National Review "Against Trump" wallpaper: The GOP 2016 Royal Rumble
A new Trump wallpaper inspired by the upcoming WWE Royal Rumble. Dubbed 'One versus All', reigning Champ Roman Reigns is tasked with defending his title against the 29 other entrants. A stipulation created by WWE Establishment to strip him off his power.
Mirroring this storyline, conservative journal 'The National Review' published a special issue arguing "Against Trump". Featuring 22 prominent conservatives outlining their concerns for Trump as GOP nominee, headlined by APF pundit Glenn Beck and notables like Michael Medved and "top heel" William Kristol.
Donald Trump has already hit back by dismissing the relevance of the magazine whilst feigning concern. A classic Trump retort.
National Review is a failing publication that has lost it's way. It's circulation is way down w its influence being at an all time low. Sad!
Whilst Glenn Beck has been actively warning his conservative viewers and counterparts of Trump, this latest assault might have awakened the GOP frontrunner and spun off a potentially juicier Feud. No doubt Trump will eventually go after Beck's own Media Empire and challenge its influence and financial standing. For now, the new program was teased with this promo on the "crying Glenn Beck"
Word is that crying @GlennBeck left the GOP and doesn't have the right to vote in the Republican primary. Dumb as a rock.
VIDEO: Glenn Beck Interviews Andrew W.K. | "Glenn Beck Program"
GLENN BECK: How do we get people to shed the argument of Politics and also shed the cynicism that "You can't change, you really believe that. You were part of the problem!". Yes we all were, how do we get there? ANDREW W.K: It's very good question and perhaps the pondering of that question is one of the best ways to get there. Staying in touch with the puzzle that it is to be alive and connecting with other people in that way. The confusion that we feel in trying to decide what we think, what we believe. That's natural and I think its actually very healthy to dive as deep as we can into beliefs, ideas and opinions and allow them to make us passionate and inflame us at times but to never let them replace who we really are deep down inside which is a person. And at the worst we lose sight that other people who have different feelings than us, that they're not people
BECK: The problem is people think that you are surrendering your values cause I still believe the things I believe. I still believe they're important... That's what I felt I was fighting for but I got lost in being part of the problem. But people will tell me "You can't give up!". I'm not giving up, I still believe in those things but I don't believe in the way we were trying to attain those things or to defend those things W.K: I completely agree and I think its very noble to be able to recognise that in oneself. Its very easy to get lost in your passion and to be humbled occasionally doesn't mean you're a weak person... to be weak in terms of being open-hearted and open-minded isn't a flaw. In fact to be too proud to have moments of being humbled that's more flawed than anything. Its a way to hold on to who you are but not let define you in a way that cuts you from the rest of humanity.
Comedian Russell Brand in a firefight with Fox News' pundit Sean Hannity
VIDEO: Israel/Palestine, Russell Brand/Sean Hannity: Round 2 (The Trews E114)
CLIP OF SEAN HANNITY (3m 20s): But apparently Russell can't get that through his thick head and possibly fathom that this is the reality RUSSELL BRAND: Its not reality, its a combination of speculation, conjecture and highly contextualised, selected information. That's not reality, that's piecing together a narrative that fits in with Fox News' World view and his own bigoted World view. That's not reality, that's a tiny aperture through which bigoted and particular information is glimpsed, That's sort of the opposite of all-encompassing, wonderful, unknowable reality
Last week President Obama made headlines for appearing on Zach Galifianakis' faux interview show 'Between Two Ferns' presented by 'Funny or Die'. Whilst critics found the parody beneath the dignity of Presidential office, others saw it as astutely reaching out to the youth using their language.
President Obama has always had a crossover appeal due to his perceived cool which proponents (Bill Maher) and detractors (Roseanne Barr) have been critical of in the past. Ultimately its a play for a younger, connected audience. This week, arguably the most influential person on the Right went for an equally influential youth audience - Glenn Beck revealed himself as a "Brony".
VIDEO: Know Your Meme: My Little Pony
KNOW YOUR MEME: (4m) Whilst it may seem the initial fires of war have subsided and each side, those who seek the magical friendship of Ponydom and those who see it a cancer to the web are locked into an unbreakable stalemate. It is prophecised that one great Brony will unite the herd and usher in a new era of love and tolerance to the entire web.
