NEW YORK - The folks at Comedy Central were annoyed when Fox News Channel's Bill O'Reilly kept referring to "The Daily Show" audience as "stoned slackers." So they did a little research. And guess whose audience is more educated?
Viewers of Jon Stewart's show are more likely to have completed four years of college than people who watch "The O'Reilly Factor," according to Nielsen Media Research.
O'Reilly's teasing came when Stewart appeared on his show earlier this month.
"You know what's really frightening?" O'Reilly said. "You actually have an influence on this presidential election. That is scary, but it's true. You've got stoned slackers watching your dopey show every night and they can vote."
Comedy Central executives realized, and O'Reilly acknowledged, that he was poking fun. But they said they didn't want a misconception to persist.
"If the head of General Motors was watching O'Reilly's show, that could be very important to us," said Doug Herzog, Comedy Central president.
"If you listen to O'Reilly, you get the sense that it was crazy longhairs behind the show," he said. "And it's not. It's great, smart television that attracts a well-compensated audience, most of whom are voting age."
Relax, said Fox News Channel spokesman Rob Zimmerman.
"Comedy Central must have lost their sense of humor," Zimmerman said. "Without Jon Stewart, Comedy Central would turn into the Great American Country Channel."
Comedy Central also touted a recent study by the University of Pennsylvania's National Annenberg Election Survey, which said young viewers of "The Daily Show" were more likely to answer questions about politics correctly than those who don't.
Comedy Central had no statistics on how many people watch "The Daily Show" stoned.
Although seemingly taken aback by repeated "stoned slackers" references while talking with O'Reilly, Stewart was ready with a joke.
"This election is going to rely on the undecided," he said. "And who is more undecided than stoned slackers? Ice cream or pretzels? Ice cream or pretzels? What's it going to be?
Whether it's the slacker or no-slacker zone, O'Reilly is entering it Oct. 7, when he's scheduled to appear on "The Daily Show."
So if Stewart's audience is comprised of stoned slackers, how would Herzog describe O'Reilly's audience?
I remember that episode. I was kind of insulted. And look, The Daily Show's audience has a better education than the O'Reilly Factor. That's kind of funny.
Not surprising in the least. O'reilly is to RR as Daily Show is to SDnet, where intelligent conversation and wit are concerned.
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I don't find this suprising, O'Reilly is like a pro wrestler of journalism. He even came from Inside Edition. Unfortunately that unlike with the WWF, not everyone's seem to catch on that it's fake.
The most basic assumption about the world is that it does not contradict itself.
I'm not surprised either. It's political comedy, for goodness sakes. Stupid people don't handle parody and satire well. A lot of them just don't get it at all. These people are also much less likely to get an education.
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Stormbringer wrote:Comedy Central executives realized, and O'Reilly acknowledged, that he was poking fun. But they said they didn't want a misconception to persist.
Before we get too far with the O'Reilly bang bus perhaps people could read the article? He made a joke, maybe a bad one, but not a derogatory attack.
The world is full of people who try to pass off insults as humour. The fact that it is not funny is often a good indicator.
"It's not evil for God to do it. Or for someone to do it at God's command."- Jonathan Boyd on baby-killing
"you guys are fascinated with the use of those "rules of logic" to the extent that you don't really want to discussus anything."- GC
"I do not believe Russian Roulette is a stupid act" - Embracer of Darkness
"Viagra commercials appear to save lives" - tharkûn on US health care.
I don't know...I think its pretty degrogatory, joke or no joke. "I think everyone who reads The Wall Street Journal is a snobby, greedy, stingy bastard. *laugh* By the way, that was a joke." We all knew it was a joke, but still, the poison has been pumped from the sting already.
Darth Wong wrote:The world is full of people who try to pass off insults as humour. The fact that it is not funny is often a good indicator.
The fact that Comedy Central agrees suggests it was probably just a lame attempt at a joke.
What it means is that he was smiling when he said it. It's sort of like me using a smilie like so: "you're a fucking dipshit and no one gives a damn what you think ... ".
"It's not evil for God to do it. Or for someone to do it at God's command."- Jonathan Boyd on baby-killing
"you guys are fascinated with the use of those "rules of logic" to the extent that you don't really want to discussus anything."- GC
"I do not believe Russian Roulette is a stupid act" - Embracer of Darkness
"Viagra commercials appear to save lives" - tharkûn on US health care.
Stormbringer wrote:The fact that Comedy Central agrees suggests it was probably just a lame attempt at a joke.
