Still wild to me that Republicans have been accusing Biden of being a warmonger when it seems like the White House is the one trying to talk everyone else off the ledge https://twitter.com/ParkerMolloy/status/1511515426190249989
As great as The Daily Show was in its Decade From Hell golden era, it ruined comedy. It made everything in TV humour political and side-taking with the endless, vastly inferior clones it produced—- starting with the current Daily Show. The key ingredient has always been Jon Stewart, himself.
The only other one one that’s decent is Bill Maher’s show, even if he’s insufferably arrogant at times. John Oliver started out strong, then it just devolved into a long-form Twitter post.
I like some of the topics he approaches, but his formulaic shouting and absurdity lost any appeal it had at episode 3, now I just don't want to listen to him yell at me, regardless of his message. Some stuff is kind of funny, though, like when he bought the stamp art, or went up against that coal mine owner.
I wouldn't say it ruined comedy, I'd say it weaponized comedy. Just because it was widely accepted and provided insight and reporting that seemed to have been missing from the MSM, it filled a vacuum that people were craving, all under the guise of comedy. It could make absurdist comments and pretend to not take itself seriously in the meantime, all while being very serious. His Tucker Carlton session was the best thing ever. "We're not a news show... we're a comedy show. We come on after a show about crank calling puppets. YOU are the guys who have the news show, and you should be doing better." On the off chance you haven't seen his Crossfire appearance...
The strength of Maher's show was the format and the guests he got. But then the quality of his guests started going to shit, and he spent whole episodes forcing them to talk about his pet issues no one gives a crap about, and the show just became unwatchable. I haven't seen an episode in more than a year or two.
I think he's come back and isn't pushing his own narrative as hard. I think he got some constructive feedback and might be heeding it fairly well. He's more or less open to having contrary opinions on his show and he doesn't seem to be railroading them anywhere near like what he used to. I just recently started watching his show again (after stopping for the reasons you quoted), and I find it better now.
She was funny as a part timer on Jon Stewart's show, but when she got her own show, I watched one episode and noped out of there.
Christ, the ads for her show are insufferable, I can’t imagine 30 minutes. I’ve never cared for Bill Maher, but lately I’ve enjoyed some of his monologues. Which, if nothing else, is an indicator of how fucked up the times we live in are.
It wasn't even about agreeing/disagreeing with him, it was just "Hey, it's Friday night, and we're going to spend another hour talking about cancel culture and my troubles installing solar panels in my back yard." Holy shit man I do not give a fuck.
I’ve always liked his show just to hear the far left ideas and thought process punctuated with some dry humor. He’s always be disingenuous about listening to and respecting the commoner people on the right and then turning around and shitting all over them as fly over state bumpkins. The nose in the air costal elitism just something I put up with. For the most part too his audience is a clapping seal echo chamber. I also don’t think this recent stint of calling out the nuttier people and concepts on the the left is more ratings and attention gambit than true blue honesty. He’s found the template for endless articles and show clip dissemination and is running with it. I still enjoy the show though and it is a regular listen on my Saturday mornings.
It just got exhausting. At a time where I would expect the show to be bringing on experts in authoritarianism, or climate change, or infrastructure, or digital privacy, or judicial reform, or any of a hundred relevant topics, it was week after week of "and here's Bari Weiss and Andrew Sullivan back to talk yet again about how this elite private school in New York City that you couldn't afford even if you lived there is too woke."
I think we can dispense with Bari Weiss from the world of political commentary altogether. She was in the news because she publicly quit the NYT because it's a disaster. That aside, she's a pretty garbage commentator.
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/police-capture-aggressive-fox-capitol-hill/story?id=83893962 In an era before modern medicine, this fox would have been among the most successful political assassins in US history.
To add to this, I did see an actual meme about the “hero lawmaker-biting fox.” Out in the wild, as it were…