Is Glenn Beck the prophecised Brony Messiah?
Glenn Beck came to the defense of 9 year old Grayson Bruce who was bullied in his Buncombe County school for bringing a 'My Little Pony' lunch bag. Showing solidarity with the boy and his mother, Beck spoke of the callousness of the School Counsellor who suggested he "should hide his lunch box in his backpack and that when you carry things like that these things happen."
#StandWithGrayson: Glenn stands in solidarity with a 9-year-old NC student
GLENN BECK: We're not aficionados on My Little Pony. But I am an aficionado on what it takes to be a man in today's world. And just because you like little ponies means nothing. You having the courage to be who you are and stand up no matter what society says, that is worth its weight in gold.
Send us your snapshots or whatever else you might have and we'll post them. And Grayson, if you and your mom ever want to come down to Dallas, you let me know. You can bring your My Little Pony lunch bag, and I might bring My Little Pony lunch bag. And we can have lunch.
Beck Teases Pre-Election Conservative Summit with Hannity, Levin & Limbaugh
GLENN BECK: I wrote to Sean about a week before I went on vacation and I said "Sean, I do these summer events and this summer, we haven't announced it yet, but I would like to consider doing the first night of a three night event with you and Mark and possibly Rush [if anybody has the guts to ask Rush] and he wrote back immediately "I'm in. I'll talk to Mark"...
This summer event, we hope to announce in the next couple of weeks. I'm thinking it'll be in June... coincidentally this is the summer leading into the Midterm elections...
PAT GRAY: It'd be weird to be united leading into the Midterm elections... It'd be really sad for the other side
Glenn Beck's Summer Rally 2014:
Sean Hannity, Mark Levin, Ann Coulter and Rush Limbaugh
Glenn Beck used a cartoon reference to describe this union of Pundit heavyweights, "when Wonder Twins activate… Something big is happening". I would have preferred a wrestling reference but I feel another set of comic book superfriends are more apt - The Avengers!
Ann Coulter as The Black Widow
A femme fatale, perennially in Black. Ann is tasked with coaxing the powerful Rush Limbaugh into the fold.
Sean Hannity as Captain America
Sean is a "Great American" and a leader in his own right. He is a patriot with a throwback style.
Glenn Beck as Iron Man
A wealthy industrialist and recovering alcoholic, Glenn Beck is the head of this motley crew of conservative pundits
Mark Levin as Thor
Wielding his hammer of justice, Levin is a lawyer with a thunderous voice. Despite fighting alongside Iron Man [Glenn Beck], they have had their battles in the past.
Rush Limbaugh as The Incredible Hulk
You wouldn't want to see him angry. A one man wrecking crew, Rush is the Lethal Weapon crucial to the Avengers winning the war.
Play with the new APF animation below. Toggle the button on the corner left to see the "Avengers Assembled":
Glenn Beck appears on Fox Business' Imus in the Morning (Oct 5, 2009)
Glenn Beck on Career, Life Choices
DON IMUS: Saw you on the cover of Time Magazine. Your book's #1 I noticed this week. Sean Hannity, Rush they both hate you
GLENN BECK: No. No they don't
IMUS: They all hate you
Glenn Beck is arguably the most influential pundit in America today. Placing #34 on the 2013 Forbes Celebrity 100 list. He has amassed upwards of 300,000 paying subscribers for his online Blaze Network and attracts tens of thousands to his Summer rallies. Whilst Beck's popularity with audiences shows no sign of abating, he's always had a mixed reception from his peers.
Rush Limbaugh receives universal praise from his colleagues, Beck previously writing a tribute for the perennial Alpha dog for the Time 100 list. Other pundits are quick to come to Rush' aid when he has come under fire despite being entirely capable of defending himself. Beck hasn't enjoyed such support, in the past Mark Levin has patronisingly referred to him as the "5PM'er", a "circus clown" and the "guy with tourettes". Glenn's 2010 CPAC speech had the distinction of uniting Jon Stewart, Mark Levin and Rush Limbaugh in deriding it.
