Tag: sausage grinder of snark

Nov 10 2015

The Daily Late Nightly Show (Voir Dire)

Among other things I did on my “vacation”, I sat for Jury Duty. The case involved someone claiming damages for pain and suffering after being struck by a car while riding a bike. Well ok so far, let’s stick it to that mega-insurance company (not Liberty Mutual, no, not at all). Unfortunately there was no …

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Nov 09 2015

The Daily Late Nightly Show (The Saga Continues)

When we last left our hero (that would be me), he was struggling to contend with an overwhelming list of Site migrations and Family and Business obligations which kept him on the road. As we resume our story, after an amazing escape too incredible to commit to photons, only tattered remnants of a once mighty …

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Oct 13 2015

The Daily Late Nightly Show (See You Next Week I Hope)

We are undergoing a change in Platforms from Soapblox to Wordpress on Thursday (the 15th) this week, the details of which are occupying much of my time.

After tonight The Daily Late Nightly Show will not be posted again until next Monday (the 19th) at the earliest.

Here are your guests-

Trevor Noah

Stephen Colbert

In planning the rest of the week (because it’s not like we don’t have weekly and daily story meetings, we’re very professional like that) it’s become quite clear that Thursday the 15th, Transition Day, is going to be fraught.  We expect that the Wordpress sites will be open for reading, including our back catalog, with little delay (there will probably be some).

There is virtually a 100% chance that there will be NO POSTING AT ALL on Thursday.  We will simply be too busy.  If you visit you are likely to get an Internet error.  THIS DOES NOT MEAN WE HAVE CEASED PUBLICATION.

After tomorrow we will stop Baseball Playoff coverage until functionality is restored sufficiently to do so.

We will have an Open Thread Tuesday for the Democratic Debate.

After that all regular publication will stop except for Meta announcements on progress.

We hope to resume posting, at least ours, by Friday.

That’s the best case scenario.  In the worst case it may take us up to a week.

Sorry for the inconvenience.

Oct 10 2015

The Daily Late Nightly Show (Let’s Go Mets!)

James Corden is a funny guy, but I’m not staying up for him tonight because I have things to do tomorrow.

Stephen’s other guests are Shane Smith, and Halsey.

This Week’s guests-

Trevor Noah

Oct 09 2015

The Daily Late Nightly Show (Not A Debate)

The New Kid

Ronny Chieng

Well tonight is the one we’ve been waiting for Rachel Maddow.  Hopefully she’ll talk some about her hosting duties for the upcoming Democratic Forum (shhh, don’t call it a debate, you’ll upset the evil or incompetent Debbie Wasserman Shultz).

The New Continuity

Pro-Life

Tonightly the panel is Bobcat Goldthwait and Shannon DeVido.

The Dancing Man

Ben Bernanke was another in a string of too cozy interviews with reprehensible people.

Stephen will be very late after the Throwball game.  He will be having Cate Blanchett and Brian Chesky on.

This Week’s guests-

Oct 08 2015

The Daily Late Nightly Show (Strikeout)

The New Kid

Well, the Aaron Sorkin interview went just about as badly as I expected except, of course, it was worse.

During Noah’s debut week, the interviews were consistently weak, even as the opening monologues and correspondent pieces noticeably improved. Noah’s not much for spur-of-the-moment humor-it seems to destabilize him, as I wrote last week-and it makes him a stilted interviewer. It does not help that finessing a promotional interview to be somewhat interesting to the audience is not an easy task. Watching the screenwriter of a film and someone who really liked the film discuss it would be fun if you’d seen and liked the film already, but it’s weirdly pointless when literally no one in the audience has seen it. Talk show hosts earn their keep by making small talk with celebrities that make their projects, and those celebrities themselves, sound somewhat interesting. Trevor Noah is still learning the ropes.

It made for an interview where no one came off too well. I believe Sorkin to be a certain kind of genius, but even his biggest fans are forced to contend with his massive ego, one that takes up all the available air in any confined space. Without Noah challenging him at all, Sorkin’s arrogance was its own separate entity, lumbering around the “Daily Show” studio.

I find myself forced to agree.  The writers and correspondants are carrying Noah.  Others are slightly more impressed.

He will be having Evgeny Afineevsky on tonight.  Afineevsky’s latest project is Divorce: Journey through the kids’ eyes.

This week’s guests-

The New Continuity

Larry on the other hand has really upped his game since Colbert’s debut on The Late Show.

Noah’s disappointing debut may have a surprising upside, though:  Viewers now can stay tuned after his show to catch “The Nightly Show” with Larry Wilmore, which follows in the slot directly after.  Watching the two shows back-to-back – or, as Wilmore puts it, “black to black” – offers viewers a chance to compare two different approaches to political comedy.

