Jon Stewart and Kumar Go to D.C.
by Andrew BreitbartThis week’s Washington Times column:
On Tuesday night I was bestowed the honor of being ridiculed on Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show” with Jon Stewart. The segment in which I was featured had Mr. Stewart mocking those of us who dare criticize the new president. In the era of Obama, mainstream American political humor is now officially on the defensive.
Stewart lumped me with Sean Hannity, Mark Levin and Rep. Michele Bachmann, Minnesota Republican — a cross section of people you might expect to be critical of an administration implementing very liberal policies in a very short time.
The “joke” was that these right-wing zealots weren’t giving the new president enough time, that the previous president did worse things, and that I, in particular, was ridiculous for blaming the president for “St. Patrick’s Day” becoming “Potato Day” at my kids’ public school. (Yes, the name change took place. No, I did not blame President Obama — specifically.)
As is his style, Mr. Stewart took wildly out of context my clip from Fox News’ “Hannity” in which Sean and I discussed the Obama administration’s decision to call the “war on terror” an “overseas contingency operation,” and “terrorism” a “man-caused disaster.” As an aside during that discussion, I pointed out that leftist bureaucrats in Los Angeles, eager to rip the religious context out of a widely celebrated holiday, opted instead to offend an entire ethnic group.
“Potato Day!” Take that, pasty white limey oppressor! And if you pinch me for not wearing green, I’ll sue you for sexual harassment.
Orwellian language shifts are usually ripe material for true comedians. But Mr. Stewart ripped me for talking about the road to pure-form political correctness that the new president has set us on.
Jonathan and his amazing technicolor dream-teleprompter (yes, he has one too) has for 10 years used sophisticated character assassination to slyly annihilate the political enemies of the Democratic Party.
The show’s multitude of liberal, Ivy-League-educated writers — another Obama echo — feed the mildly successful former stand-up comedian irony-laden words that he offers up with his signature goofy facial expressions. And Jon Stewart has a studio audience of pliant seals commanded and trained to flap their fins at every smirk or sarcastic joke.
Conservatives, who are cosmically slow on the pop-culture uptake, are just now beginning to understand the disastrous impact of Mr. Stewart’s decade-long barrage of unanswered snipes, especially among the college-aged crowd. The ironic gripes have lowered Republicans into an even-less-attractive caricature than schlockmeister Michael Moore was able to deliver.
If the targets were switched and Democrats had the same five-day-a-week bull’s-eye placed on their heads, no one doubts that financier George Soros and Media Matters would wage a well-funded rampage to destroy Mr. Stewart and his scribes. Nancy Pelosi would be demanding a comedy Fairness Doctrine. And “The Daily Show” and its partner in crime “The Colbert Report” would be taken off the air within 30 days of electoral primaries and within 60 days of general elections to comply with McCain-Feingold.
You can read the column in full here.
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236 Comments
I'll volunteer to bump Stewart off if you'll agree to bump off some of our trolls.
i hope i just missed the joke.
it can't be serious. the racism is just too perfect.st. patrick's day cannot have become "potato day". that's like changing caeser chavez day to "burrito day". imagine what martin luther king day would become.
Stewart's life threatened by unhinged wingnuts! Be careful what you say, they're in a feeding frenzy.
Count the number of times Stewart's audience claps furiously instead of laughing. Those are the embarrassing applaud lines he gets from saying something as simple as "Bush is stupid".
Oh and that pursed lipped look at the camera. What a waste of his talent.
Corned beef day would discriminate against soo many people.
Maybe latke, pomme trite, or boca burger and fries. We forget the snakes
too readily.
Do Maher and Stewart share the same brain-dead audiences?
Commentary for idiots, Stewart is being appointed by which side?
Andrew is right about the audience being seeded. Most of these shows have a good number of people who are sent out of Central Casting, or some other casting agency, making minimum wage, and planted with instructions on how and when to laugh. Usually an applause light helps, or a second A.D. standing to the side waving his arms for more or less laughter and applause.
Left alone, Stewart really isn't very funny. Nor are the jokes by his platoon of unfunny writers. He mugs whenever his jokes don't work, which means he mugs a lot. A lot. The trained seals in the audience and at home give him the advantage he could not do without.
Put him in a real debate on even ground without the trained seals against anyone who knows anything, and Stewart would prove himself even more of a clown than he is paid to be – but not in the way he would like.
Andrew you are dead on about Conservatives being to slow on the pop culture uptake. We need to stay abreast of the situation because we can't just expect people to know what Conservatives stand for. If the only people defining what Conservatives stand for are a**holes like Stewart is it any wonder why so many people hate Limbaugh and other without knowing anything about them?