VIDEO: John Cena chooses The Rock as his partner for Survivor Series
For the most part no pundit is an island. They're cordial with each other, have a sense of solidarity and will appear on each other's shows. Only Limbaugh, Beck and to a lesser extent Michael Savage have the Main Event clout to remain solo. To Beck's credit, he's the only one with the foresight and grace to seek partnerships, mending a rivalry that would not only assist his peers but galvanizes the cause and elevate him higher still. As this exchange on Hannity demonstrates, Beck is doing fine on his own and doesn't really need any help -
Glenn Beck's next Summer rally alongside
Sean Hannity, Ann Coulter, Mark Levin and possibly Rush Limbaugh
Lies, Incompetence & Polling Woes: Hour 3 (Dec 17, 2013)
ANN COULTER: (25m 30s) Is this going to be in Dallas?...
GLENN BECK: We did Dallas two years ago [Restoring Love, 7.28.12]
SEAN HANNITY: You sold out Dallas Stadium?
BECK: Yeah, Cowboys Stadium
HANNITY: You did not sell...
BECK: Yeah we did. Two years ago and only spoken word to do it
HANNITY: How many seats are in Cowboys Stadium?
BECK: For spoken word there is 60
HANNITY: 60, 63 thousand. Something like that. Did you do it in the big stadium with the big
BECK: Yeah, yeah, yeah. It was amazing. It was fun.
...
COULTER: Glenn, do you realise you don't need us
BECK: No I think its really good - I personally think that people on our side, we're winning the argument
Beck explained the dissolution of the "foolish" feud that wedged him apart from influential talkers Sean Hannity and Mark Levin. On the January 30th episode of his show Beck shared the full story:
Glenn explains how he reconnected with Mark Levin and Sean Hannity
GLENN BECK: I am grateful to this audience. I am grateful for you. There was a stupid feud, and the three of us, Sean, and Mark and I, have talked about it... And we know where it came from, and we know who was feeding us lies about each other. And this individual just expected that if they fed us enough lies about each other, we would never talk to each other. And that way he would be able to divide us and keep the Tea Party movement at bay and control it as much as he could or destroy it. And we were foolish.
We are at the end and if talk radio begins to move together and we all understand: I don't do what Sean Hannity does, and he can't do what I can do. Same with Mark. I mean that… Everybody plays a different role. And each of us have an important piece
This is an interesting development for Conservative Talk Radio, especially Beck's consolidation of influence. Glenn not being a wrestling fan used a Saturday Cartoon analogy to describe the improbable teaming of powers "when Wonder Twins activate… Something big is happening... unless you're a progressive then I don’t think you’re going to like this".
Via Glenn Beck's Facebook
Last night I celebrated the purchase of the Studios at Las Colinas with my staff, and unveiled a new piece of artwork to hang in the stairwell as a reminder: Never take yourself too seriously.
Glenn shared the latest piece of art adorning his studio wall on his Facebook page. Glenn has been accused of being a Clown by his detractors, even those ideologically aligned with him
Mark Levin to Glenn Beck: 'Stop acting like a clown'
"The mainstream media is not your friend. It will promote you for the purpose of destroying you," he said, seemingly alluding to the somewhat favorable coverage of Beck’s speech. "Be careful playing footsie with the mainstream media."
"Decide what you are," Levin added, “A circus clown, self-identified, or a thoughtful and wise person. It’s hard to be both."
The aim for effective storytelling in Pro-Wrestling is delaying gratification. In the world of wrestling, the real money is made in Pay-Per-Views (PPVs). The majority of television is devoted to creating hype so people tune in to the next episode or Main Event. Think of it like a TV show with perpetual cliffhangers, forever "to be continued". The trick is in convincing the audience of a substantial resolution, that the upcoming show truly can't be missed. This is the same case for American Politics and Punditry as explained by Jon Stewart and Wyatt Cenac:
Jon Stewart, Wyatt Cenac and Mick Foley endorse the analogy that American Politics is like pro-wrestling
WYATT CENAC: Jon here's your problem. You think politicians wanna win their arguments when all they really wanna do is keep having them. They know arguments are interesting, they energize voters, they keep the money flowing in.
