# Daily Show and bleep censoring **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 16, 2007, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daily-show-and-bleep-censoring/415766 "2007-08-16T01:29:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Race\_Bannon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Race\_Bannon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Race_Bannon)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2007, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daily-show-and-bleep-censoring/415766/21 "2007-08-16T19:09:02Z")
Ok, I feel much better about Comedy Central now. Let me move on to comercials - I can’t stand the one about some high-speed internet, where they guy cleans up a kitchen really fast, and his girfriend says, “Holy sh…” and the scene ends. Or the car commercials, where somebody gets into, or narrowly avoids an accident, and someone says “Holy sh…” and they cut. My opinion is I wouldn’t care if they said “Holy shit” out loud. I’d probably get tired of the commercial sooner, but that’s it. The producers of the commercial know the rules - they’re writing the scripts - if they don’t want to offend, then I say don’t write the psudeo-profanity into the commercial. It’s just sophomoric to “kinda sorta” write it in, then cut it back out. ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2007, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daily-show-and-bleep-censoring/415766/22 "2007-08-16T19:17:53Z")
[QUOTE=Race Bannon] Or the car commercials, where somebody gets into, or narrowly avoids an accident, and someone says “Holy sh..” and they cut. [/QUOTE] Actually, these particular commercials have a point to them. Right after the actor begins to say “Holy shit,” it cuts to a shot of the car with the words “Safe Happens.” It’s a play on “Shit Happens,” so the wink at “Holy shit” is relevant rather than gratuitous. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2007, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daily-show-and-bleep-censoring/415766/23 "2007-08-16T19:21:02Z")
[QUOTE=Otto] I’ll tell you the one I don’t get is Bravo. When they show Kathy Griffin stand-up specials they bleep “dick” but on her reality show she went on at length about having her clit flicked with nary a bleep. [/QUOTE] But she wasn’t mentioning having her clit flicked in a sexual context. ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2007, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daily-show-and-bleep-censoring/415766/24 "2007-08-16T20:24:06Z")
When President Bush told another politician that he believed that Hezbollah should be told to “stop this shit” earlier at the G8 meeting, most news networks left the “shit” unbleeped because of President Bush’s position. Ironically, in the FCC’s recent ruling that uses of “shit” and “fuck” during live awards shows were not indecent, part of the FCC’s reasoning was Bush and Cheney’s uses of these words. As for _The Daily Show_, I believe the reason it is bleeped is because the show reairs during the daytime as well. When the author of the book _On Bullshit_ guest-starred, Jon Stewart made a big to-do about the fact that since the book was all about the word “bullshit,” the word would be unbleeped during the regular 11:00 broadcast but bleeped on the reruns. (Sometimes _The Daily Show_ does leave some swears unbleeped- besides the Bush case, there was also Robert Novak’s infamous “This is bullshit” comment on CNN. I can also recall a Stephen Colbert [I think] piece in which either “shit” or “fuck” was used unbleeped, as well as a recent- presumably unintentional- case in which Jason Jones called an interviewee “fucking pathetic.” Although it was bleeped, the word “fucking” could clearly be heard over the sound of the bleep.) ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2007, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daily-show-and-bleep-censoring/415766/25 "2007-08-16T20:49:17Z")
[QUOTE=Sampiro] …and they fully bleep the N word even when it’s being used jokingly by black comics and rappers about other black comics and rappers. I’ve no idea what their odd rules are. [/QUOTE] I’ve seen the N word used unbleeped on The Daily Show (IIRC), though it was by Larry Wilmore (the Senior Black Correspondent). ---
**Author:** ![Contrapuntal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e274bd/32.png) [@Contrapuntal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrapuntal)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2007, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daily-show-and-bleep-censoring/415766/26 "2007-08-16T20:57:50Z")
[QUOTE=Sampiro] DAILY SHOW is on the former COMEDY CENTRAL which is now known as the _FLAVOR FLAV ROAST CHANNEL_ (how the hell many times are they going to show that thing?) where they don’t beep shit, may as well not beep fuck as basically they cut a little of the ‘u’, and bleep every other dick but not all (though they do bleep pussy) and they fully bleep the N word even when it’s being used jokingly by black comics and rappers about other black comics and rappers. I’ve no idea what their odd rules are. [/QUOTE] They don’t bleep “pussy” in the “You’re a pussy” context. At least, they didn’t the other night when Bill Kristol was the guest. ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2007, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daily-show-and-bleep-censoring/415766/27 "2007-08-16T21:08:50Z")
[QUOTE=Sampiro] But she wasn’t mentioning having her clit flicked in a sexual context. [/QUOTE] She sure was. She was talking about how she wouldn’t go on another date with a particular guy because he was a “clit-flicker” and then went on for several sentences about the flicking (including hand gestures if I recall correctly) and its aftermath. Whereas she was bleeped when telling the story of how, when she lost the Emmy to “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” she flipped them off and yelled “Suck my dick!” They bleeped the word “dick” but did not IIRC blur her illustrative hand gesture. Completely schizophrenic in approach. ---