Noah’s brand of silly, toothless comedy has served to highlight the fact that Larry Wilmore’s show is offering viewers not just a sharp edge, but also a much-needed “underdog” angle on the pressing issues of the day.  While this was the case during the time that Stewart was the lead in to Wilmore-now that he follows Noah, it is actually much easier to appreciate the specific comic genius of Wilmore and his team.

…

This is why the comedy of Wilmore on “The Nightly Show” is so refreshing.  Wilmore’s show focuses on offering the view of the underdog on current political issues.  That means he is unafraid to confront moments when racial bias is at stake -but it also means that race is not the only diverse comedic edge to the show. The show debuted at the start of this year as a replacement for “The Colbert Report” and it has become more polished and more provocative as the months have gone by. According to an August 18 piece in “The Hollywood Reporter,” “The Nightly Show’s brand of smart, focused comedy mixed with more serious-minded commentary has really found its stride in recent months, with Wilmore’s desk bits getting sharper and panel discussions becoming more consistently engaging.”

More Bern

More Cray

Tonightly we have Jay Leno whoring his CNBC gig showing off his 1%er car collection.  I think he’s a no talent asshole and evidently some people agree.

He says he doesn’t like you–

The trotting out of the show’s former host was a promotion stunt for Leno’s new CNBC show, “Jay Leno’s Garage,” which debuted Tuesday. It is literally about the cars in Jay Leno’s garage. And if that’s not proof the Peacock Network’s infatuation with Leno, nearly two years after he stepped down from the “Tonight Show” – well, two years after he stepped down for the second time – is bottomless, I don’t know what is. You may recall that Leno first retired in 2009, five full years after Conan O’Brien was picked to be his successor – and you may also recall how disastrously that all went down. Since then, Leno – who also famously burned more than a few bridges with David Letterman over the years – has still managed to hang on to his position as the most smug person to ever grace late night. Last spring, he cropped up on James Corden’s brand new show to ominously crack, “In three months, this show will be mine.” And in a Tuesday interview with Adweek, he explained his absence from Letterman’s last episode, saying, “Well, I asked Dave to do a 10-second tape for us [when I left]. Anything, just, ‘Leno who?’ They said no, they didn’t want to do it. Well, why am I going to run all the way to New York? I mean, quid pro quo. I just said, ‘No, that’s kind of silly.'” Classy!

See, when you’ve been privileged to have hosted the “Tonight Show” – twice! – and you’re pretty well-known as the guy who drove off two of late night’s biggest hosts and you’re doing a new show about your collection of expensive cars, acting petulant and resentful is not a good look. You’re 65 years old, man. Act like a grownup. Stop hanging around the old playground.

I don’t like you either–

There were some other interesting tidbits in the interview, including a rather callous anecdote about booting a guest off “The Tonight show” when her publicist tried to limit the scope of the interview. As he put it, when asked what he missed about doing the show each night:

…’Why don’t you take your client and go home. She’s only here because she took her clothes off in a magazine after winning gold.’ I mean, I’m not going to insult her. I’m not going to make her feel cheap. But if you don’t want to discuss it, I can get a comic here in six minutes.

The other panelists are Michelle Collins and Bobby Gaylor.

The Dancing Man

Not much joy in Mudville tonight.  Stephen’s interview with Clinton was horrible–

It was also hard to imagine that Colbert was an interviewer who delivered segments that went down as legend. The host had a few questions he tried to hit, and he got there, but they were largely softballs; the order of the day was not incision but flattery. Colbert, on “The Colbert Report,” was short on time, pull, and influence; having ascended to “The Late Show,” the host’s drive is a little sidelined by the unrestrained glee of having David Letterman’s old job-and, perhaps, the calm made possible by not having to be in boorish, ultra-conservative character every day of the week.

But where Colbert, the persona, could pose the toughest questions without flinching, Colbert, the person, is having a bit more trouble. To a degree, “The Late Show” is just a different kind of comedy show.

Yeah, actually worse than that–

So far, the most quoted lines from the interview come from its conclusion, where Clinton gave a kind of backhanded description of Bernie Sanders’ appeal (liberals are “hacked off,” want to move to the left the way the GOP has moved to the right), denied having encouraged Donald Trump to run, and called the blustery mogul “the most interesting character out there.” (Trump’s candidacy, Clinton said, “may have a short half-life,” but turns on the “macho appeal” of saying, “I’m just sick of things not happening, I make things happening, I make things happen, vote for me.” Well said, if hardly ground-breaking.)

But the conversation was noteworthy for other reasons. Colbert did not invent the interviewer’s method of putting his subject at ease with softball early questions and then coming to tougher ones later on. But he’s used this familiar structure effectively in most of his other meetings with pols.

With Clinton, he got a bit starstruck and let the ex-president coast too much. He’s also smart and perceptive enough that he brought up the key issue of post-Reagan politics: politicians who don’t believe in governing and an electorate that has picked up the message.