JON STEWART: You're telling me their interest is in conflict, not in resolution?
WYATT CENAC: Yes. Jon do you watch professional wrestling?
APF pundit Glenn Beck is one of the best in the business at creating hype and cutting Wrestling Style promos. A wrestling promo typically features these elements:
1) An opponent identified and denounced - "Somebody in Washington"
2) A resolution date - "You have until Monday"
3) Generating hype and Intimidation - "I don't bluff, I make promises"
4) The consequences, how it will be delivered - "The Blaze will expose it"
Watch Beck as he threatens those in Power with the exposure of damning information regarding a cover-up of the Boston Marathon bombing.
VIDEO: Glenn Beck Gives Government Until Monday to
Come Clean About Boston Bombing Cover-Up
GLENN BECK: Its best coming from you, not coming from a News organisation. Its best coming from you, you have until Monday. We have information on who this man is and listen to me carefully, in your little event world.
We know he is a very bad, bad, bad man. I know that doesn't make much sense to you right now but on Monday it will. It makes sense to somebody in Washington. I don't bluff, I make promises. The truth matters. I've had enough of what you've done to our Country. I thought I had heard and seen it all. I thought that I didn't trust my Government. Oh no. No, no there is no depth that these people won't stoop to. You have until Monday and then the Blaze will expose it
Guess we'll see you Monday when all is revealed.
Update: Below is a taster on what Beck might reveal of the 'event'
One agent told TheBlaze he believes a "voluntary" departure has been signed – that means the Saudi student could be out of the country as early as today. While the official story was going to be “he wanted to go home,” the student was actually being deported.
TheBlaze has been told that by a source that this "looks like they were trying to make this a ‘lone wolf’ crime, so the Saudi government would be spared embarrassment and the U.S. would avoid explaining how a terror cell was active when we had AQ on the run."
Glenn Beck Show: WWE Demonizes Tea Party Character
GLENN BECK: You know I can take it from a lot of people, I really can. I can't take it from the stupid wrestling people, especially since a lot of the people -- I would imagine that a lot of the people who watch wrestling are not New York elites. Now call me crazy, I'm going out on a limb. I don't think a lot of Ivy league Harvard professors are watching WWE. I also don't think a lot of the progressive administration officials are watching the WWE. So who watches it?
I personally think when the WWE comes after the Tea Party, that's like NASCAR coming after the Tea Party. Maybe at a higher level than wrestling...
What's most perplexing isn't that the WWE has created a Politically incorrect Villain to manufacture visceral feelings of hate, that's par for the course in Wrestling. As Glenn Beck and his co-hosts discuss, what's confounding is how the caricature alienates the core audience.
GLENN BECK: ... Who are they appealing to?
STU BURGUIERE: Wouldn't the argument be -- at least one of the arguments would be they're trying to create villains. They do this all the time, they're trying to create a villain. Like when I was a kid, I remember the Iron Sheik. The Iron Sheik was from Iran and was always saying terrible things about America - that doesn't mean the WWE [WWF at the time] didn't like America. They were trying to make a villain out of the Iron Sheik. But this is different, the villain, the guy you're supposed to hate is this stereotype of this conservative I've never met
GLENN BECK: The problem with this is a bunch of Sheiks weren't watching the WWE. So you're making a villain of what? -- 80% of your audience who are tired as it is of being miscast...
It's an understandable observation for Beck to make but those familiar with the theatre of wrestling should be aware that anything goes when it comes to "getting a draw". Whether a reaction is good or bad is negligible as long as it elicits a reaction, the stronger the better. The art is in harnessing those reactions and manipulating them through effective storytelling. At its purest, Wrestling is a circular hype machine not unlike Punditry.
Whilst its curious that WWE would alienate a largely Conservative Wrestling fanbase considering Linda McMahon ran for Senate as a Republican. One needs to be aware of the scruples of WWE Chairman Vince McMahon who has yet to find a cow too sacred to be sacrificed. In service of "the business" Vince has forsaken his own safety, children, money, integrity, marriage, character and even his own death. The manufactured controversy has been successful with the coverage the WWE has received from objections voiced by influential media personalities like Glenn Beck and Alex Jones. A great buildup for the Wrestling Calendar's biggest show of the year, WrestleMania 29 featuring a title match between Mexican Champion Alberto Del Rio and the suddenly relevant Jack Swagger. Instant heat!