**Author:** ![Asimovian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asimovian/32/172_2.png) [@Asimovian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asimovian)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2007, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daily-show-and-bleep-censoring/415766/28 "2007-08-16T21:18:25Z")
We have the Venture Brothers (Season 2) DVDs at home, and I was very surprised to learn that things that are bleeped out during the [adult swim] broadcasts were also bleeped out on the DVDs. I don’t think there’s any rational explanation whatsoever other than the belief that the censoring is for added comedy. ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2007, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daily-show-and-bleep-censoring/415766/29 "2007-08-16T21:26:57Z")
[QUOTE=ArchiveGuy] I’ve seen the N word used unbleeped on The Daily Show (IIRC), though it was by Larry Wilmore (the Senior Black Correspondent). [/QUOTE] I was going to mention this. This was after Michael Richards’s nigger incident, and the question was if it was okay for blacks to continue to use the word. I believe John Oliver was with Wilmore, but since Wilmore was black, it was okay for _him_ to say it, so he’d just go over to Wilmore each time. There was a bit at the end with other slurs said by people, such as a gay saying “faggot” and Dan Bahkedhal saying “Dan Bahkedhal.” Who that offends, I have no idea. ---
**Author:** ![Yeeter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/96bed5/32.png) [@Yeeter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yeeter)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2007, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daily-show-and-bleep-censoring/415766/30 "2007-08-16T21:35:30Z")
[QUOTE=Sampiro] My favorite bleeping was when they bleeped the word _pussy_ when said in certain contexts but not when said in others (the British context) on the same episode. [/QUOTE] On Comedy Central there was a stand-up show that followed several comedians along on a tour, and Patton Oswalt opened up a show discussing the rules that were handed to him regarding acceptable words and unacceptable words. It said that the word “dick” could be used to describe a person, but not as a reference to male anatomy. So, he says, “Well what if my penis is really disrespectful of women? I can’t say that my dick is a dick?” They bleeped the first one and let the second one air. Tears in my eyes. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2007, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daily-show-and-bleep-censoring/415766/31 "2007-08-16T21:44:45Z")
[QUOTE=Race Bannon] Or the car commercials, where somebody gets into, or narrowly avoids an accident, and someone says “Holy sh..” and they cut. [/QUOTE] One of my favorite episodes of _The X-Files_ has Mulder saying the “s” word right as the teaser cuts to the opening credits. I laughed so hard I fell off the bed the first time I saw it, and I knew right then that it was going to be one of my favorite episodes. ---
**Author:** ![Baldwin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baldwin/32/7264_2.png) [@Baldwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baldwin)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2007, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daily-show-and-bleep-censoring/415766/32 "2007-08-16T21:58:48Z")
TNT and FX (which I believe are owned by the same company) seem to be fairly liberal with the swearing. On “Saving Grace”, Holly Hunter’s response to meeting an angel of God: “Holy Shit!” ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2007, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daily-show-and-bleep-censoring/415766/33 "2007-08-16T22:01:27Z")
[QUOTE=Baldwin] TNT and FX (which I believe are owned by the same company) [/QUOTE] TNT is a Turner company, FX is part of News Corp. ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2007, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daily-show-and-bleep-censoring/415766/34 "2007-08-16T22:09:22Z")
[QUOTE=Yeeter] On Comedy Central there was a stand-up show that followed several comedians along on a tour, and Patton Oswalt opened up a show discussing the rules that were handed to him regarding acceptable words and unacceptable words. It said that the word “dick” could be used to describe a person, but not as a reference to male anatomy. So, he says, “Well what if my penis is really disrespectful of women? I can’t say that my dick is a dick?” They bleeped the first one and let the second one air. Tears in my eyes. [/QUOTE] What if his penis was also named Richard, but preferred to go by the coloqiual form? Actually, this reminds me of [this cartoon](http://67.15.182.229/bleep.html). ---
**Author:** ![ryobserver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b2d939/32.png) [@ryobserver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ryobserver)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2007, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daily-show-and-bleep-censoring/415766/35 "2007-08-16T23:34:00Z")
[QUOTE=KneadToKnow] One of my favorite episodes of _The X-Files_ has Mulder saying the “s” word right as the teaser cuts to the opening credits. I laughed so hard I fell off the bed the first time I saw it, and I knew right then that it was going to be one of my favorite episodes. [/QUOTE] That was “Bad Blood”. The X-Files producers liked to mess with the Fox censors. There was reportedly a huge fight over whether Mulder could say “Crap!” after being splattered with dung in “War of the Coprophages”. “Jose Chung’s ‘From Outer Space’” makes a running gag of Scully saying “bleep” and “bleeping” whenever she has to quote the foul-mouthed local police detective. At the end, the detective stares at the final crime scene and says “Bleep!” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/daily-show-and-bleep-censoring/415766.md?page=1)