Colbert touched on the issue twice.

…

The second time, Colbert drilled into the issue more directly. “There’s so little trust of our government now,” he said. “Some people actually go [to Washington] with the intent of getting nothing done because they believe government is the problem.”

After several years in which the Tea Party has made this very notion the center of its appeal, and in a GOP race in which three major candidates for president – Trump, Ben Carson, and Carly Fiorina – have zero experience with governing, this idea is absolutely central. But it didn’t really go anywhere. And since Bill Clinton blended traditional liberalism with skepticism about “big government,” this would have been an excellent time and place to spend a few minutes on the subject. Well, we’ll have to wait ’til next time. Part of Clinton’s appeal has always been his hangdog, small-town folksiness, and Colbert let him trade on that for much of their conversation.

Tonight we have Ben Bernanke who is whoring his new book.  I expect it to be just as bad as last night’s waste of time with Clinton.  Stephen’s other guests are Gina Rodriguez and Tame Impala

This Week’s guests-

Oct 07 2015

The Daily Late Nightly Show (Playoff Baseball!)

Umm… what about that do we not understand?

The New Kid

Aaron Sorkin– actually a neolib shill.  Deal.

This week’s guests-

The New Continuity

John Avalon, Jessica Kirson, and Joey Badass.

The Dancing Man

Baseball, even if it is Junior League Rounders, is infinitely more interesting than Bill Clinton.  Also Billy Eichner, and Florence and the Machine.

This Week’s guests-

Oct 06 2015

The Daily Late Nightly Show (Wet Start)

The New Kid

Web Exclusive!

You know, cinnamon and nutmeg can be a year round thing.

But aren’t they all?

Not a terrible start about which I may talk more about later but I am not in the mood for today.  Seth Rogen is utterly unmemorable and pretty much an ignorable asshole after The Interview which was not only offensive but also boring and unfunny.  The only good that came of it was the Sony Hack leaks which prove that Sony is a horrible company that discriminates against women and produces other pieces of crap like Paul Blart: Mall Cop parts 1 and 2 and has ruined the XMen, Spiderman, and The Fantastic Four for a generation of comic book readers.

This week’s guests-

Trevor Noah

The New Continuity

General Regina Stalwart

Umm… Who blows up Médecins Sans Frontières hospitals again?  Why, that would be the United States of America.

We should all feel very proud that we murdered doctors and children to kill some “Taliban” who were wounded.

You know, we executed Germans and Japanese for less, about which we should feel very proud also.  USA!  USA!  USA!

Bitter?  Moi?  Not any more than Denatonium.

Tonightly’s panel is Mike Yard, Rory Albanese, and Ashleigh Banfield.  We will be talking about the Oregon shootings.

The Dancing Man

You know we only deal in the rankest most scurrilous rumors here and this one has been debunked more than once by the same “official” sources that claim “several” individuals were killed as the result of “collateral damage” in Kunduz, but the story goes like this-

Far from being a glamourous fighter jock, John “Wet Start” McCain drove an A-4 Bomb Truck because his Daddy was an Admiral and they figured that was where he could do the least harm.  Among his favorite things to do was “Wet Start” his airplane which means he dumped a lot of fuel in his engine and took off the deck with a long tail of trailing flame.  He was doing this on the U.S.S. Forrestal and accidentally cooked off a Zuni rocket on the plane behind him in the flight line which struck his jet and ignited a fire that killed 134 sailors.

He’s the most prolific guest in D.C.

Also on tonight are Yo-Yo Ma, and Misty Copeland.

This Week’s guests-

Oct 03 2015

The Daily Late Nightly Show (Rehabilitated?)

It’s just a bullshit word. So you go on and stamp your form, sonny, and stop wasting my time. Because to tell you the truth, I don’t give a shit.

As we pass into our final week or two in this format (haven’t read this?  You really should.) I stand before you utterly unrepentant in my obnoxiousness.  The signal will continue.

Tonight Stephen has Morgan Freeman, Ruth Wilson, and Sean Murray

Remember Red, hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies.

I don’t have any handy pictures, but I’ve stopped at the Bus Stop in Thomaston that Red waited at.  People got on and off, I didn’t pay any attention.  None of my business.

These walls are funny. First you hate ’em, then you get used to ’em. Enough time passes, you get so you depend on them.

Next week’s guests-

Trevor Noah

Stephen Colbert

Andy crawled to freedom through five hundred yards of shit smelling foulness I can’t even imagine, or maybe I just don’t want to. Five hundred yards… that’s the length of five football fields, just shy of half a mile.

But you do it anyway.  Every day.  It’s ok.  You just have to remember that freedom goal at the end.

You know what the Mexicans say about the Pacific? They say it has no memory. That’s where I want to live the rest of my life. A warm place with no memory.