MSNBC on suicide watch, admits they are Obama propaganda machine
GLENN BECK: By the way did anyone else notice that Romney had kinda of like a pink upper lip. It looks like he's been sick. I don't know if he was sick but I bet you that he was a sick. This was a performance with him not feeling well... Did you notice the upper lip with it being a little pink from tissue. I think he's got a cold, if this is a guy on Nyquil I'm in. "You had me at Hello"
Its common in the fight game for a fighter to conceal any injuries before entering a fight to not expose possible weaknesses. Sometimes mild illnesses before battle provide for good psychology. Its never used as an excuse for defeat but on the flipside can create a narrative that a sportsman has an imposing will to win, the most famous example being Michael Jordan's "Flu game".
Australian funnyman Shaun Micallef parodies American style pundits for his new ABC show, 'Shaun Micallef's MAD AS HELL'. Micallef's second foray into satirical news after 'Newstopia' in 2007
Shaun displays impressive improv chops reminiscent of Stephen Colbert whilst carving his own path, the program owning its Australianness and preserving Shaun's signature absurd style. The show's title comes from the movie 'Network' (1976). News Anchor, Howard Beale famously rouses his discontented audience with an impassioned "I'm Mad as Hell" speech. APF pundits Keith Olbermann and Glenn Beck have channeled Beale in recent years, Micallef similarly has modeled his comedic Anchorman after him.
All Pundit parodies will forever be judged on the gold standard that is Colbert and Micallef holds up capably as the following monologue shows. Stephen Colbert parodied the bravado and naked passion of punditry with lines like "I speak straight from the gut, okay? I give people the truth, unfiltered by rational argument" and "The 'truthiness' is, anyone can read the news to you. I promise to feel the news at you".
SHAUN MICALLEF: What's all the whooing there. Are you out of your minds? Your sounding very American. You know I don't like that. It's crazy, its the start of the show. Its completely uncalled for reaction in my view. I'm sorry about starting the show in this way. Gun's down, the gun's down. I'm sorry I've never pulled a gun on an audience in my life
I'll be honest with you, I'm very angry this week and I'm not sure why. I feel a certain way about something but when I actually think about it I get just as angry but for a completely different reason and that makes me mad. So my anger this week is unfocused and double what it would be normally. So when how we feel and what we think are on the same road but are traveling in opposite directions you're on a collision course with blind fury and I don't like blind fury. It makes me furious! That's right I'm talking about...
Watch an excerpt of the show, featuring Sean's regular offsider Francis Greenslade.
VIDEO: Shaun Micallef's Mad As Hell - Positivity and Growth Rate
VIDEO: Adam Carolla Glenn Beck Interview GBTV 01-17-12 (TheBlaze.com)
GLENN BECK: (5m 34s)... I said on the air we probably disagree on a lot of stuff but good for him. Listen to him. I know because I heard a clip from you later saying that people were like "How can you be friends with Glenn Beck?". We're not friends.
Why can't people who may or may not disagree with each other on a lot (I don't know what you think about everything), it didn't matter to me. Why can't we have a dialogue like we're having right now without you being in bed with a bad guy like me or me selling out because [of your] language... Why can't we have a normal conversation and come together on big things?
ADAM CAROLLA: I'll tell you why. I think people are in such a hurry to put you in a box that they cannot take the time to peel your onion and they cannot realise that there are shades of grey. We may disagree on religion but we may agree on border policy or raising the taxes and we may disagree on other topics but ultimately we're both family men.
For me I don't really care what your religion is or what you pray to or what colour you are. You're either part of the problem or part of the solution.
BECK: (mild sarcasm) You're not saying content of character?
CAROLLA: I am. I'm just saying there's a big bicycle we're all on. You're either pedaling or your dragging your feet and what you do after you get home is your business. I'm interested in finding the guys who pedal and praise them and I'm not interested in talking about what our differences are in religion. I'm interested in finding the guys dragging their feet and throwing them off the bicycle.