But I must disagree with you about the Stewart audience members being "pliant seals." This is far too nice of a phrase for them. Crummy little toadies is far more applicable in this situation in my opinion.
John Stewart is pure schmuck. So, when is it John Schmuckwart was challenged to a debate for his ideas? Oh, I'm sorry the other schmucks on the right that won't share the mic or face time except for oligarchy will continue to suck at being the leaders and voices of the other side while they scratch their ass and wonder why they can't rebound.
The truth is there are personalities and ideas being suffocated to keep a status quo, or run a damn repeat of the Leprechaun at 10 pm, that WOULD appeal to a younger demographic…but they are shelved right now for CRAP like that!
I think O'Reilly's too big to be a Leprechaun…he's more like Butch/Spike from the old Droopy cartoons with his shillelagh.
Fox needs to start their own right-wing comedy network to counter Comedy Central like they did with the Clinton News Network. They can headline the primetime offerings with Greg Gutfeld and RedEye.
I offer to do the sketch comedy!
http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/64e6aed6e1/eco-c...
Can't we convince someone to give Greg Gutfeld a better timeslot on a more partisan show?
I did not know Stewart had a live audience. This whole time I thought it was a laugh track.
The "New Progressives" all get their news from Stewart. I should know, that is the reason my now 23 year-old son believes Obama will "save the world."
If it weren't so scary, it would be funny(pun intended)
I believe that the audiences of both Stewart and Maher are the modern day equivalent of Pavlov's dogs. Unfortunately, the mixture of these fools with lefty jounalists and professors has ensured the dems will be in charge for awhile. Once the economy turns around, these groups will give all of the credit to Obama and his dem cronies. The only groups to point out this falsehood will be fox news and am radio. Not enough people listen or watch. Case in point, now we will hear about how tough Obama and the dems are on national security because the navy rescued that captain.
Too bad Trey Parker and co. won'tstart a channel. South Park is an equal opportunity hatchet job, and as long as the viewpoint is balanced – jackasses being jackasses, I laugh with the best of em. Now mean spirited Stewart thinks he's the messiah to political commentary. Gutfeld has ten times the talent – he should head to head with that vapid moron. No contest.
Mockery plays to the lowest of natures; the decaying intellect infused with self-regard. It is picked up by lesser minds– more innocent, but culpably lazy– and repeated with a sniggering snort and an email forwarding list of amoebic friends.
Mockery is easy, Mr. Stewart. Real comedy is much harder.
Mockery plays to the lowest of natures; the decaying intellect infused with self-regard. It is picked up by lesser minds– more innocent, but culpably lazy– and repeated with a sniggering snort and an email forwarding list of amoebic friends.
Mockery is easy, Mr. Stewart. Real comedy is much harder.
What we need is huge dose of Dennis Miller on Fox. If Miller had his own program, he'd blow the ratings socks off of Stewart and Colbert — just as O'Reilly and Hannity blow away Olbermann and Maddow.
If I lived anywhere near where they tape this show (or Letterman) I would somehow get tickets and be "the jerk" in the audience. They would wind up tossing me out, you could be sure. Why not make this a pastime, a trend in thought-police disobedience and mischief? Calling all gutsy conservatives to crash this buffoon's show (and letterman) and shout things out like "not funny" or "You're a jerk" or "That oops I just farted look on your face is getting old!" C'mon gujys, where's the spirit? Where's the guts? This could be the greatest night of our lives…..
I think Stewart's jumped the shark. I hear more and more people who have enjoyed his show in the past complain about the audience, which seem to be a crowd of losers on a bad meth trip.
But, I would be in favor of a Cheeseburger Day. That should offend just about every PC group out there.
You mistook my comment for a threat. I simply meant I hoped someday I could bump into the brilliant Mr. Stewart. (I certainly hope that gets Homeland Security, the FBI, the DEA, ICE, the executive producer of The Daily Show, and Eric Holder off my trail)
Greg Gutfeld would be a great anchor show for a comedy network outside of the circle-jerk, liberal groupthink. It would be best to go guerrilla on the Stewart types, as they have been the establishment for some time now. They're fat, happy and cocksure of themselves these days.
Your videos show promise. Not as cutting as you could be, but I like where you're going with them.
Fox experimented with THE HALF HOUR NEWS HOUR, a conservative leaning comedy show, and it had some funny bits. It did not catch on, I think, partly because it did not get a regular time slot where it could grow an audience over time. I would love to see a quality comedy show with a conservative bent in a regular nightly slot, with some clever, cool, smart hosts. Dennis Miller would be great as an anchor for such a show. My guess is that it would find an audience because it would be the only place conservatves could go for comedy on TV.
