EPISODE NUMBER: 6068 (May 13, 2010)
GUESTS: Hold Steady
SEGMENTS: Glenn to the Mountaintop
VIDEOS: Thursday, May 13, 2010
Seeing as how I’d rather cut my cuticles to the quick and dip my hands in alcohol than watch anything Fox News related, I really am grateful when Stephen trots out the idocy on the ‘Colbert Report’. And we got a double dose on this show. The seed – fertilizer analogy with Elena Kagen was a fascinating look at the circular news cycle of Rupert Murdoch properties. Also? Stephen eating that peanut butter sandwich was naughty. Glenn Beck’s “plan” also terrifies me a little bit. I work with multiple people who really think that he’s got “a lot of good things to say.” But since I don’t actually ever watch the Fox Network unless Jon or Stephen plays a clip of it, I miss out on what the ideology is that makes them say the things that they say about the country and Obama and healthcare and other issues. Seriously, they are so foreign to what I know to be the facts of the matter, and yet here they are saying, “Well, I saw on the news that blah blah.” I want to be informed of what Fox News spew to people who I consider to be peers, but on the other hand, I also enjoy the contents of my stomach not coming up a little in my mouth. So I’m grateful for Stephen bringing these things to my attention. Also, I’m grateful that Stephen did the little “Lion King” song and dance there at the end of the show – he’s so adorkable when he sings.
I’m guessing by the Hold Steady intro and the Time Traveling brandy thief ending that Peter Grosz is moving on from the show. We wish him a fond farewell, and best of luck in his upcoming journeys. Also, I can’t eat an extra long cheese Coney without thinking of Peter. He will be missed.
As we savor the last new show for two weeks, what did you think of this episode?
- No one wants to be the first to let the, let’s say, Subaru out of the bag.
- This doesn’t mean anything. I mean, in college, a lot of girls experiment with softball.
- Or the moon landing – “Has Anybody Seen Neil Armstrong Lately?”
- Considering how much they report on their own stories, Fox News may be gay for itself.
- Oh my God. What have we been feeding our kids? And I can only imagine what kind of sick stuff is going on in a jar of Goober Grape. This is like some sort of hermaphro-spread. And what does it say about me that I eat my peanut butter and jelly sandwich like this?
- You spray it directly into your eyes – Oh I love my country! And my eyeballs smell great.
- As a Glenn Beck fan, or Beckerhead, as we’re called, I cannot hold off any longer because the work Beck is doing right now is too important. And that’s not me talking. That’s still Glenn Beck.
- Glenn Beck loves our country so much he wants to tear it down and rebuild it. Maybe with more bathrooms and a skylight.
- I’m assuming because both Glenn Beck and a rodeo clown are so comfortable working with bulls**t.
- Stop, I’ve got some God in my eye.
- You know what? Let’s just call him Glod. The question is where and when do we kneel before Glod?
- Holy s**t, can a self described rodeo clown go from entertainer to Martin Luther King by August 28th? Let’s find out – boys bring it out! I borrowed this from The Price Is Right.
- Are you sure you’re not graphics designers?
- [Keith Richards] has a guardian angel. I think it’s Johnny Depp.
yah peter grosz wrote on his FB that thurs was his last day. this episode was very informative but very funny and silly as well.
i have to say though that i did not like the band.
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I had to vote for The Hold Steady, even if they ripped off their material from Mother Theresa.
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Okay, first off, DB’s absolutely right – Stephen licking that PB&J was just naughty. And hilarious. :P
Secondly, I can’t even fully explain how brilliant I thought the Glenn to the Mountaintop segment was. It was a thing of beauty. I love how easy it’s become for Stephen to call Glenn Beck out on his BS. I try to watch a tiny bit of Fox News every once in a while just so that I see both sides of the coin and see their reasoning behind some issues, but I’ve come to the conclusion that they have no reasoning. It’s become a network full of illogical opinions. Therefore, nothing they say can make sense to me. And I appreciate that TCR and TDS illustrate that point so perfectly.
I definitely enjoyed The Hold Steady’s performance – I can add their new album to the list of CDs that I want to buy. And I’ll miss Peter Grosz. Best of luck to him!! :]
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Glenn Beck reminds me a lot of professional athletes who are just a bit too wired into their own success. That is to say, as many sports journalists can attest, 90% of the time you speak with the person in question, he’s a great, affable, and engaging individual. But sometimes, the other 10% comes through… and you have to ask yourself, “Wait… what?”
Great ideas? Sure. But socio-political sparring over Mr. Beck is about his methodology, not necessarily his idealism.
For example, Beck’s speech at the CPAC several weeks ago was by-and-large very good. That was the 90%. But a couple of moments in there, like any good public speaker, he tweaks a few factual scenarios to his advantage and rather illogically redefines certain cultural terms and contexts to benefit his argument (the other 10%).
In any case, both Stewart and Colbert were on fire last night. I know it can’t be easy writing sharp and relevant content day after day like that, but when they get it right, they sure do get it right.
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What Glenn Beck reminds me of is P.T. Barnum, Elmer Gantry, Jim Bakker and Jimmy Swaggert.
He certainly has shown signs before but now with this “Plan” he’s gone full bore televangalist.