BECK: (impressed) I love you man
In a democracy there are several types of people, those pedaling, those dragging their feet and those who are content or distracted enough that they're not bothered where the bike ends up. Depending on the location and direction of the bike, its reasonable that we might alternate between feet dragging and pedaling.
Adam Carolla closes his conversation by essentially describing the metric of how a wrestler's success is measured - To be taken notice regardless of whether you're loved or hated ('face' or 'heel')
ADAM CAROLLA (13m 2s): Ultimately all you have is your voice, especially when we do what we do [Punditry for Beck, Comedy for Carolla] and if you just speak the truth. The truth as you know it, the truth as you feel it and speak your voice. You'll get a certain amount of people who love you and a certain amount of people that hate you.
But I'd rather have a bunch of people that love me and bunch of people that hate me than a bunch of people in the middle who went "Eh, he's alright". That's what I want.
The worst thing anyone can say about you, I mean back in High School you wanted the Head Cheerleader to either or love you or hate you. The worst answer answer would be "Glenn who? I don't think I know that name".
Glenn Beck who has been gushing of Adam Carolla for his rants on the 'Occupy Wall Street' movement finally welcomes the comedian on his show.
via Glenn Beck's Facebook
Tonight I finally get to meet one of the bravest Americans ever – no, not George Washington... Adam Carolla! Remember his EPIC rant against Occupy Wall Street where he called out the protesters for their out of control sense of entitlement?! Don’t miss my interview with Adam tonight at 5pm ET on GBTV!
VIDEO: Adam Carolla tears OWS, ‘millennials’ a new one
Crossing the midpoint of 2011, two of the most popular heels in America cut memorable farewell promos as they departed their respective companies. Controversial Pundit Glenn Beck is leaving Fox News after 2.5 years with the Network. A stint that catapulted him into the national American consciousness.
VIDEO: Glenn Beck's Final Show
Glenn Beck's Final Show (Transcript)
I'm outside tonight. I want to show you. This is the NewsCorp building. This is where FOX is. That's 6th Avenue. This is Times Square at the end of the block. And this little corner is not even attached to the building. It's kind of hanging out there.
When we started, we were up -- most of the 12th floor? Twelfth floor.
And then, we wanted a space that we could change a little bit so they put us in this studio here. And for a while, we had windows open. For a myriad of reasons, we closed them and they haven't been opened I think since we've been in the studio.
Wrestling superstar CM Punk leaves WWE after a great run that places him as one of the more memorable heels of the past decade. Punk started his WWE career as a 'face' but came into his own when he returned to his natural fit as a villain. Punk intends to leave as WWE champion and unlike Beck is planning to burn bridges on his way out.
VIDEO: CM Punk shoots on his bosses (WWE RAW June 27, 2011)
CM Punk shoot from RAW (June 27, 2011)
I've grabbed so many of Vincent K. McMahon's imaginary brass rings that it's finally dawned on me that they're just that. They’re completely imaginary. The only thing that's real is me, and the fact that day in and day out, for almost six years, I've proved to everybody in the world that I am the best on this microphone, in that ring, and even on commentary.
Nobody can touch me. And yet, no matter how many times I prove it, I'm not on your lovely little collectors' cups, I'm not on the cover of the program, I’m barely promoted, I don’t get to be in movies, I'm not on any crappy show on the USA Network, I’m not on the poster of WrestleMania, I'm not on the signature that’s produced at the start of the show. I'm not on Conan O'Brien, I'm not on Jimmy Fallon, but the fact of the matter is I should be, and trust me, this isn't sour grapes, but the fact that "Dwayne" is in the main event of WrestleMania next year and I’m not makes me sick!
I've talked plenty of times about Glenn Beck's credentials as a Comedy Enthusiast. Beck on his radio show was surprisingly complimentary towards Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert on their rally mostly in reference to their messaging. Gracious as Stewart's 'Rally to Restore Sanity' was considered by many to be a counterpoint to Beck's own 'Restoring Honor Rally'.
Beck was happy to welcome Stewart and Colbert as fellow figureheads of popular protests championing a message of non-partisanship. Where he found fault in the rally was in its comedy. Beck makes it clear he thought the comedic elements were "awful", likening it to a "High School production" so bad it felt like he was in a "tribulation waiting for the second coming of Christ".