The problem is, in the past, Conservatives haven't been interested in the comedy shows. We need some of ou folks with talent at BH going and pitching shows! If you have any talent at all, you may do better than Stewart, if you had a decent timeslot and some help like he does. I'd love to see a show that is like WFB's old Firing Line on again, also. Raise the quality of debate! Great article, Andrew.
If you're a Professor with a "radical" past, that ought to do it
Its because of the "Cool" factor. Truth is that GW didn't really have that. He wasn't much of a people person. The Republican Party has pretty much lost touch with the "Cool" factor since the Reagan era. We were portrayed as the sporty preppy jocks with clean cut short haircuts and polo shirts with the collar up. These same characters have been systematicaly demonized as date raping userpers that only care about what can be taken from society. Today we are being typecast as redneck dukes of hazard ex military extrememists. A lot like they portrayed GW. One poster said….Name one single funny conservative! You Can't…..the other day on the daily show page on Breitbart. So….Im asking….where are all the cool republicans? Until we overcome this image of dorkiness in dark aviator glasses. This idea that Republicans are the kind of people that still wear suits to work on casual Friday……..This idea that we are somehow "The Man" to rebel against…..we are doomed to failure in a post republican administration. I have other questions too….Can you smoke pot and still be a Repubican? Do republicans ever wear hawaaian shirts and sandals? Why do all Republicans dance the same? Did Michael J Fox really have to be the picture of a young republican? I have so many questions.
The brainwashing begins in elementary school, not to state the obvious. It develops momentem and ya, fools like Stewart can have a big influence on college kids. I'm at school with them everyday, man what easily led sheep. Years ago, maybe the early 90's a friend of mine's 8 or 9 year old niece grabs his cigs, and tears up a new pack of cigarettes. I don't smoke, but I empathize with having a new pack of smokes, uh smoked. Turns out that at school the teacher was telling her how deadly cigarettes are and that the kids must intervene to save the adults. Any wonder why so many college kids buy the whole "global warming" myth as a unrefuteable and undebateable fact? Brainwashing, I mean liberal education.
And the filthy maggot swill enable this stench as well. But we jut can't have "Hillary the Movie!" Putrid stench of filthy maggot pig swill…
I wonder what would "click" for conservative comedy. Honestly, I thought the 1/2 news hour was painful to watch.
Our funny people tend to be a bit too "thinky" for a Daily Show. Miller, Steyn and Jonah Goldberg are all very funny, but I just don't know if it would work. Maybe Gutfeld is our last, best hope.
On the other hand, some of the talent here is pretty good. Just brain-barfing, maybe sketch comedy written and performed by Crowder? I wonder if people like Iowahawk and Jim Treacher could write for TV.
Don't worry about it Andrew. First of all, you're now big enough to be lumped in with O'Reilly and Hannity. That's pretty cool. Secondly, Stewart is preaching to his choir.
The most ironic moment of Stewart/Leibowitz's "clown nose off" rant with Cramer was when he, a man who makes his income through the sponsorship of multi-billion dollar corporations, sincerely said that "our work is wealth." A lot of work he does, indeed.
Tucker Carlson wrote a telling piece around the time of the Cramer debacle. He mentioned that after his appearance on Carlson's CNN show, Stewart/Leibowitz stayed on the set after the show was over and continued to preach to the crew for hours. For hours, as if they just couldn't understand the inner workings of his transcendent progressive mind.
This man is not only a slave to his incredible ego, but he is a tremendous coward. I doubt that he will continue to push back at this column, Andrew, because it has too many ideas, too many words. It can't be distilled into an embarrassing three-second video clip that can be paused at just the right frame to make you look stupid. He won't push back, because he knows that unlike Cramer, if you come on his show, you will not simply allow him to browbeat you, as you recent appearance on Real Time proved.
However, you must continue to push him, to present the meme that this man has traded his integrity and his comedy credentials for brazen political thuggery. Stewart/Leibowitz needs to be taken down, not just in the arena of blogs and newspaper columns, but on his own turf. Keep pushing until he has no choice but to have you on his show, no choice but to face someone who will call him out on being a hack.
Potato Day? considering how many Irish died in the potato famine, that sounds like racist sterotyping and a complete insult. What is wrong with that school?
They already tried with "The Half Hour News Hour" and it failed miserably. Something about war mongering and social darwinism that just isn't funny. Go figure. It's also kind of hard to make fun of people promoting peace and environmental/social stewardship (at least to normal human beings).
