Wednesday, March 18, 2009
This Guy Knows Funny and Stewart's No Longer Funny
Posted by David Winkler-Schmit on Wed, Mar 18, 2009 at 5:29 PM
Tucker Carlson — remember him?— thinks Jon Stewart has lost his comedic touch, and, in his words,
No one this earnest can remain an effective satirist, and at times Stewart seems like less a comedian than a courtier to the establishment.
In a column in the Daily Beast, Carlson tries to take Stewart to task for playing it straight in his no-holds-barred interview with CNBC’s Jim Cramer. Carlson appears to still be reeling from the harsh criticism Stewart leveled at him in 2004, accusing Stewart of being a “prig” and then summing up his argument with this:
Like most sermons, Stewart’s showdown with Jim Cramer ended with a neat moral lesson. Once journalists who cover business regain their sense of responsibility and “start getting back to fundamentals on the reporting,” Stewart said gravely, “I can get back to making fart noises and funny faces.
But it’s too late. The great comedian is gone, maybe forever. Jon Stewart is stuck in lecture mode.”
Personally, I still find Stewart funny and effective as a media and punditry watchdog. He’s rightly satirized pandering disguised as journalism, but he’s also interviewed his share of reporters — NYTime’s Joe Nocero, John Bowe, Seymour Hersh, Christiane Amanpour — about their investigative work. Plus, he spotlights a number of books and authors that wouldn’t see the light of day if it weren’t for the Daily Show and The Colbert Report.
But what do you think? Is Stewart still funny? Does satire require full detachment at all times without any moments of passionate sincerity?
Comments (11)
Showing 1-11 of 11
I don't know how a person can get so many things wrong in one essay (oh, wait; I do; it's Tucker Freaking Carlson), but this beggars belief: "No one this earnest can remain an effective satirist..." Satire is deadly earnestness covered in a layer of biting humor. Without the earnestness, there IS no satire. Sounds like the man still hasn't gotten over getting his ass handed to him in a bucket on live TV.
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I agree wholeheartedly- Tucker Carlson probably watched only that interview (and only then because of how hard CNBC milked the "showdown"). Stewart is about twice as funny as Carlson is irrelevant.
Tucker Carlson thinks very little of New Orleans as well, which oughta tell you something right there. Hell, I still wish Stewart would lay some satire on the shenanigans down here. And, as the Yaller Blogger Jeffrey said, Stewart is one of these folks who is interested in the news much more than he's interested in his own celebrity...and that makes for a consistently good, funny program. If Stewart ain't funny to Carlson, I'd hate to think of what IS funny to Carlson.
The folks at NBC and CNBC would have a better argument against Jon Stewart if he wouldn't have been able to play clip after clip of financial experts from the network taking the side of the CEO's before their companies failed. Nothing kills your argument like your own words.
Liprap, I forgot about Carlson's comment about New Orleans women: "Have you ever been to a restaurant in New Orleans? One out of three women is for sale. I mean, come on." He said this while defending Sen. David Vitter.
Hee! Here's what Dangerblond wrote about that li'l episode: http://dangerblond.org/blog/?p=801 I think Carlson himself might need to get some, but it sure ain't gonna be from anybody around here.
Oh, Carlson is just jealous that Stewart is better able to capture the national political attention and command such fierce political dialogue on Tee-Vee. Call the Whaa-ambulance. Also, Tucker Carlson dresses like a reject from the Preppy Handbook circa 1981, and has about just as much sex appeal as a stuffed golden retriever mannequin from a Brooks Brothers dept. store window. Carlson disses on New Orleans for the simple reason that the city has soul and lots of sexy women that like real men. That's a scary thing for a skinny white boy who probably dances like he has a stick up his butt.
Lizzy, I am not sure if you are being coy, but you can see what Tucker Carlson dancing looks like - google Tucker Carlson Dancing with the Stars. Or check out this YouTube link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kvG-SHhJDQo
OMG Will, I called it and I had no idea Carlson was on DWS. Yeah, as I thought, Tucker Carlson has no rhythm and really does dance like he has a stick up his flat white boy republican butt. No wonder New Orleans freaks him out. And you know what they say about how someone dances...it's a pretty good indicator of how they...
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