18 October 2005 - 11:59pm
Bill O'Reilly appears on Jon Stewart, and makes an ass of himself [updated][updated again]
You know, part of me always thought that Bill O'Reilly was an entertainment goon -- someone who brays like an ass for showbiz value. You know, like Morton Downey.
Well, he put those illusions to rest tonight, dear readers. When I heard he was going to be on, I thought, Wow. Maybe we'll see what he's really like. Or maybe he'll put on a show for us?
Alas, no. What he did was glower and sneer. Stewart asked him, "Why so grumpy?" O'Reilly didn't even crack a smile. He glowered. And seethed.
And then he started going off on France. "France is the enemy!" he cried at one point. He insulted Stewart. He insulted the audience. It was like he was just soooo oppressed that he had to endure the presence of people.
And I note: None of this was with a wink to the audience. None of this was a show, as far as he was concerned. He is one pissed off dude, and he's pissed off at the weirdest things.
So why was he there? Because he's plugging a book. He didn't want to be there. That much was obvious. He had an opportunity to be civil -- or put on a show without the contempt for everyone else -- but he didn't want it. In fact, he seemed offended at the very idea that he should behave like a decent human being.
Oh, life is so hard for multi-millionaire television personalities. Pity Bill O'Reilly. He suffers so.
[Update: Crooks & Liars has the video. Check it out.]
[Update 2: Is O'Reilly quitting? (Wouldn't surprise me. This is a man who needs a lonnnnng vacation. Either that or some heavy doses of Prozac. C&L has video of Olbermann's reaction to the rumor.]
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I disagree with you here Media Girl, I thought he was doing a little bit of joking, and he rolled with the punches far better than I have seen him do so in the past. sure he was a little stiff but he is Bill O'Reily for Christ's sake. At one point he jokes with Stewart saying "You add insult to injury..." and Stewart replies "I will say this, We do add insult to injury. But, but...You add injury." to which O'reily replies , nodding "ah yeah.... it's true, on top of that", clearly not the remarks of someone who can't share some comical banter. There were other moments but I'm not interested in writing a transcript and I doubt youre interested in reading one. You don't like O'Reily and I don't like O'Reily, but he is not a complete brick wall, your assesment was a little unfair.
You can look at the video again. I don't need a transcript. The guy is so angry with the world he's ready to quit.
I loved the line tonight from former-FBI director Freeh: "I do want to be on your show." That got a laugh. Everybody noticed it.
And I think everybody in the studio noticed it during the taping of O'Reilly, to the point where the show's director would not cut to a close-up of O'Reilly's book. And from the way he behaved, he had that coming.
What I did not see is Stewart's appearance on O'Reilly, where I hear things did not go all that well for Bill, either.
I saw it and I saw Bill trying to unlimber the humor at a few points but overall, I would have to say that even John Kerry was trying to be funnier than Falafel boy. Even Bernard Goldberg who Stewart rightly savaged was still trying to crack jokes. what really got Bill's goat was to be confronted with the hostile audaiance. When former NY mayor turned idiot Ed Koch came on the daily show to endorse Bush, he took his booing in stride and turned it around to a freedom of speech issue. Bill doesn't handle hostile crowds well, because they shout louder than him and he has a tough time undercutting that shouting with actual substance.
I honestlty saw Stewart pulling his punches on this one. He could have played a few choice clips and asked for a response. A clip from the Phil Donahue interview. He just let bill off the hook about his comment that France was our enemy. I can only imagine what Bill Maher would have done with that one. He never held Bills feet to the fire asking him about his war support and then demanding a 10 step plan to win the war. This interview felt as softballed as Stewart's interview of Rick Santorum. So this is just is another entery into the massive Pile of Evidence that Bill O'Reilly is a jerk. Nothing new.