IMHO. The problem I see is that most all of the conservative/independent/libertarian folks I know, including myself, don't typically laugh when people are insulting other people. Not the kind of hateful insults which are hurled around by Jon Stewart. I am starting to realize that we are too nice, and it is doing us in. This is not to say that I haven't laughed at my share of various ethnic jokes, or blonde jokes (even though I am blonde) in private adult to adult conversation, with like-minded friends or family. The Left and the immature youth are very willing to laugh at everything. They are probably also the same people who wouldn't defend their own Mom, is she were being attacked verbally or physically. They would rationalize why the attacker is correct in their attack.
Perhaps the real question is: do Maher and Stewart share the same BRAIN?
I enjoy the sentiment, but like ConnieZ, I'd echo this isn't a fight a Conservative can win. Not for lack of cleverness or clarity, but because there are places we don't go, and sanity prevails. Hard times, yes, but a wonderful piece by AB.
None of his stuff was funny during the Bush presidency, and you have to wonder if deep down, if there isn't a panic over what he can now use for material. Obviously, he adores Obama, and its evident the Obama administration is totally off limits. So what is left? Stale Bush/Rove/Gingrich/Limbaugh jokes? You can only go to the well so often.
As far as a Stewart's smirks go….he's rubbing off on that asshat , Press Secretary, Robert Gibbs (Peter from the Family Guy) who's trying the sarcasm route miserbly as Stewart is.
When did giving away our freedom become cool?
The so called hip, liberal, "rebels,' in hollywood, media and in education have, over years of relentless pushing, convinced many young people that the very people who want to rob them of their liberty are cool and edgy, even though it is the liberals who cowtow to, and promote an ever growing government control of every aspect of our lives. By far the list of rules, regulations, laws and taxes imposed on our liberty and property by liberals far exceeds anything that conservatives ever dream of doing. How is this edgy? How is this rebellious? How is this cool?
To win back the youth, conservatives have to fight the media wars by using some of the same tools; comedy, mockery of the silliness of liberal 'thought.' And smart arguments that speak specifically to the young.
Even leftists like Camille Paglia point out that Rush Limbaugh's comedy bits with Paul Shanklin are some of the most intelligent, funny and biting satire in the media today. Conservatives have to pick up that comedy cudgel and throw it back as Limbaugh, Mark Levin and some others do, and in venues beyond talk radio.
The underlying message ought to be that freedom is cool. Liberty is hip, and the desire for independence is rebellion.
I don't think for a moment that Obama was behind "Potato Day".
. . . but, on the other hand, he's the first president that sort of looks like Mr. Potato Head.
Hey, Hasbro! You're missing a marketing opportunity here!
to stick with the theme probably "watermellon day", "fried Chicken day", or "ribs day"
"Freedom is cool. Liberty is hip, and the desire for independence is rebellion. "
Yes Yes Yes!!! Well said. Thank you for that. If you don't mind, I will use that on one of my signs that I'll be carrying at the Tea Party this Wednesday!
So war mongers like Wilson, FDR, Kennedy, and LBJ? Not that the wars that came about under their administrations were necessarily bad wars, but let's not go overboard on saying that the Democrats are peace-loving when they have a "crisis" they feel the need to manage either. And Social Darwinism as espoused by such right-wing people like Marx, Stalin, and Wilson? There's that pesky Wilson again, man that guy was into everything I swear…
Plus it's really very easy to make fun of people who'll beg for "peace" at any cost and use the environment as a weapon to damage free markets, but no comedian on the left will touch those with a 10' pole. Not because even some of them don't find it ridiculous, but because the left loves nothing more than lockstep thought conformity and they eat their own.
YES! YES!! YES!!!
This is a BRILLIANT idea!
Why isn't the most brilliant conservative comedian given his own platform?
Maybe someone at FOX is reading this.
He lives in San Francisco and is planning on someday running a kaffiya stand, so he'll be fine.
He lives in San Francisco and is planning on someday running a kaffiya stand, so he'll be fine.
Agreed on all counts.
Mr. Breitbart, I just want to say that you wrote one hell of a column! I think that you wrote one of the best critiques of the "Daily Show" and how it has done enormous damage to conservatives. I was in college a couple years ago, and I remember how most students automatically formed their opinions of Republicans after watching Jon Stewart every night. Well, now I am in law school, and I STILL think that some people have not matured enough to recognize how Mr. Stewart is very good at manipulating his audience by taking so many quotes and videos out of context. As an aside, I HATE this type of editing, whether done by liberals or conservatives. At least conservatives can always rest assured that an overwhelmingly liberal press and media will call them out on any crazy editing trickery. However, it really sickens me when liberals DO NOT get called out on their biased editing and in fact receive Emmy awards for their so-called genius. THANK YOU, Mr. Breitbart, for having the guts to FINALLY reveal how Mr. Stewart does his dirty work. I suspect that if Mr. Stewart trashes you this week on his program with a goofy expression that you did an effective job! HAPPY EASTER!!!
