Clinical Finishing

Chilean satire comes in the form of The Clinic, a weekly newspaper that dissects and mocks celebrities and the political establishment and also features articles and interviews on all kinds of subjects. It takes its stance from the left and, as such, the President is an almost constant figure of ridicule. Yet its range of targets is broad, with the right-wing government of Piñera, the preceding government of the Concertación party, the Communist Party and the Catholic Church all regular recipients of scathing satirical wit. It is a very good read although much of it requires a good knowledge of Chilean society and, fundamentally, of Chilean slang. I have a good level of Spanish but parts of The Clinic are still incomprehensible. If you can get past that, you'll get a bloody good idea of what makes the country tick.

The paper was founded in 1998 and takes its name from The London Clinic, where Pinochet first stayed following his detention in London that year. Over the years, a huge array of notable Chilean writers and journalists have contributed to its pages, underlining the esteem in which the publication is held, despite its often garish style and puerile humour. Its regular columns include El Confesionario de Fray Yuyo (The Confessionary of Father Yuyo). where readers write in with details of their sins, and La Carne (The Meat), the weekly sexual exploits of a young woman of the upper classes.

However, it would be deeply unfair to imply that these are the main distinguishing features of The Clinic. In addition to the gags and lighthearted nature of various aspects, it also raises important issues and highlights social themes that are neglected by the mainstream centre-right press. With intelligent comment and analysis from its writers, The Clinic is far more than simply jokes for grown-ups.

The Clinic touches a chord with many Chilean as it focuses on the topics that affect the majority of the country: government inadequacy, unequal opportunities, the growing gap between have and have-not and so on. Whether raising these topics through a humourous or serious tone, the paper is an important counterweight against the main newspapers such as El Mercurio and La Tercera, both of which maintain conservative stances, a source of much piss-taking for The Clinic.

There is also a bar called The Clinic which is one of the coolest places in downtown Santiago and is packed out from Thursday to Sunday. It's a big old place just down from Belles Artes underground station, and spread ovr three floors. There's a lot of live music and the food is excellent. They are also generous with the measures of pisco or rum so a good thing in all. 

Here's the website:

http://www.theclinic.cl/

And here's a bunch of The Clinic videos on Youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=the+clinic+tv+chile&aq=f