Marc Maron, Colt Cabana and Roland Barthes: The intersection of Wrestling, Comedy and Podcasting

During the intro of the 334th episode of WTF with Wrestler Colt Cabana, host Marc Maron explains his tenuous relationship with Wrestling. Despite having Mick Foley on his Air America show and his long-time producer being an Avid wrestling fan, Marc had little appreciation for wrestling growing up. Though in speaking to Colt he was made more aware of the parallels with Wrestling and Stand-up comedy. To initiate his podcast audience with the nuances of Wrestling he read out an essay from French philosopher Roland Barthes on the subject which was particularly illuminating
Listen to the hole episode here - WTF with Marc Maron episode 334:  Colt Cabana

'Mythologies' by Roland Barthes

THE WORLD OF WRESTLING
We are therefore dealing with a real Human Comedy, where the most socially-inspired nuances of passion (conceit, rightfulness, refined cruelty, a sense of 'paying one's debts') always felicitously find the clearest sign which can receive them, express them and triumphantly carry them to the confines of the hall. It is obvious that at such a pitch, it no longer matters whether the passion is genuine or not. What the public wants is the image of passion, not passion itself. There is no more a problem of truth in wrestling than in the theater. In both, what is expected is the intelligible representation of moral situations which are usually private. This emptying out of interiority to the benefit of its exterior signs, this exhaustion of the content by the form, is the very principle of triumphant classical art. Wrestling is an immediate pantomime, infinitely more efficient than the dramatic pantomime, for the wrestler's gesture needs no anecdote, no decor, in short no transference in order to appear true...

- TXC 'Total Xtreme Comedy': Wrestlers Mick Foley and Colt Cabana performing stand-up
- Mick Foley: Politics is just like wrestling
- Jon Stewart, Wyatt Cenac and Mick Foley endorse the analogy that American Politics is like pro-wrestling
- Mick Foley and Sean Morley: When wrestlers become pundits

PunditFight Technical issues

Output on PunditFight has been sporadic at best and will be slow for the foreseeable future. Being abroad in 2011 and focused on other projects in 2012, as it stands PunditFight will stay up largely as an archive of the 'Politics is Wrestling' meme.

Some server issues have meant that a lot of the animations and blog graphics are [at least temporarily] unavailable. So too was the PunditFight.com domain which featured an Artist bio and other assorted illustrations.

Thank You for supporting the blog and kindly enjoy the archives

Political Kombat '12: Obama vs. Romney - Fighting game parody

VIDEO: Political Kombat '12 - Obama vs. Romney

A great Mortal Kombat parody incorporating all the tropes associated with President Obama and the challenger Mitt Romney. The animation created by Taige Jensen and Andrew Bouvé features all the key issues of the Candidate and animates them as 'Special Moves'.

Political Kombat '12: Obama vs. Romney

Find other Kombat videos here:
- Political Kombat '12: Obama vs. Trump
- Political Kombat '12 (Romney vs. Rick Santorum + Herman Cain )

NY Times statistician Nate Silver tells Stephen Colbert "he doesn't like pundits"

VIDEO: Nate Silver interview on the 'Colbert Report'

STEPHEN COLBERT: Are you tying to put pundits out of work? Cuz CNN doesn't need any more help
(audience laughter)
NATE SILVER: I'm just trying to explain to people that pundits can be very entertaining but...
COLBERT: What's you opinion on Pundits? C'mon shoot from the hip
SILVER: I'm not very pro-pundit I have to say. I would vote against it... I think a lot of people get on TV and they don't really have a lot of conviction behind them. It kinda becomes a game to entertain the audience or the other half of the audience or whatever else right...
COLBERT: That is the longest possible way of calling him [Joe Scarborough] a bullsh*tter

- Colbert Mocks Scarborough For Trusting His 'Gut' Over Nate Silver's 'Math'
- How Obama got Elected: John Ziegler vs. Nate Silver

Meme prediction: Romney and Obama go toe to toe at the 2nd Presidential debate

I'm quite late with my meme prediction for the 2nd Presidential Debate but the lasting visuals were apparent for anyone who watched any coverage of the event. Truth be told, the optics were predictable considering the freedom of movement afforded to the Candidates in the Town Hall format.

(16m 12s) Challenger Romney harangues President Obama
in regards to his handling of local oil production

(1h 4m) Romney challenges Obama on his own "Chinese Investments",
questioning if he's checked his pension of late

Meme prediction: Joe Biden can't control his laughter at the Vice Presidential Debate

For the Vice Presidential debate, the meme has to be Joe Biden dismissing Paul Ryan with uncontrollable laughter. Reminiscent of a wrestler bristling off a challenge from someone he considers no contest.

Joe Biden laughing off Paul Ryan at the Vice Presidential Debate

APF Pundit Dennis Miller conceded Biden's performance might have been considered a win but also off-putting to some

The Dennis Miller Show: Give Biden a 10
BIDEN: I do think he was perfectly emblematic of contemporary liberals... that's how I see them, how I saw Biden last night - protective of their time, covetous of yours. Constantly laughing, grinning or throwing their hands up when you're making your point and expect that you'll sit there and act like you're in cyclical when you're speaking. And usually to pull that off they need a magician's assistant (Debate Moderator Martha Raddatz)...

Glenn Beck says Romney might've been sick "this was a performance with him not feeling well"

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".