My guess, Andrew, is after this column someone from The Daily Show will call you up and offer to let you be a guest in the circus ring, with Stewart in his clown nose off mode (h/t Treacher).
If you accept, you really ought to make Jon an offer to swap shows for one night with Greg Gutfeld and his crew on "Red Eye" (assuming they'd be willing to go along). Give Jon one night to try and work with only part-time use of the Teleprompter for his Fox News hosting debut (his choice on the clown nose status), while Greg gets to show Comedy Central viewers that, yes, there actually are dozens of Barack Obama jokes out there for the taking.
Don't forget, Evan Sayet wrote for the original Maher show, along with the super sharp black chick he does stand up with, (sorry, I can't remember her name.), and they were great. I don't think it would be that difficult to have people like Crowder, Zo, Miller, Gutfeld, etc., on, and people like Treacher, Iowahawk, etc. writing for them. If they even need it.
What I suggest would be a network called maybe "That Alternative Channel" or "The Other Side" that has all kinds of shows like a network channel. We can recruit conservatives like Greg Gutfeld and Andy Levy that are on Fox now, known comedians like Dennis Miller, maybe give a shot to other conservative on this site like Alonzo and Crowder as well. However the channel would have other shows as well, soap operas, variety shows, sit coms, etc. that may not need a political theme but would specialize in giving conservative actors a fair shot. People like Gary Graham come to mind. Gary Sinise does well where he is but there are other actors and maybe some unknowns with real talent that have been outed as conservatives or even worse religious.
Maybe Breitbart will be successful enough with BH to start this himself.
I finished reading http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/mar/30/r...
and wanted to try and argue from the other side. If you have ever read any of my posts……then you already know that "Freedom is cool. Liberty is hip, and the desire for independence is rebellion". These things don't change the wrapping paper though. With the advent of MTV and myspace…..we started losing this battle. Mass marketing and the left knew how to beat us this way. Our traditional institutions have been the Military, Law Enforcement, Justice System etc. Theirs are Schools, Library's, Hospitals and Theaters. How can we change the hearts and minds without demonizing the very institutions that turned a few generations?
I'd personally like to see a drama about a Venezuelan family half of whom left when Chavez took power and half in Venezuela. There are a lot of Hispanic actresses and actors that have been referenced on this site that have condemned Chavez as a dictator. Such a show would get a lot of free press as the Sean Penn's and other Castoistas in Hollywood condemn it. It would also give us the opportunity to showcase some of the more evil actions of Chavez from his speeches on the radio threatening to suspend elections for 40 years to goons shooting student protestors angry about voter fraud. Putting it in the form of a continuing soap opera style drama could personalize what is going on there. These are some of the TV shows we could emphasize.
I'm wondering… is it even PLAUSIBLE in your worldview that the people who disagree with you simply DISAGREE with you and that's that? That they aren't all taking orders and talking points as part of some massive, decades-long conspiracy?
Actually, there have been some "cool" Republicans. But they will not get TV coverage. You really don't want to sell yourself as a "cool" Republican, anyway, because that's just manipulating and grandstanding. The liberals are the gatekeepers, but the Internet has the ability to destroy that. Republicans cannot and should not try to out "hip" the Left. In L.A. and Portland, it's "cool" to believe in aliens, for example. What you want is some panache, sophistication, and talent, but without the show-off tendencies (like former Republican Member Joe Scarborough). That used to be Fred Thompson, but he just aged too much. What did going on talk shows do for McCain? Remember how he cozied up to the media? No, it's got to be through the back door and occur naturally. In time, it will.
I just started watching Red Eye and it's a fast pace funny show. Unlike Jon Stewart, Greg Gutfield does not disrespect liberal guests on his show. I don't watch Jon Stewart but I've seen clips of him interviewing those he disagrees with. He will blindside them with an out of context statement and the guest seems stunned and not sure how to respond to something so ridiculous – at that point the audience or the laugh track go crazy in applause. I guess it's funny if you're an Ozombie but it seems dangerous to have college kids take the Stewart show as their main souce of news.
By the way, the demographic that won it for Obama wasn't the college student (they only turned out by another 1%). When they need a good paying job and have bills to pay, they'll figure it out. So then, who put Obama in? It was the women. They're apolitical. Their husbands exclude them from political conversations. They get depressed thinking about politics. That has to change. They get influenced by Oprah and Ellen, although they know better. They just don't have the facts. The moral here is, don't worry about the "cool" factor that much. Get your friends, neighbors, mothers and sisters on drudgereport and breitbart, and things will fall into place.
