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Friday, March 28, 2008

Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert: America's Necessities




I love these guys. No seriously, I love these guys.



I'd probably consider going gay for Stephen Colbert. Being a fellow Jew, I'd save the fiasco that would be; if Mr. Stewart and I ever tried to bump uglies. Emphasis on the word UGLY. Geesh...could you imagine our pasty Jew selves in such a position? And trust me, it would be only one position. Too much of a hassle to schlep ourselves into all sorts of pretzel shapes.

But anyway, you get the point.

I am writing this because this week being Spring Break, both The Colbert Report and The Daily Show are on break. I do not get any new episodes. Maybe it's withdrawals I am experiencing. At least I have "I Am America (And So Can You)" to hold me over. Just a sidenote: they are America's necessities because he says it right there in his book title. If he is America and so can I, then I am America as well. By that logic, if I am America, and both these gentlemen are necessary in my life, then they are my necessities. Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert are then, by that logic, America's Necessities.

I can't speak for the whole country but it sounds nice, doesn't it? Maybe, though, I'm not that far off by that statement.

This morning, in my daily traffic battling routine to get to work, I was listening to Kevin and Bean on KROQ. For those who may be reading this (who am I kidding?) not from Los Angeles and don't know, KROQ is the main Modern Rock station out here and Kevin and Bean is the morning show.

So they have Darrell Hammond on as a guest who is promoting some stand up shows he is doing in town. They get to discussing with him how SNL is on the upswing now since the writer's strike. Their sketches they did on the Democratic Debate came up in particular. I find it fascinating how these parody sketches actually effected the media's view of the actual race and even more-so themselves. It's bizarre but it's true. How often do you expect to hear a person running for President mention (bitch about) an SNL sketch that made fun of them not that much earlier?

They were talking to Mr. Hammond, who is a genius when it comes to impressions by the way, about his new John McCain impression. Apparently it's very good (big surprise) and sadly I was not able to find the sketch in YouTube, Hulu, or Google Video. The conversation went on a bit on how the sketch comedy show is now contributing to the political race for The White House. They soon ended the interview and broke to commercial leaving me thinking.

Do we really live in a society where the public is more-so swayed by comedy shows such as this as opposed to the big three news organizations, news blogs, newspapers, or whatever other news venue one may choose when referring to current events and politics? Sure, we have a moron in office. Sure American Idol or Britney Spears is mostly top story news on many a news websites. Sure.

I guess the answer to my question is Sure.

That's not that surprising to me. We're a country full of lazy fat slackers. Slackers make up the majority of the demographic for The Daily Show and The Colbert Report. At least that's how Bill O' Reilly feels. But if that is true, and they maintain their ratings and impact the way they do. Then by that logic, SNL's main demographic are generally the same. I am one of those people. I never thought myself to be a slacker. I actually don't slack that much, really. I don't consider the people who watch these shows to be slackers either.

Here's what I consider these people to be. Smart. Why? Because you have to maintain a certain level of intellect and understanding to read between the lines. To get the subtext. To understand how the comedy laden material you are visually and mentally digesting actually relates to the current events happening every damn day. This is why I don't watch the News. I like being treated like I have half a brain.

Americans should be treated this way. At least half a brain. I'm not shooting too high, here. But if the majority started aiming a bit higher and stepping out of their fast food, video game, reality tv ridden lives, then maybe that would branch out to the country as a whole. The sum of it's parts. We the fat people can change this place from the inside out. Start with ourselves. Open our eyes. Stop being the sheep.

Whatever America is, so can you...because we make up the country we live in. All every last one of us.

Thankfully, we have these people here entertaining us. I applaud all who get it, the subtext, the message they are conveying. Hopefully they stay around for a while and continue to impact the bigger picture.






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