EPISODE NUMBER: 6150 (November 29, 2010)
GUESTS: Dan Savage
SEGMENTS: Black Friday Interpretation, Tip/Wag – Bridalplasty, Tom DeLay & AIDS, Better Business Hero
VIDEOS: Monday, November 29, 2010
The beautiful part about the character of “Stephen” is that sometimes when he starts a journey with his audience, it’s hard not to think “Oh God, is he going to go there?” and with the Black Friday segment, that was totally my thought. And the return of Ching Chong Ding Dong took the joke from a cringeworthy “Did that just happen?” to a laugh out loud ridiculous moment. That’s one of the elements of “Stephen” that makes me laugh harder than anything else – taking a totally bizarre joke and pushing it one step further than it needed to go.
When Stephen mentioned the passive-aggressive woodworking, I couldn’t help but think of Noblet’s Drill Press. I think the concept of BuyLife.org is fantastic, but truth be told I don’t follow any of the celebs that are involved (that I know of). I also very much enjoyed Stephen’s demonstration of the grandpa games of hoop and stick, jacks, and ball and cup. The character break with the no jacks was adorkable. And for some reason, I just loved the way Stephen says “hoop and stick” and “ball and cup”, with such emphasis on all three words. It just makes me smile. For the record, I also like the way Stephen says words that end with the “eaven” sound (seven, heaven, etc.) and the way he says “Really?“.
Dan Savage never fails to take Stephen to the most deliciously squirmy points that the character will go, and the discussion of pegging (warning: DO NOT Google the term at work) was hysterical. But Dan was there to talk about his It Gets Better project. Suicide is such a heartbreaking finale to any life, and it’s fantastic that Savage has helped get the word out about this project and involved so many important people to help him share his message that life really does get better.
What did you enjoy about tonight’s episode? Leave it in the comments! And make sure to vote in the poll, too!
- New intro word: Christmust
- Black Friday is all about shopping. I know that … now. I did not know that on Friday.
- So naturally, I thought Black Friday was when everyone puts on blackface and steals children from Wal-Mart. Again, again my apologies. Honest mistake.
- I’m just going to wait and celebrate a holiday that won’t offend anybody, Chinese New Year. [Ching-Chong Ding-Dong voice] Because I rove singing Alde Rang Syne! Ha ha!
- Because marriage isn’t really obsolete, it just needed its septum shattered and reformed.
- Only eight Lisa? Somebody’s not really committed to this marriage.
- And then she’ll hear the words every woman longs to hear: “I do … not recognize you.”
- Life in prison! There’s no way he’ll live that long!
- Folks, we all know the old saying – why pay for the milk when you redistrict the cow into the shape of an elephant.
- Not only is this cake delicious, it’s good for you. It’s full of iron. And a hammer. See you soon, buddy. Those jimmies are out of control.
- Folks, I don’t know about you, but for me AIDS just got real.
- Marble King is making so much cash he may be able to soon afford a granite toupee instead of that igneous combover.
- Mark my words, the next hot investment opportunity is toys your grandfather played with during the Depression. Take everything you’ve got and sink it into hoop and stick futures. See? Look how fun this is! Hoop and stick!
- Or Jacks … or jacks … I don’t have any f@#king jacks.
- I’ll tell you what, I’ll cross that right off my list.
- Does this program include tax cuts?
- Does this in any way include pegging?
Nothing to add- just that I am so glad the show is back. And that it came back with an explicative about jacks!
I always enjoy when Dan Savage is on the show. I would love to see Stephen interview him out of character. I like how the interview started with Stephen mentioning that all teens go through troubles and used that to allow Dan to stress the point that many teenagers are going through tough times without someone they can identify with or relate to (which makes adolescence more of a mess than it already is). I do hope he makes a video- I would love to see his take!
Difference makers:
+8
I loved when they comeback from a break. Their always so strong. Last night was no exception!
I truly feared they were going to show a pic of Stephen in blackface during his whole set-up of “Black Monday.” But no worries! Just Stephen’s Ching Chong Ding Dong impression. Nothing racist there! LOL! I can’t believe what TCR tries & gets away with. :D
I also loved “Stephen’s” courage in coming out against AIDS. He’s so brave! ;) And his call to raise $999,999 & keep those celebrites quiet was sublime!
And the games that grandpa played? So great! I like to think Stephen kept playing with that ball & cup during commercial until he got in. ;)
The Dan Savage interview? It lived up to the hype! Pegging!? Wow!
Sorry this was so long! But, it’s be a whole week without Stephen and I just couldn’t stop myself! :D
Shout Out (Hey!):
+4
this has felt like one of the longest breaks!! thank god they r back! btw was it just me or did it seem like stephen was talking with a slight southern accent?
i liked how towards the end of the interview “stephen” became stephen and let the real message get out.
Difference makers:
+6
I thought he sounded a little different, too!
Shout Out (Hey!):
+1
The Black Friday joke is a perfect example of the talent behind the show’s writing staff. About one-third or halfway through the joke, he kept interjecting some pauses for the audience to fill in the blanks themselves. There were a few parts of that dialogue he intentionally left blank, because he could trust the audience to begin assembling the remainder of the joke in their head. The studio audience’s growing laughter is the best evidence of this. And in the end, he sort of caps it off with his own twist, and so in addition to what he knows (that we know what he’s thinking), Hey, check out this stupidly-relevant historical fact.