Off topic but Im watching the John Adams series from HBO….just got to the part where he says to the French Chancellor: "I must study politics and war that my sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy. My sons ought to study mathematics and philosophy, geography, natural history, naval architecture, navigation, commerce, and agriculture, in order to give their children a right to study painting, poetry, music, architecture, statuary, tapestry, and porcelain."
This quote was so profound to me and seems so relevent.
Cranky: Now you tell me. I would have qualified for the exemption fifteen years ago. Today, not so much. I have the radical past, but the present is going to get me into big trouble.
And even the liberals will have to leave me alone with my bread, beer and wheelbarrow monopoly.
I disagree. The Half Hour News Hour was bad. Horribly bad. It felt like the writers were liberals trying to make conservatives funny. It did not capture the conservative mind set and therefore failed miserably with it's target audience. It lasted longer than it should have.
"is it even PLAUSIBLE in your worldview that the people who disagree with you simply DISAGREE with you and that's that? That they aren't all taking orders and talking points as part of some massive, decades-long conspiracy?""
I don't much care if their actions are part of their taking orders, or a part of a conspiracy, or just their own dumb ignorance. The result of their actions is to screw up my country and rob me of my unalienable rights. Being wrong is no excuse to rob me of my freedom. Their motives and psychology are irrelevant.
I would ask why they feel they have any right to my life, my liberty and my pursuit of happiness?
Get these guys to cater:
http://www.heartattackgrill.com
Check out Zo on Pajamas.tv.. His humor is very contemporary and cuts down to the bone, but his material and delivery isn't as dry or cerebral as Dennis Miller or Ann Coulter.
It's too easy to say Zo is an excellent contrast to the Left's "not funnny".
I vote Zo gets a thirty minute show following Redeye.
That Adams quote fits the Greatest – Silent – Pampered reprabate bummers Generations to a "T". I hate to lump all of the Boomer Generation together. I have known a great many outstanding ones and there are some great ones here. It's just that the vocal face of that group so stained that Generation that I would be ashamed to be associated with it. I am an early (very early) Xer.
I have had a few dealings with freshly minted teachers less than two years out of the re-education camps. It's somewhat analogous to a Twilight Zone episode. The eyes blink bright and cheery….and no one is home. Next time, I'll bring a mini-gun. Aaaaah great, now I am gonna have a friggin nightmare about th…Oh wait, it may be fun!
Dudes, I think you guys are onto something here. A half hour show with 5 or 6 uproarious clips slamming Libs in general and Congress in particular. Have recurring characters pop in and out and jump to different clips wearing the same clothes a la Monty Python. A news format would fall flat. Or does all that sound too much like "An American Carol" which, had some funny as hell sight gags but seemed to Oh, I don't know……left me slightly embarassed somehow.
Dudes, I think you guys are onto something here. A half hour show with 5 or 6 uproarious clips slamming Libs in general and Congress in particular. Have recurring characters pop in and out and jump to different clips wearing the same clothes a la Monty Python. A news format would fall flat. Or does all that sound too much like "An American Carol" which, had some funny as hell sight gags but seemed to Oh, I don't know……left me slightly embarassed somehow.
No no no…….no telepromter. LittleBigMan is so friggin funny why can't he do it off the cuff…..like the "guests" he grills. Fair is fair.
That's a strawman, Bob. No one's positing a conspiracy.
It's the way Stewart (and Letterman, and Moore etc.) take statements out of context to twist their meaning that really gets me. That's just plain unethical.
Mr. Breitbart, you said, "My children go to a public school in Westwood. And since Barack Obama is president, they call it Potato Day."
I don't blame Mr. Stewart for not quite understanding if you MEANT to say, "And since Barack Obama was elected president…" That is what you're implying you said in this blog post.
That aside, The Daily Show is a political comedy show, not a source for objective news, which is why he's not under the lens of fairness as is, say, Fox News.
Let the flames begin!
"If the targets were switched and Democrats had the same five-day-a-week bull’s-eye placed on their heads, no one doubts that financier George Soros and Media Matters would wage a well-funded rampage to destroy Mr. Stewart and his scribes. Nancy Pelosi would be demanding a comedy Fairness Doctrine. And “The Daily Show” and its partner in crime “The Colbert Report” would be taken off the air within 30 days of electoral primaries and within 60 days of general elections to comply with McCain-Feingold."
Amen to that.
Absolutely. I adore South Park because they happily bash everyone that takes themselves too seriously (or are just pieces of crap). That's what Stewart is supposed to be, but he's turned into a Democratic sycophant like Letterman and Maher, and coincidentally none of them are funny anymore.
