# Did Glenn Beck kill a frog on live TV, or is he just an idiot? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [September 24, 2009, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-glenn-beck-kill-a-frog-on-live-tv-or-is-he-just-an-idiot/511333 "2009-09-24T03:28:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2009, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-glenn-beck-kill-a-frog-on-live-tv-or-is-he-just-an-idiot/511333/81 "2009-09-24T20:14:18Z")
Wait a minute… How many times has Glen Beck raped and murdered a young woman? And when? And most importantly: _how long did the assault last?_ ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2009, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-glenn-beck-kill-a-frog-on-live-tv-or-is-he-just-an-idiot/511333/82 "2009-09-24T20:17:54Z")
According to reliable hookers, about 45 seconds. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2009, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-glenn-beck-kill-a-frog-on-live-tv-or-is-he-just-an-idiot/511333/83 "2009-09-24T20:29:59Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > You forgot “boiled”. So: _Crunchy Raw Unboned Real Dead BOILED FrogTM_ But if we boil it, it wouldn’t be _raw_. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2009, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-glenn-beck-kill-a-frog-on-live-tv-or-is-he-just-an-idiot/511333/84 "2009-09-24T20:31:41Z")
Huh. I’m going to have to work on that concept… ---
**Author:** ![Drain\_Bead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e47774/32.png) [@Drain\_Bead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drain_Bead)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2009, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-glenn-beck-kill-a-frog-on-live-tv-or-is-he-just-an-idiot/511333/85 "2009-09-24T20:34:12Z")
> [@Ichbin\_Dubist](#): > > I’ll bet the frog jumped out of the water as soon as no one was looking. It’s a common behavior among frogs in the entertainment industry. Or so I’ve heard. _If you refuse me, honey you’ll lose me, then you’ll be left alone…_ ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2009, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-glenn-beck-kill-a-frog-on-live-tv-or-is-he-just-an-idiot/511333/86 "2009-09-24T21:03:50Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > If Colbert did it, he would do it in a way that made _sense_. If Beck was really faking it as a joke, could somebody please explain the joke? I don’t get it. The joke is pretty much perfectly explained in the OP, except that the OP didn’t realize it was a joke. The setup is that Beck tries to make a demonstration of how Obama is damaging to America. The punchline is that he screws up the demonstration and accidentally boils a frog on live television. The earlier poster who compared it to the WKRP turkey episode was spot-on. I wouldn’t be surprised if that was a deliberate inspiration for the sketch. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2009, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-glenn-beck-kill-a-frog-on-live-tv-or-is-he-just-an-idiot/511333/87 "2009-09-24T21:08:07Z")
That would make no sense in context. It undermines his own point. ---
**Author:** ![wierdaaron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/eada6e/32.png) [@wierdaaron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wierdaaron)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2009, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-glenn-beck-kill-a-frog-on-live-tv-or-is-he-just-an-idiot/511333/88 "2009-09-24T21:26:44Z")
Sketch. Yes. On a news show. On Fox NEWS. If Fox would just call themselves Fox Politics, or create a new spinoff network called Fox Politics, and let Beck and Hannity go crazy over there, I would be completely fine with that. My beef is that this shit gets paraded around as news on a news network that broadcasts news to people who want to know the news, when it isn’t news at all. It’s politics. Fox Politics. What lamp do I have to rub to make that happen? ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2009, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-glenn-beck-kill-a-frog-on-live-tv-or-is-he-just-an-idiot/511333/89 "2009-09-24T21:37:04Z")