Oct 02 2015

The Daily Late Nightly Show (Sell-Outs and Liars)

Oliver and Colbert have the practiced improviser’s combination of spontaneity, empathy, and perfect timing. It’s probably not fair to Noah to compared him to these two, or their absolute mastery when they’re together: Noah is young and still adjusting to a hosting role very different from his previous efforts as a stand-up comedian.

There was a telling moment near the end, though, where Oliver and Colbert were praising Noah’s maiden voyage. “He’s taking on the impossible,” Oliver said. “You can’t replace the irreplaceable.” Colbert came back with, “I wouldn’t know what that’s like.”

This was, of course, supposed to be a knowing reference to Colbert stepping into David Letterman’s shoes. But as titanic and influential a figure as Letterman proved to be, it’s difficult to imagine a lot of people pining for him the way Jon Stewart fans are still watching “The Daily Show” and waiting for the old bitter spark. Whether they’ll get it – or something satisfying in its own way – is impossible to say at this point. But it became very clear last night that whatever else is going on in the world of late night these days, two of Stewart’s old alums are playing at the very top of their game.

The New Kid

Sensitivity Training

Web exclusive.

Yes

Overstuffed Sack of Pus

Trevor’s guest tonight is Ryan Adams.

The New Continuity

L-Dub’s Mindplosions

Tonightly we will be talking about Kim Davis again with panelists Jordan Carlos, Lisa Ling, and Eddie Huang.

The Dancing Man

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You can skip Evan.

Hard to believe I ever voted for John Kerry because I hate self-righteous neo-liberal hypocrites now.  I was young and naive and thought any Democrat would be better than W.  I’m older and wiser now.

Stephen’s other guests are Claire Danes, and PewDiePie.

This week’s guests-

Oct 01 2015

The Daily Late Nightly Show (Oliver!)

The New Kid

Risk Diss

Trevor, you better not play me.  Here it is the Wattle, the symbol of our land.  You can put it in your pocket.  You can hold it in your hand.  Australia!  Australia!  Australia!

Though America del Sur works almost as well.

Tonight Trevor is hosting that overstuffed sack of pus, Chris Christie, who is, unfortunately, his first political guest.

I say unfortunately because he’s not yet at that 2.5% threshhold of support that will get him a seat at the CNBC adult table with such luminaries as The Donald and I strongly suspect it is but a matter of moments before he retires to New Jersey with his not so unique brand of bullying bluster and makes their lives miserable until they have that good sense to dump him.

This week’s guests-

The New Continuity

Wet Spot

Tonightly we will be talking about Taxes (That’sa where he lives, Dollars Taxes) with panelists Mike Yard, Marina Franklin, and Robert Reich.

The Dancing Man

I must admit I’m really looking forward to this one.  John Oliver kicks ass and chews bubblegum and he’s all out of bubblegum.  Best show of the week and I haven’t even seen it yet.  Stephen’s other guests are Elizabeth Gilbert, and Bill Withers and Ed Sheeran.

This week’s guests-

Sep 30 2015

The Daily Late Nightly Show (The Reviews are In)

The New Kid

So, mixed.  I thought it was better than expected, though I didn’t expect much.  As one of the reviewers said it’s hard to base a judgement on 20 minutes of material.  The best bit as far as I’m concerned was Jordan Klepper’s and not just because he’s white.

New correspondent Roy Wood Jr. is pretty funny too.

And your first web exclusive content from Hasan Minaj-

Unfortunately they’ve changed to the same crappy Web Design Larry Wilmore uses.  Pro tip guys, White on Black only works on Gamer, SciFi, and Goth sites.  Basically, I hate it.  I’ll have more complaints later.

Trevor’s guest tonight is Whitney Wolfe.

This week’s guests-

The New Continuity

Yeah, I’m a sucker for dick jokes.

Frankly, since Colbert came on, Larry has been getting funnier and funnier and his show more and more like Daily Show Classic.  Trevor, if you’re worried about the competition look no farther than Columbus Circle.

Tonightly Bill Nye and Michelle Buteau will be talking about The Waters of Mars.  For the panel we will be adding Ricky Velez

The Dancing Man

All Michelle all the time, Mindy Kaling got totally bumped.  What’s funny about Michelle’s windows joke is not that you have to have clearance to open them at the White House, it’s that none of them open at all.  Nuclear Biological Chemical secure, not to mention the thicker than it looks bullet proof glass.

We have a government that projects the illusion of openness while being hermetically sealed by bubbles within bubbles in Washington D.C.  No Fresh Air or Sunlight needed, thank you very much.

Stephen’s guests tonight are Ellen Page, Jesse Eisenberg, and Dominic Wilcox

This week’s guests-

I really meant to post this the other day but I was running long.

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