No flames, but if you watch Stewart's show you'll see that he indeed does take himself very seriously. His painful behavior on Crossfire shows what an intellectual he fancies himself to be. Carlson commented that after the show with Stewart ended, Stewart continued to vent, even hassling the staff when everyone was leaving. He (like some Conservative pundits I don't care for) tries to play the game where he's a serious commentator when he wants to be taken seriously, then a comedian when he doesn't want to defend his ignorant statements.
Way to smack him back, Andrew. I don't know if he'll ignore you or try to call you out and use his show to mis-characterize you further, but either way you smoked him in this round. On the bright side, if he does talk about you, it does nothing but elevate you, your column, and this site. Personally, I don't think he'll mention it because he doesn't really have the courage of his convictions.
There is no bigger fan of Dennis Miller than me, but can anyone explain why his CNBC show did so miserably?
To quote Matt Stone:
“I hate conservatives, but I really f*(&$#! hate liberals.”
The show is pretty Libertarian and definitely right of center. Unlike guys like Jon Stewart, however, South Park has no problem making fun of douche bags on the Right.
what's interesting is that all the comments that are posted are pro gay andrew, you poor little man, are you afraid of reality and the truth from the other side you puss… heres the funniest line from your lame article " If the targets were switched and Democrats had the same five-day-a-week bull’s-eye placed on their heads, no one doubts " . hannity , drudge, fat oxy man are all on 5 days a week… get a grip you loser alarmist… your sides reign in this country is OVER … john stewart is your moms pimp… pable of
It's actually 4 days a week, not 5…and your outrage at "potato day" is still funny. As is his rejoinder about the fact that "potato day" actually sounds like a slur.
Did it really take you all this time to write that? Or did you just give up because you couldn't come up with anything better than "this talk show host has a staff of well educated writers, uses a teleprompter, and makes wacky faces, all of which I find distasteful."
I mean, you came off well enough on Real Time, you can surely do better here.
Careful, that kind of talk can land you in prison
"Conservatives, who are cosmically slow on the pop-culture uptake, are just now beginning to understand the disastrous impact of Mr. Stewart’s decade-long barrage of unanswered snipes, especially among the college-aged crowd."
This is what happens when one maintains a low profile in Kingdom Hollywood, there is more concern about keeping the key to the Kingdom rather than being front and center; all these years so many were more concern about protecting their own wallets and their own mortgages that they muster only the courage to hide in fear.
No need to worry low-profilers who just went along with whatever Kingdom Hollywood said or did; we are in the same boat as you are, our wallets and our mortgages are out risk too.
Kingdom Hollywood is partly responsible for putting the Statist tyrnats into power so low-profilers need to stop being so damn cowardly to say anything!
Fat chance of that having any impact, all Miller would say is what great family men his comedic friends who mock and ridicule all things Republican.
And the sad part of this all is Miller has yet to figure out that he is still the butt of his dear friend's jokes.
When one has acquired a key to the really cool Hollywood Kingdom one will sell everything of themselves, including their integrity, in order to keep that key.
Fat chance of that having any impact, all Miller would say is what great family men his comedic friends who mock and ridicule all things Republican.
And the sad part of this all is Miller has yet to figure out that he is still the butt of his dear friend's jokes.
When one has acquired a key to the really cool Hollywood Kingdom one will sell everything of themselves, including their integrity, in order to keep that key.
Wait a minute. Leftists are, "cool"? When, exactly, did willful ignorance and amorality become cool? I definitely missed that memo.
"Oops! Did I say bump off? I meant to say tell off."
How did the debate between Kristol and Damon go? Exactly. It didn´t happen. Likewise Stewart will never agree to a real debate that is not stage managed and edited to his liking.
One reason why Zo rocks is that he actually understands conservative principles and can explain them while being funny. That is very rare. Unlike too many conservative hosts who preach to the converted, he could actually make some converts.
Have to agree with James. I never felt the writers had any idea why liberals are ridiculous. There is funnier stuff on the web every day. I have seen funnier, gutsier stuff on this very site.
Uh, you do realize that Wilson, FDR, Kennedy and LBJ were CONSERVATIVES, yes?
once upon a time in a land not too different from our own you could have Liberal Republicans and Conservative Democrats.
People like Rush and Bill fixed that for us, it was too confusing anyway. Americas having their own opinions about things? Bad bad idea.
Well, since we are living in a world upside down where Bad is Good therefore Cool is the new Creepy and America just elected the Coolest government in its history.
I don't want to be part of the Cool crowd because they are Creepy people.
Jon Stewart, he's Cool!
Ron Howard, he's Cool!
Tom Hanks, he's Cool!
Welcome to the Kingdom called Hollywood created by the really Cool people who are so very Good at the art of BS.
