I don’t particularly like Larry King. I think his interviewing style of not knowing anything about the subject is stupid. Last night he went way over the line for me, though. He was interviewing one of the student witnesses to the VT shooting. Not only did he ask the guy “Did you see your classmates shot?” but then went on to ask the obviously stunned student “Did you see your teacher get shot?” Not satisfied with making this kid relieve a clearly traumatic moment, he continued with “How did you feel, seeing your teacher killed in front of you?”(paraphrased)
Is he really that stupid? How did the kid feel??? Shocked? Stunned? Horrified? Maybe not wanting to discuss his emotions on national television? Doesn’t King have an ounce of sensitivity? I’ll tell you how I felt-disgusted that this ass has his own television show on a “news” channel.
Larry King should be in a home; he always says things like this.
My “favourite” example is when he asked the survivor of a brutal rape + multiple stabbing, “What was going through your mind while he was making love to you?”
it doesn’t sound any better w/Katie Couric’s slightly southern style flair “How did you all feel?” I don’t watch Larry. Am pleased as punch that Katie has scampered down to the evening news that I also don’t watch.
But imagine yourself in their shoes; You’ve got to interview someone who was there. What questions would you ask them? Of course you’re going to ask: What did you see? How did the gunman seem to behave? How did you feel?
He throws softballs to celebraties and politicians. You learn nothing from him. Kimmel is a better interviewer. Actually he really is . He sometimes asks questions that shock the guest a little.
I really liked Kimmel on The Man Show. I think his talk show is lame as hell, though he does tend to shine when in interview mode and is suddenly given something of substance to discuss. I saw him sub for Larry King a week or two ago though, and thought he did a very good job. He seems to be much better and more intelligent as a straight up interviewer than he is as Johnny Carson lite. I think he’d be great as the host of a Larry King type of show, though my hopes that he might take over for King himself were dashed recently when King announced that he wanted to do the show for ten more years.
I like really Kimmel but he needs to get away from the comedy. He was funny on the man show mostly because of his lame but goodnatured everyman personna and the way it worked worked alongside Adam Carolla, but he just doesn’t have enough gravitas to pull off the style of comedy he’s going for now. I know its lameness is supposed to be part of its charm, but he himself comes across as too lame and benign to make it work. That kind of comedy works best (to the degree it works at all) when the comic projects a style and sharpness and intelligence that obviously belies the lameness of the material.
Well, to look at it from the other side, if King can’t ask the interviewee what he saw or how he felt about it, what are they going to discuss?
King: “So…um…how about them Red Sox?”
PTSD kid: …
If you’re taking issue with how King phrased his questions, or with his tone and expressions, I can go with that. But the line of questioning itself is pretty unavoidable, unless you’re going to tiptoe around what happened.
Why do people watch this dried-up old fuck to begin with? The few times I’ve seen him, he’s never looked like he knows anything about the person he’s interviewing or the subject he’s talking about.
I don’t know; I’ve only watched him long enough while channel surfing to see him drop an idiot bomb like Larry described, or ask some incredibly inane question to a fascinating personality. It doesn’t take long watching him to start rolling your eyes and making exclamations at the tv.
It’s supposed to be part of his schtick. He claims that by not researching his guests and/or issues, he is in a better position to ask the questions his listeners or viewers would ask themselves. (Of course, if that were truly the case there would be no need for professional talent on these shows. Why not just bring in someone from the street every night and let them ask questions?)
I suspect that it’s really just a rationalization that sounds good enough not to be contested while at the same time allowing him to work little more than a hour a day while at the same time being able to afford a trophy wife and house in Bel Air.
Regarding the questions he asks bereaved guests, I can see the need to ask the questions because, like others have said, what else is he gonna talk about? The problem is that he asks them so brusquely and without a lick of tact or sensitivity.
Then you shut up. Most people in that situation need to talk about it, to get it out, to get their heads around it. I learned that after getting in touch with my friends and co-workers up in NY after Sept 11.
About two or three years ago Barbara Eden appeared on LKL. Her son had recently overdosed on drugs and she wanted to share her plight with other parents and loved ones of addicts.
Eden was very well spoken and educated on her subject. Now imagine my surprise when Larry popped out this turd: “What was it like seeing your son lying on a slab in the morgue?”. :eek: Eden’s eyes got wide as if she couldn’t believe he had asked such a question. I wouldn’t have blamed her if she’d snapped his supenders over his fat head but to her credit she answered the question.
I cannot fathom how that would be a pertinent question to anyone who has lost a child. King is a fucktard.
That’s his official excuse for being the worst interviewer on television? I agree with you about it being a rationalization. I don’t want interviewers to ask the same questions I would ask, just like I don’t want to see dancers or athletes who are only as good at what they do as I am. I want interviewers to ask questions that make me say, “Damn! That’s a good question! What’s the answer, celebrity-type?”
I also want interviewers who, unlike Oprah, actually shut their pieholes and let their expert guests speak.
To clarify-there are graceful ways to ask sensitive questions. On most of the news shows I’ve seen, the witnesses were asked to tell what happened and what they saw. There is a big difference between saying “Can you lead us through what happened” and asking “So-did you see your teacher get shot?”
I tried to find a transcript earlier with no luck, but I can lamely offer a few more details.
It was about three years ago, and the guest was a woman who had (years before) been repeatedly stabbed and raped. (If I remember right, this happened in a semi-public place and another man was seriously injured pulling the attacker off her.)
She had become and activist and speaker on the subject of sexual violence against women.
After Mr. King asked that question (verbatim, to the best of my recollection,) she paused for a beat and asked, “You mean, while he was raping me?” and King said “Yes,” and then the rest of the segment carried on just as if he hadn’t said anything so astonishingly tactless.
I wish I could remember the woman’s name. It’s disturbing how many hits a google search for “‘Larry King’ raped stabbed ‘making love’” returns.
What’s really frustrating about this is that I started a Pit thread about it at the time, which appears to have been pruned.