It’s always the same con to fleece the faithful out of their money.
Of course it’s always followed by the inenvitable fall from grace through hubris because those with the ego to go through with those cons eventually go too far thinking that any rules don’t apply to them and they get caught in a scandal.
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When Stephen hinted about a Glen Beck segment during the interview the other night I knew the segment would be fantastic. It obviously involved some advanced planning but that allowed the writers to get it just right! Makes me wonder how they plan for segments, what they can put together in the same day, etc. I find the prep very interesting and would love to shadow the writers for a week. Alas I am too old to be an intern…
Good luck to the time traveling brandy thief! You will be missed. And I will miss TCR the next two weeks?!? What will I do?!?
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“I find the prep very interesting and would love to shadow the writers for a week”
Oh, me too! And I am continually envious of whoever gets to make the props on the show. I love that someone got to attach Glenn’s head on that mountain climber’s body. It was the same with the Pringles segment they did earlier this year – for some reason I just love that someone got to roam the streets of NYC looking for all those different flavors of Pringles, lol.
I never know what to do with myself when TDS and TCR go on break. But I just checked The Late Night TV Page and apparently Vampire Weekend is going to be on TCR when they come back! So at least I have that to look forward to. :P
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Really?!?! So excited for Vampire Weekend. TCR has really been rockin’ the new studio since the upgrade to HD!
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When I first read your post, I thought “Gee why are they doing a week on vampires?” Then I looked at the Late Night TV page & realized I’m an out of touch idiot!
Glod, how embarrassing. :P
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Hahaha! That’s okay. :)
I highly recommend the band though – their songs kind of sound like preppy punk from the Hamptons, but they sing the songs in a mocking way of that lifestyle. Which should make the interview between the band and Stephen pretty fantastic.
Nice to see “Glod” is catching on, haha! :P
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But, if anyone could pull off a Vampire Week a la “Shark Week” on Discovery, it’s Stephen!
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Glenn To The Mountaintop? Genius. Period.
I’ve been railing for the past week about the Kagan sexuality rumors. Since she has a lack of “paper trail” the media/critics have to grasp at straws. Its utterly irrelevant, she’ll be confirmed. But will make a great political football for them to toss around all Summer.
Took a 2nd viewing to realize that Peter was leaving. Who could be a better boss than Stephen?
I love The Hold Steady. I like the track “The Weekenders” and I thought they would maybe do that but “Hurricane J” was great. You can follow them on Twitter @theholdsteady
In the toss Jon mentioned something about a book deadline & the break. So is Stephen writing the book now?
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I am also highly annoyed by all the speculation about Kagan’s sexuality. Who cares?! So I’ve found the mocking both TCR and TDS have done on the subject very entertaining. And the PB & J sandwich was just hilariously naughty!
I am also guilty of never watching Glenn Beck or Fox News so all I know about them is the edited stuff I see on TCR and TDS which is just hilarious.
Best of luck to Peter Grosz!
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I think Jon was referring to the new Daily Show book due to be released in September.
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The whole opening segment was massive! I think I liked the Murdoch-Kagan part best. Murdoch & his media are just so pernicious. There are so many things to question about Kagan’s nomination that are just going to be ignored because of this stupid “gay” rumor. So frustrating.
One last thing: Am I the only person who thought the quiet guy in the interview looked like Stephen Merchant?
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yeah, I can see the resemblance now that you mention it. The quiet guy’s name is Tad, which is probably the least rock and roll name ever.
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He totally did! That was the first thing I thought when I saw him. Loves me some Smerch.
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I’m in a sleep-deprived fog today, so forgive anything SUPER stupid I write…
Honestly, I usually get a teeny tiny bit bored with the Glenn Beck stuff, but this one was… scary! Glenn, honey, I just love your sanity… and I fear for it. I’m waiting for him to start ascribing divine and Revelation-esque characteristics to himself.
Ok, why does my landlord have to weed-whack multiple times each week?! Sorry, I’m a little distracted.
I voted for the Kagan segment. The sausage-maker news spiral always makes me so mad, and I thought he highlighted it really well. The peanut butter and jelly thing was so wrong… but reeeeally funny. Except for the nasty pb-from-roof-of-mouth-removal. But that’s okay, that’s okay, the birthday boy can do what he wants.
Two weeks! “I can’t breathe… without [the Report]… running over my gills!” Sigh.
By the way, I don’t get the Johnny Depp reference. Any help?
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I think it was because Johnny Depp said he based Jack Sparrow on Keith.
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It’s because Depp has said he was impersonating Richards for his Capt. Jack Sparrow character in the Pirates of the Caribbean movies.
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Ah, thank you and thank you. That crossed my mind, but I was still confused about the guardian angel thing, so I assumed I was missing something else entirely.
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Didn’t Johnny also plan to have Keith appear in one of the “Pirates” films? I don’t know because I haven’t seen them (shame, I know).
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Yes he did, Keith played Johnny’s father in the 3rd movie.
You REALLY should see them since the 3rd had such a wonderfully complex story with so many great plot twists that it kept people on the edge of their seats the whole time.
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I have a friend who is onto The Colbert Report.
We had a discussion about this episode today.
yes
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