September 25, 2008

When Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart met Entertainment Weekly.



They made a great cover! If you're looking for the old posts about the great, hotly controversial New Yorker cover by Barry Blitt, they're here and here.



The EW interview:
STEWART: I keep hearing that [Sarah Palin is] ''like us.'' There's this idea that people who hunt and have ''good'' values are somehow this mythological American; I don't know who ''this'' person is, I've never met them. She is no more typical ''us'' than I am, than Obama is, than McCain is, than Mr. T is. If there is something quintessentially or authentically American about her, I sort of feel like, you know what? You ''good values people'' have had the country for eight years, and done an unbelievably s---ty job. Let's find some bad values people and give them a shot, maybe they'll have a better take on it.....

There are a lot of issues in this election. The biggest one right now is the economy.

STEWART: We were in this huge credit crisis, out of money. Then the Fed goes, We'll give you a trillion dollars, and all of a sudden Wall Street is like, ''I can't believe we got away with it!'' Can you imagine if someone said, ''I shouldn't have bought that sports car because it means I can't have my house,'' and the bank just said, ''All right, you can have your house. And you know what? Keep the car.'' [He throws up his arms joyfully and shouts] ''Yeaaaaah, I get to keep the car! Wait, do I have to give the money back?'' ''No, it doesn't matter.'' ''Yeah, I'm gonna get another car! I'm gonna do the same thing the same way, except twice as f---ed up!''

COLBERT: The idea that Lehman Brothers doesn't get any money and AIG does reminds me very much of ''Iran is a mortal enemy because they have not achieved a nuclear weapon. But North Korea is a country we can work with, because they have a nuclear weapon.'' The idea is, Get big or go home. How big can you f--- up? Can you f--- up so bad that you would ruin the world economy? If it's just 15,000 who are out of jobs, no. You have to actually be a global f---up to get any help....
More at the link.

30 comments:

ricpic said...

Deny it all day long, Stewart, Obama is not us.

Rich B said...

That's a funny cover. A lot better than the typical show they put on.

Oh, I'm sorry, I must be 20 years behind the times. More like 40, I'd say.

Rich B said...

On second thought, Colbert has it right and Stewart messes it up by mugging for the camera. The cartoon had BO looking at Michelle and that's part of its charm. It's unselfconscious, even though it's Halloween.

Ann Althouse said...

Click for an enlargement and you'll see that Obama's eye is looking way off to the side.

Spread Eagle said...

I never ceased to be surprised at what a runt Jon Stewart is. Does he break 5 feet?

Henry said...

I think Stewart has to turn his head to make his ear stick out.

And the drawing of Obama in the original is kind of sketchy around the eyes anyway. While Michele is clearly a caricature, the original Obama just kind of looks like ... Obama. Maybe that's why everyone got so upset.

Henry said...

Obama in costume, of course.

Too many jims said...

They did a good job of recreating the New Yorker cover. It was interesting the one significant way the Entertainment Weekly cover deviated from the New Yorker cover. I wonder who made that call.

TJ said...

"Can anyone break through this mess?
STEWART: I worry that those people are there, but we won't recognize them — or we'll destroy them so thoroughly that their voice won't be heard. I just imagine Lincoln out there, and people throwing the gay stuff at him. ''And what about depression running in his family?''

I think both left and right can agree that the media industrial complex is at the heart of the political crisis in this country.

Triangle Man said...

I never ceased to be surprised at what a runt Jon Stewart is. Does he break 5 feet?

Right on! Stewart is not tall, so he must be wrong. Same thing goes for Olbermann. They both have good hair though. With that hair, if they had cracked 6 feet they could have been CEO's.

Spread Eagle said...

Right on! Stewart is not tall, so he must be wrong.

I never got into whether or not he is wrong. I was pointing out his comedic strong suit, being a runt.

ricpic said...

5'6"

George M. Spencer said...

Leno and Letterman each make about $30 million a year.

Stewart, as of 2007, was not on the Forbes list of 100 best compensated entertainers. His income was about $1.5 million

If I were interviewing any of these fabulously rich professional fools, I would ask them what their annual salaries are and what their investment strategies are. I'd ask things like...when was the last time you visited Detroit? How many servants do you have?

I'd like to interview their portfolio managers so I could find out if they have invested in hedge funds or funds that play the options or futures markets. Just as politicians are required to reveal information about their financial worth and investments, wouldn't it be fun to see where these guys have their money?

(As for the cover, it is too clever and will appeal only to the cultural elite, which is not its audience. EW is doomed. Has no reason to exist. Far more mass market than The New Yorker. Won't sell at grocery stores. Between 2002 and 2006, its newsstand sales fell 67 percent. Political covers are dogs: See Stolley's Law #7. You can buy a 4-year subscription on Ebay for $31. Act Now!

Unknown said...

There's this idea that people who hunt and have ''good'' values are somehow this mythological American; I don't know who ''this'' person is, I've never met them.

Note to John, that's not what people mean, it's you who believe they believe that. Being a self-absorbed actor in a cloistered envorin, my guess is there's scads of "those" people you've never met.