Glenn Beck: Media ignores Yusuf Islam's appearance at Stewart's rally
GLENN BECK: On the Jon Stewart rally which, by the way, I thought was an absolute I mean, it was a high school production. It was a high school production, the comedy. And even Jon Stewart. I mean, he said it from stage several times. This didn't work. I mean, it was really bad. Colbert, I thought there were a couple of things
PAT: When he was off stage
GLENN: It was good.
PAT: Everything went pretty well.
GLENN: Yeah. When Jon Stewart was just talking, I thought, okay, this is going to go into you know, this will be good. And then Colbert would come out and it was awful. It was embarrassing.
PAT: It was.
GLENN: I was embarrassed not for Colbert.
PAT: Train wreck.
GLENN: It was beyond it. I was embarrassed for Jon Stewart because he's better than that. And the music was great. I mean, they had really great musical guests and everything else. And the message that Jon Stewart had after the concert was good. I mean, it was very similar to what I said. Just in different, you know, obviously different language. I framed mine in God, but we're better people than what we're allowing ourselves to become. Let's stop being used by, you know, red and blue. And so that was, you know, basically his message. And I think it was a success for him. I think if he wouldn't have given that message, it would have been jump the shark. I think it was jump the shark for Colbert. I don't think Colbert ever recovers from that. Just awful. No, it really was.
Terry Gross interviewed Jon Stewart on Sept. 29 at the 92nd Street Y
in New York City. (Joyce Culver/92nd Street Y)
Jon Stewart recently sat down with NPR's Terry Gross in front of a live audience to discus his show and the upcoming duel rallies he is hosting with Stephen Colbert, 'The Rally to Restore Sanity' and 'March to keep fear alive'.
Jon on distancing the rally as a direct reaction to Glenn Beck's 'Restoring Honor' event
Jon Stewart: The Most Trusted Name In Fake News
"Like everything that we do, the march is merely a construct," he says. "It's merely a format, in the way the book is a format, a show is a format ... to be filled with the type of material that Stephen and I do and the point of view [that we have]. People have said, 'It's a rally to counter Glenn Beck.' It's not. What it is was, we saw that and thought, 'What a beautiful outline. What a beautiful structure to fill with what we want to express in live form, festival form."...
"I very much wanted to avoid the idea that [the march] would be a reaction to him. 'Cause I don't think that'd be fair to him and it's not meant to ridicule activism or the Tea Party movement or religious people."
Stewart on defining what they value and do on the 'Daily Show'
But even though The Daily Show often comes up with facts and stories missed by other news sources, Stewart says, it would be wrong to describe what he does as "journalism."
"We don't do anything but make the connections," he says. "We're just going off our own instinct of, 'What are the connections to this that make sense?' And this really is true: We don't fact-check [and] look at context because of any journalistic criteria that has to be met; we do that because jokes don't work when they're lies. We fact-check so when we tell a joke, it hits you at sort of a gut level — not because we have a journalistic integrity, [but because] hopefully we have a comedic integrity that we don't want to violate."
Jon Stewart on Glenn Beck
On similarities between himself and Glenn Beck
"He's a reaction to what he feels like is the news, and so are we. We actually share quite a bit in common in terms of, not point of view necessarily, but reason for being. We're both in some ways an op-ed. We consider ourselves editorial cartoonists in some respect. Not him, but the show. Op-ed cartoonists, or the Messiah. We're both different...
On deconstructing Beck
"The beautiful thing about what he does is, it's very difficult to argue with his facts. It's the conclusions [that are problematic]. ... It's that slippery slope. ... So what you do is, you just grab together facts and put them together and then do a grab bag of conclusions. Everything is discovered as evidence of secret plots, of secret things that could be occurring."
August 28, 2010. Glenn Beck's 'Restoring Honor' Rally
On August 28, 2010 Glenn Beck organised a rally in Washington DC at the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. Glenn Beck and the rally received some early criticism, accused of hijacking the date which would have been the forty-seventh anniversary of the Great March on Washington, where Civil Rights leader Martin Luther King famously delivered his "I have a Dream" speech.
