For comedians and political talking heads, South Carolina seems to be an all-you-can take buffet of comedic material.
"We're always scratching our heads at some of the stuff that happens in South Carolina," noted one CNN anchor on a recent broadcast.
"What's in the water down there in South Carolina?" a National Public Radio host asked a recent guest on a morning talk show.
Comedian Jon Stewart performs regular bits on his show "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" which he calls 'Thank You, South Carolina.'
"Oh South Carolina, you're like the gift that keeps on giving, like the goose that laid the golden egg," Stewart said recently on his Comedy Central show that reaches millions.
South Carolina's rise to national comic relief began almost one year ago when Gov. Mark Sanford disappeared for days before returning to make a confession of infidelity.
"I have been unfaithful to my wife," the governor said, with tears in his eyes, as the country watched on live TV.
But it was more of the circumstances leading up to the confessional that grabbed the most attention. Sanford told his staff he was hiking the Appalachian Trail when in reality he was visiting his lover in Argentina.
"He hiked the Appalachian Trail all the way down to Argentina," said the NPR host.
David Letterman spent weeks grilling the governor, and Sanford often made the late night comedian's famous top ten lists.
When Sanford's story faded, U.S. Republican Congressman Joe Wilson stepped up and yelled "You lie!" to President Obama as he gave his state of the union address last year.
Letterman explained Wilson's outburst by giving a top ten list of Wilson's excuses, one of which included, "It's been weeks since a Republican has embarrassed the state of South Carolina."
With the new year brought a new round of embarrassing moments that went viral and made national headlines.
In early 2010, Lt. Governor Andre Bauer was vying to become the state's next governor, but he angered some when he referred to school children who receive free and reduced lunches to "stray animals."
The comment helped comics explain why Sanford was still governor and why Bauer might not be the best choice.
"Oh I see why he's still there because the man who would replace him, the lieutenant governor, is a nightmare," Jon Stewart said during one of the "Thank You, South Carolina" sketches.
Recently, Stewart referred to South Carolina as the country's whoopee cushion which inflated itself recently when Republican state Senator Jake Knotts called Nikki Haley a "raghead."
"We've already got one "raghead" in the White House; we don't need another one," Knotts told a radio host.
Haley, who is the GOP's candidate for governor, is of Indian descent, but Knotts never really apologized for the remarks.
MSNBC's Keith Olbermann ranted about Knotts for an entire segment and pegged him "the worst person in the world."
The most recent political stunt that thrust the state back into the spotlight was the recent election of Alvin Greene as the Democratic choice to run against U.S. Senator Jim DeMint in November.
Greene has a felony charge, no money, no political experience and spent no time campaigning.
US Congressman Jim Clyburn, from SC, said he felt it was a Republican conspiracy and told CNN's Candy Crowley, "I smell elephant dung."
"South Carolina, man, you got it going on," said prominent Fox News Channel anchor Shep Smith. "I mean first it was the love gov ... South Carolina, man, you got a lot going on."