Through my Brazilian wife, I was introduced to the phrase “to kill a frog”— _matar o sapo_, actually “kill the toad,” as in _Quem matou o sapo_? meaning “who farted?” In that sense, I’ve no doubt that Glenn Beck has killed quite a number of frogs while on (and off) the air. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2009, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-glenn-beck-kill-a-frog-on-live-tv-or-is-he-just-an-idiot/511333/90 "2009-09-24T21:47:51Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > That would make no sense in context. It undermines his own point. You’re assuming that the political message was the point of the sketch. This is not the case. The point of the sketch was to re-enforce his goofy, everyday Joe persona. Keep in mind that the purpose of Glenn Beck’s show is not to teach people new things. It’s to confirm things that people already believe. It doesn’t cost him anything to undermine his rhetorical point, because it’s a foregone conclusion that his audience already agrees with it. What keeps the audience coming back is the perception that he’s an average guy who screws up occasionally, as counterpoint to the imagined humorless, ivory tower elite who would never cop to any sort of imperfection. ---
**Author:** ![emcee2k](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7bcc69/32.png) [@emcee2k](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/emcee2k)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2009, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-glenn-beck-kill-a-frog-on-live-tv-or-is-he-just-an-idiot/511333/91 "2009-09-24T21:56:28Z")
> [@Bosstone](#): > > This would carry a lot more weight if people said they watch Glenn Beck because he’s funny. > > They don’t. They watch him because he “speaks truth to power,” because he provides a rallying point, because he _sniff_ _cares_ about _choke_ this great country of ours. > > If he’s funny, I ain’t laughin’, and neither are his followers. They _believe_. Show me _one_ person who likes watching Colbert because they think he speaks truth when he talks about how bears are the number one threat to the country. > > Heck, show me someone who likes Beck because he’s funny. I’d love to be shown wrong. I’m not saying the entire show is supposed to be joke, I talking about this one little bit. And yes, it was joke. I’m sorry, but, you’d have to be pretty dense not to see that. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2009, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-glenn-beck-kill-a-frog-on-live-tv-or-is-he-just-an-idiot/511333/92 "2009-09-24T22:09:58Z")
> [@Bosstone](#): > > This would carry a lot more weight if people said they watch Glenn Beck because he’s funny. > > They don’t. They watch him because he “speaks truth to power,” because he provides a rallying point, because he _sniff_ _cares_ about _choke_ this great country of ours. Isn’t that a big part of why people watch Jon Stewart? > [@](#): > > Heck, show me someone who likes Beck because he’s funny. I’d love to be shown wrong. Well, he’s got his own [comedy tour](http://www.usatoday.com/life/people/2009-04-12-beck-comedy_N.htm?csp=34), so at least _he_ thinks he’s funny. ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2009, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-glenn-beck-kill-a-frog-on-live-tv-or-is-he-just-an-idiot/511333/93 "2009-09-24T22:16:30Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > Isn’t that a big part of why people watch Jon Stewart? Yeah, but he’d be the first to tell people they shouldn’t watch for that reason, that it’s just a comedy show. Though he has been blurring the lines this past year. He actually made that very point to Jim Cramer during their feud. The Daily Show is entertainment and never pretends otherwise, while Mad Money passes itself off as giving solid investment advice with only a small-print disclaimer at the end. Beck is the same way, someone who thinks he’s an entertainer but is acting as something else. ---
**Author:** ![emcee2k](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7bcc69/32.png) [@emcee2k](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/emcee2k)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2009, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-glenn-beck-kill-a-frog-on-live-tv-or-is-he-just-an-idiot/511333/94 "2009-09-24T22:26:17Z")
> [@wierdaaron](#): > > Sketch. Yes. On a news show. On Fox NEWS. > > If Fox would just call themselves Fox Politics, or create a new spinoff network called Fox Politics, and let Beck and Hannity go crazy over there, I would be completely fine with that. My beef is that this shit gets paraded around as news on a news network that broadcasts news to people who want to know the news, when it isn’t news at all. It’s politics. Fox Politics. What lamp do I have to rub to make that happen? There’s a difference between news and news commentary. Every one of the 24 news networks have news commentary shows and I don’t think any of them are trying to pass them off as unbiased. ---
