CMA Awards Won't Shy Away From Political Jokes
“I don't know how you ignore [it],” host Brad Paisley said.
— -- As the Country Music Association (CMA) celebrates a half century of its signature awards show Wednesday night, host Brad Paisley promises he won’t shy away from tackling the highly-charged presidential race nearing its own finale next week.
"I don't know how you ignore [it]," Paisley told reporters recently. "I mean, you know, we won't take a side in this."
"I think we do a really good job of keeping things equal…" co-host Carrie Underwood chimed in.
"It's scary times if you look at it from a certain point of view," Paisley said."But if you're trying to be comedic, it's awesome, you know! There's a lot of things that are funny no matter what side of the fence you might be on. I mean, they're just funny right now."
Country music’s consummate comic believes successfully tackling such a touchy topic is all in how you approach it.
"There's a way to do it, and that's why we take so long getting this right," Paisley said. "You weave through things. You can actually take what's happening on our news stations right now and work that into how you talk about the nominees, if you want.
"You can write a parody that is an old country classic, sung about what's happening now," he added. "You know, that's sort of what we've always tried to do and this is no different in that sense. This year it just so happens that we're trying to also sort of do it wearing tuxedos."
"I'm not gonna wear a tuxedo!" Underwood joked.
Check out the duo's take on the political situation Wednesday night at 8 p.m. ET on ABC, as The 50th Annual CMA Awards air live from Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena.