I haven’t had a chance to see much of Craig Ferguson’s show, but every now and then I get to see a clip that makes me want to shout “EXACTLY!” Last night, he spoke about the importance of voting and the idiocy of the media. It’s worth keeping in mind that he recently became an American citizen: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=pdRVQ4xwwmQ
Can you help a brotha out with some cliffs or quotes? I’m not able to access youtube at work at the moment. Thanks.
Basically a critique on both sub-par media coverage of the campaigns, and voter apathy.
He says “This is a very important election, but you would not know it from the way it is being reported, Politics is covered like Hollywood now.” He equates mainstream media coverage with TMZ covering “Paris and Nicole”, and suggests that T.V. newsreporters want to be “famous as the candidates they are covering”.
And he suggests that this kind of vapid news coverage is exactly the kind of coverage the candidates prefer, when it works in their favor, then criticize when it works against them.
Then turning to the voters he insists that we are all responsible to get our news from a variety of sources. He expresses dismay at voter registration drives like “Rock the Vote” and various attempts to make voting more appealing, insisting that voting shouldn’t have to be “sexy’d up”.
He sums up:
It’s a pretty good monologue and he doesn’t have to sacrifice humor in favor of a message- he does both quite well and in harmony.
Definitely an above-par opening monologue for any late night talk show.
Wow! I’ve never really watched this guy’s show so I have no frame of reference. But my respect for him just went way through the roof.
This is about the most level-headed thing I’ve heard about politics in a long time. Thaks for this.
That was fantastic. Between this and the monologue about alcoholism, I have a good amount of respect for him.
I think that he has been the best of the late night talk show hosts for a couple of years,
*The presidential election is heating up. There’s all kinds of “controversy”. Obama’s been saying you can put lipstick on a pig but it’s still a pig and the Republicans have been, like “Did you call Sarah Palin a pig!? That means you hate America!”, to which the Democrats say “No, no, no! Republicans, you don’t like pigs! It’s a pig’s right to wear lipstick! Blah, blah, blah, blah, blargh!”
What I don’t understand is this: why is Barack Obama talking about lipstick on pigs? Why are we talking about animals and cosmetics? And why is John McCain hanging around while his Vice Presidential candidate is campaigning for his job? What the hell is going on?
What happens is that the media focuses on the most TV friendly people. The way this election is being covered is like TMZ or something. It’s like they’re covering Paris and Nicole. If Walter Cronkite could see these brain dead morons yapping about flag pins and hairstyles he’d turn over in his grave . . . which is weird because Walter Cronkite is alive and well and lives in Martha’s Vineyard. But if he were dead, he’d be furious!
Do you know what I think it is? I think a lot of the newscasters want to be as famous as the candidates they’re covering. Here is my hope for this election: that the American people are smarter than the media that are meant to be serving them. This is unbelievable to me. I think people want to see real solutions to real problems and don’t really care that much if they come from the Right or the Left. Every media outlet wants you to pay attention to their agenda and their poll but there’s only one poll that matters; it’s on November 4th.
And you know the other thing? When the news reports show the candidates in slow motion with their families and the children, and you know . . . I don’t care. The candidates say the families are off limits; Sarah Palin says “My daughter’s pregnancy is off limits; it’s a family matter”, and Barack Obama is saying “That’s absolutely right”, but this is what I say is if your families are off limits, why are they on the stage? Why is the profile in People Magazine of you and your damned family all over the place? Shame on you, you manipulative hypocrites!
I’m talking to both sides. Talking to both; Obama, McCain, Palin, the other one. I’m talking to all of you.*
That’s the first four minutes paraphrased.
Any link for that? I didn’t see it, am now intrigued.
The man’s brilliant. Makes me wish I weren’t too old to stay up that late.
Well done–and now my celeb crush on Jon Stewart just got challenged…
The YouTube description is: Craig Ferguson speaks on his past problems as an alcoholic and why he will not ridicule Britney Spears and her shaved head crisis.
Here’s Craig on alcoholism: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7bbaRyDLMvA It’s a must watch!!!
I agree with him about voting, in concept, but the whole electoral college thing has ruined the reality of voting for me. That and the 2000 “election”.
Thanks for the links (which I now realize is what EJsGirl linked to far upthread).
Wow.
Amazing.
…So then you *don’t *agree with him.
Thanks bienville and Aesiron. It looks like I’ll be DVRing Nigel Wicke’s show for a while. This sounds like good stuff. I wonder if he has a chance of moving up in any way once the late-night shift occurs next year at NBC.
I’m a big fan of Craig Ferguson. He’s intelligent, quick-witted, and a great interviewer. When he has an author on, he has usually actually read the book they wrote!
Those of you who are unfamiliar with the man should know that he’s generally not too political. Last night’s monologue (and the one on his alcoholism) are not typical. He does talk about his alcoholism a lot, but usually in a joking manner. He rarely devotes a full monologue to one topic.
He’s said he doesn’t want to do so yet. He’s happy where he is, he has a level of freedom that suits him, and in any case he’s only been in the talk show business for a short time yet.
I can’t find the cite for this, but I saw it (or read it, can’t even remember that) quite recently.
And apparently, last night he really didn’t have time for email!
Btw, put “naughty Alaskan librarian” in the search at Youtube to see Sarah Palin & Craig Ferguson from about a year ago. He’s hysterical.