**Author:** ![CannyDan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cannydan/32/548_2.png) [@CannyDan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CannyDan)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2009, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-glenn-beck-kill-a-frog-on-live-tv-or-is-he-just-an-idiot/511333/95 "2009-09-24T22:30:23Z")
Oh for pity’s sake people, there’s a **commercial break** between his cooking the frog, and his ostentatious removal of a fake frog from the pot. Even if he hasn’t the native intelligence to realize that his little “demonstration” would bring him more hell from PETA than all the liberals in the country could bring to bear for other, more substantive reasons, someone somewhere in the studio must have. And there was ample opportunity to concoct a subterfuge. I once supplied and “wrangled” (trade-speak for an animal handler) the “sparrows” (actually African weaver finches) for a TV commercial featuring a home improvement store. Home builder dude didn’t ask for the help and advice provided free by the sponsor, so the fruit of his labor, a front porch, collapsed when a sparrow landed on the rail. We filmed it, including a rather pleasingly crashing full sized wooden porch complete with air cannons and clouds of dust. On review of the film, it appeared that talent had thrown his hammer in disgust, at the poor birdie. Three hours of porch rebuilding later, and after a stern lecture of Mr Talent by the Director, we shot it again. Crash, boom goes porch, talent tosses hammer away in disgust, but again, on film, it looks like he threw it at the bird. The parts could no longer be re-assembled into anything like a porch. So eventually, after several meetings and exploration of options including just tossing the whole commercial into the shit can, we had to improvise a final scene wherein the bird flies up from the pile of jackstraws the porch has become, sort of like a small, brown phoenix. Hey, I was happy—we were billing them $350 an hour, for as long as we were needed on set. But we were a minor expense; the sound stage and all the associated other persons and things were costing something like $15,000 an hour. The moral of this little tale is that bloody everybody knows the power of PETA, and will bend heaven and earth, and spare no expense, to keep from inviting their wrath, even when no animal was actually harmed. I fully expect that this was quite real. Glenn Beck, black-versus-white-there-are-no-shades-of-grey ideological simpleton that he is, probably believed the metaphor in all of its apparent—well, \* truthiness\*. He really, truly thought that frog was gonna jump on out, just like people were jumping up all over the country from Obama’s boiling pot of socialism, that being the message he had so painstakingly set up. He was able to ignore what had happened and change subject in midstream. Then at commercial, or perhaps in his earpiece even before commercial, was probably told that a bailout was necessary. Luckily somebody was able to come up with a fake frog. Perhaps it was already on set, available for Glen to use as a hand prop after the demonstration with the live frog. Of course, foisting off this lie on TV would have been no issue for either Glenn or his associates at Fox. They’ve told lots of far bigger whoppers before. ---
**Author:** ![Hamlet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hamlet/32/2818_2.png) [@Hamlet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hamlet)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2009, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-glenn-beck-kill-a-frog-on-live-tv-or-is-he-just-an-idiot/511333/96 "2009-09-24T22:32:30Z")
> [@emcee2k](#): > > I’m not saying the entire show is supposed to be joke, I talking about this one little bit. > > And yes, it was joke. I’m sorry, but, you’d have to be pretty dense not to see that. Is it a joke that Glenn Beck still hasn’t answered questions about the accusation that he raped and murdered a young girl in 1990? Is that a joke? On a more serious note, you are absolutely right. It was obviously a skit intended to be funny. And, compared to the right wing’s other attempts at humor, it was fine. Of course, that’s damning by faint praise. Did you know that Glenn Beck has refused to undergo DNA testing to prove he didn’t rape and kill any young girl in 1990? THAT’S what is important. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2009, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-glenn-beck-kill-a-frog-on-live-tv-or-is-he-just-an-idiot/511333/97 "2009-09-24T22:53:16Z")
> [@Laudenum](#): > > And then the Salamander was free to go? > > Right? > > Right? No. Then we waterboarded them. Salamanders _love_ being waterboarded. ---