Peter V. Bella said...

Leno and Letterman each make about $30 million a year.

Stewart, as of 2007, was not on the Forbes list of 100 best compensated entertainers. His income was about $1.5 million


There should be government imposed salary caps on entertainers; better, we could also force them to wear dunce caps in public.

Unknown said...

If teenagers ruled the world, they would sound like Colbert and Stewart in this interview.

George M. Spencer said...

Peter--

Our elected officials have gotten in bed with nit-wit celebrities the way they've gotten in bed with financial crooks.

I'd like to hear Sen. Obama say, "I've been on Dave show. It's a lot of fun, and he's a funny guy. But, frankly, he should shut up. I don't necessarily agree with Sen. McCain's decision about the debate and so forth, but I do agree he's got better things to do than to crack jokes on a professional fool's TV show."

Wouldn't that be the stunner of the year?

Obama has to know that Letterman will turn on him in a heartbeat, if it means a tiny boost in his ratings. Since people know that celebs love Dems. more than Republicans (and will for the foreseeable future), wouldn't it be a smart move to preemptively attack Letterman (ala Sistah Souljah) to pull undecided voters to the Dem. side?

Ron said...

Stewart and Colbert ruin even humor for me. I can't watch them anymore regardless of if they're funny or not.

Sofa King said...

They did a good job of recreating the New Yorker cover. It was interesting the one significant way the Entertainment Weekly cover deviated from the New Yorker cover. I wonder who made that call.

I noticed that too. Not quite sure what to make of it.

The problem I have with both Stewart and Colbert is that they have tried so hard to mine humor out of cynicism that they seem to have foreclosed any possibility whatsoever that anyone anywhere can do anything honest. And that's not funny.

MadisonMan said...

Fire hazard?

Who knows how many takes they had to do. Maybe they don't have an endless supply of flags to burn.

Simon Hawkin said...

I wish they had stuck to the entertainment. All this cheap talk borders on being dishonest. Jon Stewart is, imho, smart enough to realize that.

chickelit said...

sofa king said: noticed that too. Not quite sure what to make of it.

The flag burning is the biggest kernel of truth parodied by the New Yorker.

BTW, I love that original cover. I have it hanging in my garage. One day I’ll probably frame it.

Revenant said...

One thing's for sure -- they should stick to telling jokes. When they attempt actual political commentary, the result is something that would be embarrassing coming from a twelve year old.

Skeptical said...

What, EW couldn't bring themselves to burn a flag? Not even for the sake of the art? Not even for the sake of the joke? Pussies.

Chip Ahoy said...

The illogic astounds me. Is that what's supposed to be funny?

Apparently the cause of the financial crisis, the laws that required banks to extend unsound loans and ridiculously rewarded the number of unsound loans extended, and then complicated and obfuscated by derivatives backed by those unsound loans is so entirely not funny that it can't be touched with a ten-foot pole with poo on it by these so-called comedians.

I sort of feel like, you know what? You ''good values people'' have had the country for eight years, and done an unbelievably s---ty job. Let's find some bad values people and give them a shot, maybe they'll have a better take on it.....

That part. It's why I can't watch these idiots. What is meant by "you've had this country ..." How is it they can completely ignore the role of Congress in the course of events? Why do the people who listen to these guys let them get away with this crap? It's cognitively lazy.

I sort of feel like, you know what?

You ought to feel like a worn our used douche, used in the messier hole, because that's what you are.

I keep looking for leadership in Pelosi and in Reid and so seldom finding it. Then I have these dumb asses foist their fallacious reasoning in the form of comedy, and realize they have a broad following and exert far more influence than they deserve. Is it supposed to be funny for what is left out? Sorry. I don't get it.

knox said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
knox said...

I wish they had stuck to the entertainment. All this cheap talk borders on being dishonest. Jon Stewart is, imho, smart enough to realize that.

No, he's not. Remember when he ambushed "Crossfire?" Jon Stewart went on the show and was a total dick to them. When they recovered and started to give it right back to him, he very quickly changed his tune to: "hey, I'm just a humble comedian! No one's supposed to take me seriously!"

His fawning audience have given him--and Colbert--outsized egos. They believe they are Important.

Rich B said...

Ann-

When I look at the enlargement, I start thinking that Obamuh looks like a squinty-eyed camel.

Kazi said...

Stewart,

we get the fact you've never met folks who hunt, fish, drive motor vehicles for fun and have more than one point two kids with the same spouse.

We also get that that makes you an insufferable, puffed up liberal and therefore a prime example of an Obama supporter.

What I don't get is why anyone cares what you and your staff of ghost writers think.

Unknown said...

I think it's funny how some people commenting are not able to tell the difference between people who hunt and the people Stewart's referring to who idolize this "true American" myth. There are plenty of people who hunt and live rural lives that are just as sick with the political polarization as anyone else.
The reason stewart and Colbert have such a huge following is that they market that very well. Their humor always makes fun of people that are not able to understand viewpoints they themselves oppose and are often unwilling to reevaluate.