The 'Restoring Honor' rally turned out to be less overtly political and more religious, honoring America's fighting men and women and a celebration of freedom. Its most notable speakers included Glenn Beck (Conservative Commentator and organiser), Sarah Palin (2008 Republican Vice Presidential nominee) and Alveda King (former Georgia State Representative and niece of Martin Luther King)
Watch the official documentary made by the enterprising Glenn Beck team:
8/28 the Documentary now available on-demand!
This is our first full-length documentary and it’s going to blow you away. It’s an exclusive inside look at the making of the 8-28 Rally. When we say exclusive, we mean it. From the time Glenn arrived in Washington DC to the time he took the stage our cameras were rolling. You will not believe what went on behind the scenes:
• We’ll show you how most of my staff had no idea what the plan was just days before the event.
• You’ll see the panic that took place when we heard that Albert Pujols and Tony LaRussa may not show up.
• And the best part…we’ll tell you the story of how the script to Glenn’s speech went missing on the way to the rally.
You can also watch the simulcast of the event that was originally aired on C-Span 'Restoring Honor' Rally aired on C-Span
VIDEO: Jon Stewart on The Late Show with David Letterman (Sept 29, 2010)
David Letterman and Jon Stewart have used the wrestling analogy to describe American Punditry more than once. So it's no surprise to see Letteman make this comparison between Glenn Beck and Bobby "The Brain" Heenan. What it does show is that Letterman has put some thought to the analogy and that he knows his wrestling.
Jon Stewart on The Late Show with David Letterman (Sept 29, 2010)
DAVID LETTERMAN: ... I finally figured out who Glenn Beck is, he's Bobby Heenan. Do you remember Bobby Heenan?
JON STEWART: Bobby Heenan, the wrestling manager!
LETTERMAN: That's right. That's exactly who Glenn Beck is.
STEWART: Bobby Heenan?
LETTERMAN: Bobby Heenan. Yes. He's just looking to make trouble. He has no idea what he's talking about. He just wants trouble.
Find previous occasions where Letterman and Stewart have used the wrestling analogy here:
Glenn Beck discussed this exchange between Stewart and Letterman with radio co-host Pat Gray on 'The Glenn Beck Program'
Jon Stewart hearts Glenn
PAT: The reference to Bobby Heenan or whatever, whoever he's talking about there is a really good reason not to go on Letterman's irrelevant show. Nobody knows who Bobby Heenan is.
GLENN: Doesn't matter. Look, David Letterman, you know, he doesn't believe, I believe, in anything I say. I don't believe in the things that he believes in.
PAT: Yeah.
GLENN: You know, why would I go there?
PAT: It's a useless exercise.
GLENN: I don't believe
PAT: In futility.
GLENN: Yeah, I don't believe in boycotting anything. I just believe in this: I spend my money and my time in things that I believe in. I don't believe in David Letterman. David Letterman does what David Letterman does. He's funny sometimes, he's I don't know honestly, David, I don't know how you do it every day. I don't know how you are still doing the top 10 and you don't think, really? Again? I'm doing this? I mean, I don't know how you do that...
What is most astonishing about this exchange is that Glenn Beck's showmanship and craft is seemingly not informed through a boyhood interest in wrestling. I hope someone will one day get a chance to ask if Beck ever watched wrestling as a kid. Not knowing who Bobby Heenan offers some clue to the negative.
To enlighten Pat Gray and Glenn Beck, here is a sample of Bobby "The Brain" Heenan's work
(directed at Tucker Carlson after a clip of him is played calling Colbert a pompous jerk)
"Yes a pompous jerk, as opposed to an arrogant douche - who apparently gets to decide who is and who is not a comic.
Tucker and I can talk like this because we already have a visceral negative reaction to each other. Not an ounce of friendship or respect between us. Truly one of the only people in the world I feel that way about,"
I was coming on [to Fox] to promote the book and you were kind enough to have me and I'd always enjoyed being on your program because you really are - especially over there - the fairest person, honestly by a thousand miles. By a mile!
Jon Stewart on Glenn Beck
The Beck thing, I would love to have a conversation with him. I would love it. We could do an hour. Is he like the bubble boy of Fox News?
