See if you can spot his m.o. using these examples from Sir Richard’s past:
- Comment on BoingBoing.net from reader Ben Slater: “weirdly enough this isn’t the first time Branson has poured water over a talk-show host, about ten years ago he did the same thing to Clive Anderson on Channel 4 in the UK, when Anderson was mocking him on the bad rep of Virgin Airlines… Anderson’s quick response was something like – “So this is what the service is like on your planes”… can’t find that on youtube sadly.”
- This we did find on youtube.
No harm, No foul.
Hey gang,
I guess my query about the (for now) ‘lost’ Branson segment was among the unretrievable comments. So just in case anybody knows the answer–what was it that set Branson off? Did Branson just think he wasn’t being allowed to say enough (because Stephen, in character, wanted to take things in a different direction), or did (real) Stephen have some weird legal reason not to allow some kind of reference to the air service to be made?
On a slightly related note: I found it very amusing the way Stephen smiled at J. Apatow’s question whether Stephen’s display of temper at Katie C. be ‘cut out of the broadcast.’ Note too that Stephen was VERY careful to plug Apatow’s movie several times during the interview!!
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@nousbblet – Regarding the question of “what set Branson off?”
I’m not convinced this was “rage” or “anger” – and I certainly don’t agree with the blogs now posting this story ‘third hand’ making it sound like they were close to a slug fest when this happened or that Stephen threw water back in anger.
You could say that even if Branson was doing this in good humor it was masking some underlying ager… but then you could say that about almost anybody’s humor. Why not ask “what set Colbert off?” regarding 90% of the things he says or does on his show.
I have to wait to see a tape before I’ll read anymore into it.
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Well, that’s what I find so puzzling. Why would Branson get seriously upset at anything Stephen did? Given the evidence that is accumulating about his water fetish, I’m inclined to say he just does stuff like this to make headlines. (Waves? Sorry.)
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HAHAHAHAH ROVE. I don’t even watch his show and yet, that clip gives me lulz.
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Wow…Branson is a first-class ****head. I don’t think stuff like that is funny.
In any case, what’s this in reference to?
“On a slightly related note: I found it very amusing the way Stephen smiled at J. Apatow’s question whether Stephen’s display of temper at Katie C. be ‘cut out of the broadcast.’”
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@Murasaki –
I don’t know… I’ve seen things like this that were hysterical (even when I was the “victim”) and I’ve seen them when the perpetrator just looked like an ass… as I said before, I won’t judge Branson’s action at TCR until I can watch the circumstances.
As for the nousblet’s reference, Apatow was not talking about editing a ‘display of temper’ as nousblet wrote, but specifically about Stephen swearing because they were talking about movie morality. I think it’s a stretch to imply that this was a wink to the Branson episode – we don’t know if it’s been edited out because it hasn’t shown yet and we don’t know that ‘display of temper’ had anything to do with it.
As for trying to make waves for publicity – I doubt he has to worry about getting his name in the paper. Maybe he was just having fun? It’s a possibility.
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I guess something like that could be potentially funny. (Like it Stephen pushed Steve Carell into a pool or something.) I won’t know for sure how it played between Branson and Stephen until I see the clip myself. But I was referring to the clip linked in this entry. I thought Branson was totally out-of-line with what he did to Rove.
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I’m so confused now… Where did the idea that the clip won’t air come from? Was that just Boing Boing? Anyway, I saw Bogost clarified his post to say he was confident it would air at a later date, and Rocktimus Prime said something similar.
Branson always seemed like a cool guy to me, and what he did to Rove didn’t seem assholish to me. Just seemed fun… I’m sure Rove was saying in his head, “Yeah, this is good TV!” Hence the lack of any serious fighting back… So anyway, yeah, lets not blow this out of proportion…
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@MC – I’ve been shocked, yet somehow amused, to read how the story is being twisted with each retelling.
As for airing it – according to The Late night TV Page, Richard Branson is the scheduled guest August 22nd.
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Jennie, what do you mean the story’s getting twisted? What happen is well documented. Stephen was filming an episode of the Report when out of nowhere Brason came bursting onto the stage with a hose, yelling about how Stephen needs to plug Virgin Airlines, and drenching him in the process. Stephen stood up, ripped off his shirt, and told Allison Silverman to get ammo. Allison showed up with the studio fishtank, which Stephen dumped over Brason’s head. Brason ran crying from the stage like a little girl. The next day, while Stephen was on his way to work, a Gridlock Brand Robot deployed by Brason stopped Stephen’s car in the street. Stephen ripped his shirt off again, spent 4 1/2 hours fighting the robot, and then walked the rest of the way to work. At least that’s what I heard.
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What about what happened between stephen and john mellencamp-that video was never put up on thr cc website i still havent figured that out…
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Also, apparently Branson removed the “N” from his name.
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@Murasaki:
And the weird part is, you know someone’s read this comment and gotten some twisted idea for a fanfic.
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@Murasaki, DB
I’ll put something up on Wikiality about it later when I get a precious free second. Although, why is he always ripping off his shirt? LOL!
@hard done
Good question… I don’t want to sound too much like a conspiracy theorist, but they often don’t put up the more controversial type stuff. One noticeable example is Larry Wilmore’s Daily Show segment on Disney from June sometime. But, who knows?
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@Mura: He ripped his shirt off… you forgot to describe the rippling six-pack abs he revealed.
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