Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2017/09/18/celebrities-have-a-gas-with-se.html
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The big reveal was that Colbert is just another corporate shill selling advertising for the networks. We’ve just been laughing with him so much we’ve forgotten that he ultimately works for share holders trying to get rich.
His normalization of Spicer is disgusting. On par with Fallon’s hair rub.
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Colbert is a pretty serious Christian. Being able to forgive is built-in.
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I’m desperately hoping that there’s some long-term play by Colbert here. Some clever ploy by Colbert to use Spicer to rile and destabilise Trump.
And then I listen to myself, and realise that I’ve spent a year hanging off the words of a septuagenarian toddler, and off the words of people who traffic in opinions about him. And that’s not going to change things (not in the least because I’m in Australia.)
This is evidence, i guess, that the narrative for this (short?) term is coalescing around inept rather than criminal, or evil. Maybe that’s the only way to save the office - fold everyone out, reintegrate and stabilise? It’s not so much normalisation as like… cult deprogramming?
Again, I’m clutching at straws here. The other option is that media/culture has become a yawning meme chasm that will gladly eat itself in the pursuit of reactive likes and kneejerk celebrity mindshare.
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Then again, Scott McLellan wrote ‘what happened’ about Iraq, so there’s solid precedent for people miraculously growing a conscience when they emerge from the compound…
/s
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I rather think: comedy gold. Totally worth the lolz.
Join me by trending this hashtag: #CancelColbert
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I was never a huge Hillary Clinton fan and have little to no interest in reading her new book, but anyone who is OK with Spicer’s “redemption tour” automatically forfeits any right to complain that it’s time for Hillary to shut up and go away.
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She was on The New Yorker Radio Hour this weekend.
She sure ripped into Orange Julius. I got a kick out of it.
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This was a seriously misguided effort to appear non-partisan. A fucking disgrace really. This impulse to say, “see we can all just laugh about it… deep down, we’re all the same, aren’t we?” is nonsense. The joke itself, based on the crowd size incident, is deeply unfunny in an Orwellian sense. This man failed the people of this country in a profound way and he should not get to ride on the fumes of a over-done SNL skit.
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I wish I wasn’t there.
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She surely has her good points, and I voted for her in the general election. Not my first choice but far from the she-devil she was made out to be by both Trump supporters and hardcore “Bernie bros.” And I can’t blame her for refusing to stay silent now, if I’d won the popular vote by over 3 million and still lost the election to a racist misogynist incompetent traitorous criminal oligarch then I’d probably have a few things to say about it too.
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I agree. A comedian’s first goal is to be funny. I thought it was funny. In a sick dark humor sort of way. The man represents some of the worst of this country and right now, these folks are running the show. I’m glad to see him come out and prove that he is and way nothing more than a clown much the way his old boss is. Dark humor is still humor and we can laugh about the predicament we are in that we can’t control.
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Customarily, there are occasions when performers keep the humor friendly. This is one of them. The White House Press dinner is another one. You might think rage is the only appropriate response, but remember comedians are also actors.
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One, it was funny.
Two, it was completely unexpected (which makes it funnier).
Three, it is a non-so-subtle jab at Trump (which makes it sweeter).
Four, it shows that even Spicer realizes the ridiculousness of his old job and his old boss and is willing to poke fun at both.
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I haven’t seen the skit so I can’t comment on it, but I would like to think that anyone can find a way to redeem themselves, even Donald Trump (as overwhelmingly unlikely as that is). We can shit all over Spicer now, but if tomorrow he starts helping the Mueller investigation then it’s all turned around.
Overly optimistic? Yeah, I guess so. I’m just trying to get by.
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If you want to keep the humor friendly and politically nonpartisan then maybe you shouldn’t invite a guy whose sole claim to fame was spending six months telling bald-faced lies for an incompetent criminal President.
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Unfortunately, our culture in general does not forgive, especially when it comes to politics. In fact, it is the opposite–any slight can be cause for banishment. The worst sin of all is recognizing that even your worst political opponent is still an actual human.
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Not sure rage is the response. As Rob stated it’s more of a disappointment. To me it’s a reminder that these people who make us laugh and keep us entertained are also paid well for what they do by others who may not have our best intentions in mind. Ultimately they follow the corporate missions or the studio’s goals and as we saw last night the means to those goals are often out of sync with the rest of the country. At least half of it.
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“And now for the best actor in a dra…wait, what’s this? Oh my god, ladies and gentleman, it’s Josef Goebbels!” [cue music over audience laughter and applause].
Jeez, how difficult is it for media people not to normalise fascists?
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I’m open to the idea of forgiving Spicer but not until he shows genuine remorse for taking part in a criminal regime. The lies Spicer spread from that podium had real-world consequences.
“Yep, those fibs I told sure were silly!” Isn’t enough for me to forgive him yet. Get back to me when he helps put his former boss in prison.
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“The Hollywood establishment, in overwhelming part, likes to present itself as in opposition to the Trump administration. But turning the PR guy for that administration into just another character in the entertainment landscape, a lovable provider of quips and shticks, flattens the moral dimensions of the national debate. It says that, deep down, politics is just sport, just drama. Which then undercuts the anti-Trump stands made on the Emmys stage.” -Spencer Kornhaber /The Atlantic
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