Featured Post

Click Here for Excerpts (and Reviews) for New Book

Friday, April 23, 2010

Stewart on Comedy Central vs. "South Park"

South Park Death Threats
The Daily Show With Jon StewartMon - Thurs 11p / 10c
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full EpisodesPolitical HumorTea Party

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

The Goldberg Variations

Jon Stewart's epic response to Bernie Goldberg's attack on him after he said recently, "Go Fuck Yourself." He repeats the phrase at the end of this --with a gospel choir.
Bernie Goldberg Fires Back
The Daily Show With Jon StewartMon - Thurs 11p / 10c
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full EpisodesPolitical HumorTea Party

Sunday, April 18, 2010

Sunday Morning in the Church of Beethoven

Our weekly feature, this time celebrating birth of my first grandchild, Jules, last night, in London: LvB's "Consecration of the House." For Jules & Jen, and Stephane.

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Amazing Colbert Interview Last Night

Stephen "welcomed" WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, to discuss the release last week of the now-famous video showing the killing of a dozen Iraqis, including a Reuters photographer and staffer, from U.S. Apache helicopters. I've tweeted dozens of times about it since then, drawing a wide response. Colbert built up to the interview with a separate segment poking fun at government secrecy, in the usual mode. Then after a break, he brought out Assange and again things proceeded typically for a bit, drawing audience laughs.

But then Colbert, uncharacteristically, dropped his faux outrage and really went after his guest for terming the video "Collateral Murder," obviously trying to stick up for the troops after his trip to Iraq and other supportive measures. He made a couple of good points but also suggested, in a low moment, that Assange didn't know what he was talking about because he had not served in the military himself. There were no chuckles from the host at that point--and the audience clearly did not know how to react. Yes, much of this was Colbert in his "faux" character but to an unusual extent some of it was clearly not.

Colbert also charged that Assange had edited out the fact that there was a "firefight" nearby. Assange cooly called this a lie, and said that classified documents showed no such thing. This seemed to set Stephen back a bit. There was no mention of the attack on the van trying to take away the wounded photog, which severely injured two kids.

Then the segment ended on the usual humorous note.

Below is just the interview segment that aired. When he signed off, Colbert said the unedited version would be online--and it's just been posted. It has more of the "faux" Colbert character than the edited version. You'll find it below the edited version. Sort of like that Iraq video: the shorter and longer version.
Julian Assange
The Colbert ReportMon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full EpisodesPolitical HumorFox News


Unedited:
The Colbert ReportMon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Exclusives - Julian Assange Unedited Interview
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full EpisodesPolitical HumorFox News

Sunday, April 4, 2010

Easter Sunday in the Church of Beethoven

My weekly feature, this time for Easter. And special treat: the "Kyrie" from Beethoven's Mass in C Major (which I prefer to the critical-fave "Missa Solemnis"). Here is best version on record: