# Is Shepard Smith (Fox News anchor) a comedian or performance artist? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 5, 2012, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-shepard-smith-fox-news-anchor-a-comedian-or-performance-artist/614822 "2012-03-05T15:35:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![tullsterx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e9bcb4/32.png) [@tullsterx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tullsterx)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2012, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-shepard-smith-fox-news-anchor-a-comedian-or-performance-artist/614822/21 "2012-08-02T16:16:00Z")
He’s pretty pedestrian. But, my wife is really creeped-out by him. And it’s not that she disagrees with him or anything, she just. . . can’t stand him. ---
**Author:** ![Speak\_to\_me\_Maddie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/58956e/32.png) [@Speak\_to\_me\_Maddie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Speak_to_me_Maddie)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2012, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-shepard-smith-fox-news-anchor-a-comedian-or-performance-artist/614822/22 "2012-08-02T16:29:25Z")
My mom is a Fox News addict, so much so I have to make agreements with her to have it shut off for certain periods of time when we visit her home. This is much easier now that we have kids (they’d rather watch Dora grandma). Strangely enough Shep is the only anchor she won’t watch. I’ve watched him to see what turns her off. I can’t figure it out. At times he seems to feign outrage at some mundane story he reports. It seems an intentional form of irony in the way he does it. Maybe she doesn’t like him because he doesn’t always seem seriously outraged like the rest of Fox News (Chris Wallace excepted imho). ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2012, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-shepard-smith-fox-news-anchor-a-comedian-or-performance-artist/614822/23 "2012-08-02T16:32:01Z")
His reaction to Newt Gingrich supporting Mitt Romney was hilarious [“Politics is weird…and creepy…”](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YuF03PTNpp8) I love him, personally. ---
**Author:** ![steronz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steronz/32/11765_2.png) [@steronz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/steronz)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2012, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-shepard-smith-fox-news-anchor-a-comedian-or-performance-artist/614822/24 "2012-08-02T17:03:01Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > His reaction to Newt Gingrich supporting Mitt Romney was hilarious > > [“Politics is weird…and creepy…”](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YuF03PTNpp8) > > I love him, personally. I love him after this thread, and this clip especially. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2012, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-shepard-smith-fox-news-anchor-a-comedian-or-performance-artist/614822/25 "2012-08-02T17:48:48Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > Another [zinger](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/02/shep-smith-chick-fil-a-intolerance_n_1732378.html)from Shep – calls Chik-Fil-A Appreciation Day the “National Day of Intolerance.” And on Fox! Nice. I wonder if he gets called onto the carpet for stuff like that. ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2012, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-shepard-smith-fox-news-anchor-a-comedian-or-performance-artist/614822/26 "2012-08-02T18:07:09Z")
Someone has to pick up the slack now that Colmes is gone. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2012, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-shepard-smith-fox-news-anchor-a-comedian-or-performance-artist/614822/27 "2012-08-02T18:07:12Z")
> [@Revtim](#): > > Nice. I wonder if he gets called onto the carpet for stuff like that. He also called not supporting gay marriage as “being on the wrong side of history.” Somehow, he gets a hall pass from Roger Ailes. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2012, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-shepard-smith-fox-news-anchor-a-comedian-or-performance-artist/614822/28 "2012-08-02T19:40:18Z")
I never watch Fox News, but on The Soup (I think) saw [this clip](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYoOQVJQ6xc) of Shepard Smith praising True Blood. It’s kind of hilarious. ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2012, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-shepard-smith-fox-news-anchor-a-comedian-or-performance-artist/614822/29 "2012-08-03T00:48:37Z")
> [@Jack\_Batty](#): > > Someone has to pick up the slack now that Colmes is gone. This has some relevance to Shep’s schtick. I think he’s very well aware of his “lone-duck” status as the sole voice of reason over at Fox and he loves doing everything he can to rub it in their faces; with a straight, expressionless face himself of course. 😛 “Deadpan newscasting.” ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2012, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-shepard-smith-fox-news-anchor-a-comedian-or-performance-artist/614822/30 "2012-08-03T04:24:02Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > [Ha!](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ClqfJp4WBBQ) [gaydar] Ping-ping-ping-ping-ping! [/gaydar] I thought I shut that damned thing off. Oh, and regarding the OP: Performance artist. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2012, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-shepard-smith-fox-news-anchor-a-comedian-or-performance-artist/614822/31 "2012-08-03T05:39:46Z")
Looks like and reminds me of Ray Wise. ---
**Author:** ![Onomatopoeia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/onomatopoeia/32/4145_2.png) [@Onomatopoeia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Onomatopoeia)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2012, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-shepard-smith-fox-news-anchor-a-comedian-or-performance-artist/614822/32 "2012-08-03T17:51:54Z")
> [@tullsterx](#): > > He’s pretty pedestrian. > > But, my wife is really creeped-out by him. And it’s not that she disagrees with him or anything, she just. . . can’t stand him. > [@Speak\_to\_me\_Maddie](#): > > Strangely enough Shep is the only anchor she won’t watch. I’ve watched him to see what turns her off. I can’t figure it out. At times he seems to feign outrage at some mundane story he reports. It seems an intentional form of irony in the way he does it. Maybe she doesn’t like him because he doesn’t always seem seriously outraged like the rest of Fox News (Chris Wallace excepted imho). I think it’s because when viewers turn on FOX, they enter a kind of bubble where a certain perspective, and only that perspective, is expected. Shep Smith sometimes lends an air of legitimacy to the other side’s arguments, and that’s simply not acceptable to most FOX viewers. When he says things like Republicans are on the wrong side of history when it comes to Gay rights, or something positive about Obama, it’s like finger nails on a chalk board to FOX viewers. They don’t want anything to intrude into their single point of view bubble. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-shepard-smith-fox-news-anchor-a-comedian-or-performance-artist/614822.md?page=1)