Difference makers:
+11
Excellently put. They don’t treat their audience as if they were dumb, and I appreciate that. The Black Friday bit…yeah, Stephen has that tendency sometimes to do/say things that make me cover my mouth, muttering “Oh, my god, did he really…?”, all the while laughing anyway :D. I love how wicked and twisted the humor can get on the show sometimes, it’s just so weird and so funny hearing/seeing some of that stuff coming from somebody like Stephen.
Count me amongst those who love seeing Dan as his guest. Seems every time he meets up with Stephen there’s always a new sexual term to learn about :p. But I applaud him for his work with the ItGetsBetter campaign, it’s a fantastic idea, and I love that Stephen agreed to show support as well. I too hope he makes a video, I’d really like to see that. That’d be awesome.
Great show, good to have it back on again.
Shout Out (Hey!):
+1
Man, I’m also glad he’s back -and looking so good. That break seemed so loooong. There’s only so much a fan can take!
Rapt to hear Marble King got the Colbert Bump and Stephen trying to play ball and cup was a crack-up. Hoop and stick!
I really enjoyed Dan Savage’s interview and for such a good cause -yay! for Stephen agreeing to do a vid- however I gave my vote to the Tip/Wag segment as it just delivered on so many points. The writers and Stephen were as sharp as ever for this episode!
Shout Out (Hey!):
+3
LOVED the joke about Black Friday – I like how the audience laughter keeps building and building along with the joke right until the very end. I learned about Schwarze Peter in my German class in high school, so I knew where he was going with it, which just made me laugh all the more. There are truly things that only “Stephen” could get away with saying that will make you laugh. :)
When Stephen pulled out the ball in a cup, I cracked up! And when he couldn’t catch the ball (which I kind of knew he wouldn’t be able to), I laughed even harder. That toy always makes me think of Family Guy: “The ball is on a string and attached to the cup, so there’s no worry if you don’t catch the ball in the cup…why spend another day not catching a ball in a cup when you could be catching a ball in a cup!” :P Oh, and the jacks character break was freaking adorable!
The Dan Savage interview was wonderful. I liked that Stephen started out with a joke and eased his way into talking about a serious subject like the It Gets Better Project. It’s a wonderful movement, and I can’t wait to see Stephen’s video. What a great show to come back with after last week’s break!
Difference makers:
+7
It was a great show, especially the hoop&stick thing, and the insight into bullying. Especially because I used to be a clarinet player, but stuck out as the only Indian kid in school.
Also, what exactly was the Black Friday joke? That the character went after African-americans with kids, thinking they were kidnapping them?
Shout Out (Hey!):
+2
At the end of the joke, Stephen says, “So naturally, I thought Black Friday was when everyone puts on blackface and steals children from Wal-Mart.” The day is called Black Friday because stores are said to go “in the black” with all of the sales that they make (and has also come to describe how busy the day is with everyone running around in stores and fighting over the deals). But part of the history of Christmas, in Europe anyway, was that Sinterklaas went around with Schwarze Peter (which means “Black Peter”), who would snatch up all of the bad children in his bag. So Stephen took the “Black” in Black Friday to mean that you dress up in blackface to look like Schwarze Peter and kidnap all of the children going shopping on Black Friday.
Does that help at all? :)
Shout Out (Hey!):
+2
Yeah, I got that part. So he didn’t go after black parents with kids, he dressed in blackface and tried to kidnap them himself? lol
Shout Out (Hey!):
0
Yes, it’s the blackface part that make the concept of what “Stephen” supposedly did so offensive. It’s up there with going up to the Chancellor of Germany and giving the “new handshake” (Nazi salute).
Since you’re not from the US, you may find this helpful – here’s a good article about the concept and why it is so repugnant in American culture:
http://articles.cnn.com/2009-10-14/world/sawyer.blackface_1_blackface-black-skin-australians?_s=PM:WORLD
Shout Out (Hey!):
+1
I am right there with you on the way he said “Hoop And Stick!” and “Ball And Cup!” I don’t know, it’s just something about the way he says it.
I actually cheered when he said he would do a “It Gets Better” video. As soon as Dan Savage looked like he was going to suggest it I started chanting “Doitdoitdoit!” even though I knew he would.
My favourite part of the interview was right at the end when he said, “And you know what? I promise ya, it really does.”
Closely followed by the look on his face right after the description of pegging.
I honestly don’t know whether to vote for Black Friday, Better Business Hero, or the interview. It was all just too fantastic to choose.
Shout Out (Hey!):
+4
I really love it when Dan Savage is a guest on the show, he is always hilarious and the desciption of “pegging” did not disappoint. The interview did make me a little sad though. I got the feeling that when Stephen said “Who lets you know that life gets better after high school” it was his own question and not “Stephen” speaking. I am glad that everything turned out ok for Stephen, the world truely is a better place with him in it!!
Shout Out (Hey!):
+2
Could not agree with you more Rebecca-Anne. I certainly felt like that was the real Stephen talking and not just his character. I’m not familiar with Dan Savage’s work, as we don’t get it in Aus but he is a fantastic guest and his point blank description of things are just hilarious!!
Shout Out (Hey!):
+1