**Author:** ![emcee2k](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7bcc69/32.png) [@emcee2k](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/emcee2k)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2009, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-glenn-beck-kill-a-frog-on-live-tv-or-is-he-just-an-idiot/511333/98 "2009-09-24T22:58:19Z")
> [@CannyDan](#): > > I once supplied and “wrangled” (trade-speak for an animal handler) the “sparrows” (actually African weaver finches) for a TV commercial featuring a home improvement store. Home builder dude didn’t ask for the help and advice provided free by the sponsor, so the fruit of his labor, a front porch, collapsed when a sparrow landed on the rail. We filmed it, including a rather pleasingly crashing full sized wooden porch complete with air cannons and clouds of dust. On review of the film, it appeared that talent had thrown his hammer in disgust, at the poor birdie. Three hours of porch rebuilding later, and after a stern lecture of Mr Talent by the Director, we shot it again. Crash, boom goes porch, talent tosses hammer away in disgust, but again, on film, it looks like he threw it at the bird. The parts could no longer be re-assembled into anything like a porch. So eventually, after several meetings and exploration of options including just tossing the whole commercial into the shit can, we had to improvise a final scene wherein the bird flies up from the pile of jackstraws the porch has become, sort of like a small, brown phoenix. Hey, I was happy—we were billing them $350 an hour, for as long as we were needed on set. But we were a minor expense; the sound stage and all the associated other persons and things were costing something like $15,000 an hour. The moral of this little tale is that bloody everybody knows the power of PETA, and will bend heaven and earth, and spare no expense, to keep from inviting their wrath, even when no animal was actually harmed. > > I fully expect that this was quite real. Glenn Beck, black-versus-white-there-are-no-shades-of-grey ideological simpleton that he is, probably believed the metaphor in all of its apparent—well, \* truthiness\*. He really, truly thought that frog was gonna jump on out, just like people were jumping up all over the country from Obama’s boiling pot of socialism, that being the message he had so painstakingly set up. He was able to ignore what had happened and change subject in midstream. Then at commercial, or perhaps in his earpiece even before commercial, was probably told that a bailout was necessary. Luckily somebody was able to come up with a fake frog. Perhaps it was already on set, available for Glen to use as a hand prop after the demonstration with the live frog. Of course, foisting off this lie on TV would have been no issue for either Glenn or his associates at Fox. They’ve told lots of far bigger whoppers before. These two paragraphs don’t jive. First you say everyone it that business is afraid of PETA, then you say Beck’s show set up an entire segment around an experiment that involved throwing a live frog into boiling water. Regardless of the expected outcome, the fact that they threw it in in the first place would be bad enough. ---
**Author:** ![CannyDan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cannydan/32/548_2.png) [@CannyDan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CannyDan)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2009, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-glenn-beck-kill-a-frog-on-live-tv-or-is-he-just-an-idiot/511333/99 "2009-09-24T23:31:00Z")
> [@emcee2k](#): > > These two paragraphs don’t jive. > > First you say everyone it that business is afraid of PETA, then you say Beck’s show set up an entire segment around an experiment that involved throwing a live frog into boiling water. Regardless of the expected outcome, the fact that they threw it in in the first place would be bad enough. Perhaps Glenn set up his little demonstration, even turning deaf ears to anyone who dared question his brilliant idea of stagecraft. If he actually holds the power that he appears to wield over most of Republican-dom, having “creative control” of his own set surely isn’t too much to believe. After all, what could possibly go wrong? Everybody knows a frog will jump out of a pot of boiling water… When it actually went very, very wrong, their was neither _oops!_ nor apology. Only a swift dash to disemble away any culpability. Seen that before, haven’t we? No proof to offer, I admit. Perhaps I just \*\*\*want \*\*\*to believe that Glenn Beck is both this big and this small an asshole. And, I really like frogs. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2009, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-glenn-beck-kill-a-frog-on-live-tv-or-is-he-just-an-idiot/511333/100 "2009-09-24T23:51:31Z")
Nobody’s really afraid of PETA. PETA is noisy but does not really have much, if any, influence over advertisers or public perceptions. They certainly aren’t going to have much sway over the Fox News audience. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-glenn-beck-kill-a-frog-on-live-tv-or-is-he-just-an-idiot/511333.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-glenn-beck-kill-a-frog-on-live-tv-or-is-he-just-an-idiot/511333.md?page=6)