The only way to defeat the Cool Kingdom is for America to bankrupt entirely the miserable producers to the world's most famous Cool crap; we must do it now because those inside are too cowardly to confront their Cool Overlords.
Yes, it's the "FEEL first and think later if ever at all" crowd.
Screwtape to Wormwood — "Make sure your patient has a very healthy sense of humor so that he takes nothing seriously"
What are you smoking? Wilson and FDR were progressives. BO models himself off of FDR and FDRs New Deal policies. Does that mean you consider BO to be conservative too?
Spot on, Mr. Breitbart
I agree. I've been thinking about this recently, mostly because I am a fan of Mark Levin and some conservatives and Republicans recoil from his name-calling and mockery of various Dems. At first I was a bit put-off by it too . It seemed needlessly juvenile coming from such a smart guy like Levin.
However, I have come around to see why he does it. He has said that these people DESERVE mockery and contempt – and that is the key. This is how the left operates, but they use mockery as their primary weapon and it is very similar to post-adolescent peer-pressure, there is little or no substance there and it very much relies on the function of agreement. That is a meme like "Bush is stupid". If you believe that, the joke is funny (sort of, I guess).
This is much like the "dumb blonde" jokes or other jokes that function on the "suspension of disbelief" that blonds are all stupid or that this particular blond is typical. There is some grain of truth behind this meme (else it wouldn't work) When people say "blonde" they imagine the idealized beautiful blonde model type. These women get treated with so much positive attention with such little expectations they can become quite oblivious to a whole host of things.
I remember having to share a dressing room with quite a few other performers and there was one guy who was a big queen who mocked people mercilessly – really a nasty creature with a lot of problems. Well, everyone laughed at his jokes (nervous laughter usually) and everyone was especially nice to him because they didn't want to get on his bad side. Once the person has established dominance over the group it becomes a self-fulfilling cycle. Get caught not laughing and you become the "stupid" the "uncool" and the next target.
This is why Stewart hasn't made fun of Obama. He fears (or knows) that he is riding a partisan wave that has more power than he has. He isn't talented enough to carry the drones across the partisan divide.
By not going after the plentiful targets on the left, he is admitting that it isn't the comedy, it is the partisan agreement, that is the central impetus for his show. Stewart isn't a comedian in the true sense; he has made himself a rallying point for like-minded people and that is about it.
To Levin's credit, the mockery, the funny names, is only in passing, it isn't designed to elicit laughs or faux comedy; Mark has tons of substance in his show perhaps more than any other talk radio host and much much more substance and thoughtfullness than the Daily Show. But the funny names do serve to convey the outright contempt these people deserve for what they are doing to our country. Mark isn't making fun of people with face-lifts, he is highlighting Nancy "Stretch" Pelosi as a vain, emptyheaded drone.
I have come to see that those on our side who believe we all should be above that sort of thing are misguided. The subtext of the leftist zeitgeist is saying "your ideas and leaders are so wrong they deserve outright public mockery' and this emboldens them. And our side allows itself to be mocked and doesn't retaliate in kind, or (with some exceptions) take the same attitude, we are tacitly admitting (to them in their way of thinking) that they are right and justified..
This is all good news Big Hollywood! Keep jabbing Andrew, you’re beginning to enter the “popular” lexicon, this will drive liberals to near hysteria for your destruction, it’ll be fun. As far as comedy Rush pulls it off splendidly on both radio and at one time TV. Also we must overcome our incessant PC training which comes in handy for liberals, they do not abide anyone, yet we’re in knots worrying about offending these worthless leftist nit-wits. Attack, attack, attack, I mean that in a loving way, not!
More like the "drones" in Plato's Republic.
Stewart is a "drone with a sting", to Obama's "Special Champion".
How do democracies become tyrannies?
Just re-read Plato.
It's all happening!
When you're being ridiculed by Jon Stewart, you know you're doing something right. It also means poor Jon is getting desperate.
http://the100mostannoyingthings.blogspot.com/
CBK, I have to disagree with you and Connie on this one… there's proof that hard-hitting mockery works in certain areas…
Examples:
South Park – Yes, they pick on everyone.. but they still pick on the left as much as the right.. and they do it "harshly"
Mark Levin – as seen, Stewart wont' even try to get into a one-on-one with him under matching rules..
Ann Coulter – and she makes Jon's comments look like a featherweight in comparison… but she has a great sense of humour as shown in many times.
Mad TV – Yes, I'm actually including these guys, because they had a lot funnier bits than SNL… and were actually BETTER than SNL.. because like SP.. They picked on everyone.
Red Eye – although I almost never get to watch it… I'm in BED by that time… Hey, I'm getting old!
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