What it means is that he was smiling when he said it. It's sort of like me using a smilie like so: "you're a fucking dipshit and no one gives a damn what you think ... ".
I didn't say it was a good joke. I mean really, what do you expect out of him?
Stormbringer wrote:The fact that Comedy Central agrees suggests it was probably just a lame attempt at a joke.
What it means is that he was smiling when he said it. It's sort of like me using a smilie like so: "you're a fucking dipshit and no one gives a damn what you think ... ".
I didn't say it was a good joke. I mean really, what do you expect out of him?
The point is not whether he tried to pass it off as a joke. The point is that you and I both know that he almost certainly does dismiss the views of Jon Stewart's audience because he thinks they're all a bunch of slack-jawed stoners.
"It's not evil for God to do it. Or for someone to do it at God's command."- Jonathan Boyd on baby-killing
"you guys are fascinated with the use of those "rules of logic" to the extent that you don't really want to discussus anything."- GC
"I do not believe Russian Roulette is a stupid act" - Embracer of Darkness
"Viagra commercials appear to save lives" - tharkûn on US health care.
Darth Wong wrote:
The point is not whether he tried to pass it off as a joke. The point is that you and I both know that he almost certainly does dismiss the views of Jon Stewart's audience because he thinks they're all a bunch of slack-jawed stoners.
Al Franken has a special term for this kind of remark: Kidding on the Square. It means that you sounds like you are joking, but you are actually serious.
Darth Wong wrote:The point is not whether he tried to pass it off as a joke. The point is that you and I both know that he almost certainly does dismiss the views of Jon Stewart's audience because he thinks they're all a bunch of slack-jawed stoners.
I don't know that actually. He probably dimisses them, but then again he dismisses every one not him and the God-Emperor Reagen.
I have no problem at all believing he though he was being cute and funny.
Why are you making excuses for this shithead? Do you honestly think that he has any respect for a bunch of people who are apparently, based on the volume of applause, anti-Bush, anti-war, liberal-leaning, pro-gay marriage young people?
"It's not evil for God to do it. Or for someone to do it at God's command."- Jonathan Boyd on baby-killing
"you guys are fascinated with the use of those "rules of logic" to the extent that you don't really want to discussus anything."- GC
"I do not believe Russian Roulette is a stupid act" - Embracer of Darkness
"Viagra commercials appear to save lives" - tharkûn on US health care.
Darth Wong wrote:Why are you making excuses for this shithead?
I'm not. But I'm also not claiming to be able to read the man's mind, especially with out seeing the episode in question.
Darth Wong wrote:Do you honestly think that he has any respect for a bunch of people who are apparently, based on the volume of applause, anti-Bush, anti-war, liberal-leaning, pro-gay marriage young people?
Which when you're as big a narcissitic douchebag as him is all the reason he needs to dismiss them. It deviates from the Holy Writ of the Republican Party; that's honestly enough.
Stormbringer wrote:Before we get too far with the O'Reilly bang bus perhaps people could read the article? He made a joke, maybe a bad one, but not a derogatory attack.
And that joke is apparently based in a misconception. Comedy Central was trying to correct that misconception. What's the problem?
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Kidding on the Square.... I had forgotten that term ever since I put down Lying Liars. I really should start to use it, because you see examples of it all the time. This is an example of kidding on the square.
The wisdom of PA:
-Normal Person + Anonymity + Audience = Total Fuckwad
O'Reilly is supposed to be on The Daily Show on Oct 7 (I think), I hope Stewart brings this up. It would be funny to see how O'Reilly reacts. I'd bet he would just say he was joking even though he seemed pretty convinced that Stewart's audience was stoned slackers.
Stormbringer wrote:Comedy Central executives realized, and O'Reilly acknowledged, that he was poking fun. But they said they didn't want a misconception to persist.
Before we get too far with the O'Reilly bang bus perhaps people could read the article? He made a joke, maybe a bad one, but not a derogatory attack.
I actually watched the interview when it happened and O'Reilly was NOT joking around. He was essentially making the argument that just because the Daily SHow's ratings are so high it can't mean that they would have much of an influence on the election because the vast majority of his audience were stoner-slackers. Repeated it several times and Stewart did not look too thrilled.
For O'Reilly to now 'spin it' as if he was joking is ironic to say the least from the no spinster asshole. And I really do hope this comes out so that O'reilly can be made to eat shit about this.
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