. And Ahmadinejad - small, slight, elfish with that mischevious “Leave it to Beaver” smile as if to say “Don’t turn your back on me or I’ll drop a nuke in your soup!”

Almost like Laurel and Hardy. In fact, the similarities there would be striking. Chavez in a bowler hat with a little mustache, waddling alongside the vapid looking Ahmadinejad who sometimes appears to be half-asleep. The trouble they get into and then manage to get out of - usually as a result of random events having nothing to do with their own innate intelligence - is a perfect metaphor for their own careers.

In fact, the world has not seen their like very often. Idi Amin or perhaps a young Ghadaffi had the comic sense of the duo but not the messianic sense of mission or the real potential for troublemaking. The fact that both received long, sustained applause at the UN for their speeches should make every network executive in New York drool in anticipation of what their next act will look like.

Indeed, both didn’t disappoint. “Hugo Does Harlem” could be made into a Comedy Channel Special:

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, appearing Thursday at a Harlem Church for an oil-for-poor event, repeated his ‘devil’ reference hurled a day earlier at President Bush during a speech at the United Nations.

“They told me that I should be careful after I called him the devil — and I think he is the devil — because he might kill me” Chavez told a crowd packed into the Mount Olivet Baptist Church in Harlem.

“But, I place myself in the hands of God,” he said.

The laugh-o-meter went off the scale with that last remark. This bodes well for ratings although the Comedy Channel already has their fair share of Bush Bashers in Stewart and Colbert. Perhaps they could sell the script to “The Home and Garden Network” or even “Animal Planet?”

As for our radioactive elf, the Iranian President, he took yesterday to lecture the Council on Foreign Relations about the Holocaust and history;

Maurice R. Greenberg: He has been quoted many times, including last evening, that the Holocaust needs to be explored as to whether or not it really occurred. And he says, “Well you know, every time somebody tries to do that, they get imprisoned.” Well, the reason some have been imprisoned is because it’s against the law in some places to deny that the Holocaust occurred.

Of course it occurred. And when he said that, I responded: “Listen, I went through Dachau during the war. To suggest it didn’t occur is simply a lie.” So he turned around and asked me how old I was, to determine if I was old enough to have been there. And then he changed the subject.

Q: So that was the extent of it?

MRG: Yes, but then there was a lot of follow up on that. He wanted to know why there was an objection to have professors and historians explore whether or not it had occurred. The fact of the matter, obviously we said, is that it’s a recognized fact that it occurred; it was 6 million Jews that perished in the Holocaust and that any single individual that denies that is not only wrong but is also trying to be revisionist of history.

[snip]

MRG: I think it’s almost impossible to do business with him as long as he has those views. He says: “Why should the Palestinians suffer even if there was a Holocaust? What does one have to do with the other?” I mean, they have nothing to do with each other. We don’t link them together. And we discussed that. They’re not linked.

He thinks the Palestinians should be permitted to return, that’s never going to happen. If the Palestinians returned to Israel, they’d swamp the country and there wouldn’t be an Israel. But he doesn’t want an Israel.

Q: It sounds like he didn’t make any effort to try to reach out…

MRG: No, no. There was no effort to reach out. He’s offensive. He’s smug. He’s a danger.

Not too much in the yucks department but more of a cereberal humor - something that might play better on The Sci-Fi Channel or maybe as a fall replacement for Keith Olberman on MSNBC.

Either way, American TV executives should take a long hard look at these two comedians. Not only would their anti-American rants play well in certain parts of the country, but they’d have that coveted 18-29 male demographic in the bag.