Fox's Deeply Pathetic Daily Show Rip-Off (from Slate)

[NYCGirl]

And yet another review of Fox Noise Channel's foray into comedy. (I have to admit, I'm enjoying this — I do love to read reviews of BAD movies, and this one is even better because it's aimed at FNC!)

http://www.slate.com/id/2159920?nav=tap3

Still, the bit seems worthy of the Algonquin Round Table compared to what follows, a mock ad for "BO: Barack Obama magazine," the cover lines of which include, "Should We Even Bother To Hold the 2008 Election?" The laugh track really goes for that one, as will a subset of viewers who—simply tickled to see a TV comedian pandering to them—really couldn't care whether the target gets hit.

It happens that such folks would have done better to tune in to the recent episode of The Daily Show that found Jon Stewart goofing on the campaign songs of various Democratic candidates. The fact-based setup found John Edwards bounding across a blue-draped dais to "Our Country," John Mellencamp's populist jingle/Chevy anthem. The Daily Show then presented us with Obama at the same event, rescoring things so that he walked to the podium to the chorus of "Jesus Christ Superstar"—a more incisive joke on Obama-mania and political theater than the News Hour's whole bit. For a kicker, they juxtaposed footage of Hillary with some vixenly bars from Kelis: "My milkshake brings all the boys to the yard … ."

The ½ Hour News Hour is the brainchild of Joel Surnow, co-creator of 24. "Almost every comedy show or satire show I see uses the same talking points against George W. Bush and Dick Cheney," Surnow told Variety in November. "The other side hasn't been skewered in a fair and balanced way." Talking points? Fair and balanced? That's not the language of the writers' room. In any case, you couldn't skewer a cube of tofu with material this dull. It will play to the base, maybe, especially if the base hands the remote control to its 12-year-old son. As a humorless liberal, I can handle it. It's the conservatives—the ones with actual gifts for comedy—who ought to be sharpening their knives.

[Kagemusha]

1. I hadn't seen that particular Daily Show mentioned here...

I distinctly recall reading that Obama didn't actually use a theme song at this big DNC event, which I presume is exactly why the Daily Show used that event, so that it could fill in the blank with Jesus Christ Superstar :) Which is quite amusing, IMHO. (Edit: Assuming that's the one but, even if it isn't, Obama's made this approach a trend to come off as more "real". Which is precisely why the Daily Show picked this song, to make a big fat joke out of it, heh :)

[htuttle]

2. After watching the clips, I ended up inventing a new word: 'Dyscomic'

This show is to comedy what vacuum is to air.