Monday, June 15, 2009
Bruce Bawer pens an ode to Howard Stern: Howard Stern, Man's Best Friend. I used to love Stern, and watched his cable show, his E! show, read his books...even paid for his New Year's Rotten Eve pay per view special. Eventually I got bored with Stern and stopped listening, then his move to satellite made any return of mine unlikely at best.
But that's not why I'm posting this. I'm actually posting in regard to David Letterman. I remembered from my days as a listener (and a watcher of the E! show -- I think this was simulcast) an appearance of David Letterman on Stern's show and one brief exchange they had on it -- just one of those quirks of memory that this little exchange from back in 1996 stuck with me. Letterman's classless joke (and his even less classy defense) regarding Sarah Palin's kid made me remember it, and Bawer's piece gave me the nudge to see if I could find it. Bingo:
Listen at about 1:05. They are discussing what was going on during a Stern appearance on the Letterman show during the commercial break. Here's an approximate, cleaned-up, transcript (there's a lot of cross talk, mumbling and sentence fragments):
Howard Stern: OK talk about your personal life. So, you could have any girl...You once got mad at me cause I talked about your personal life...I read an article in the Enquirer...you yelled at me during the commercials...
David Letterman: It was upsetting to me because your comments had made my, my, they were upsetting to me and to my girlfriend...
HS: Right.
DL: And so when you're in a relationship you, if you don't stand up for, uh, something that's unpleasant or making your girlfriend unhappy then you're a weasel [Crosstalk: DL: ...unintelligible...You're a skunk? HS: Yeah, but meanwhile...] I had to take you down a peg, pal! [Crosstalk: HS: Yeah, cause you did!] I had to knock the wind out of you buddy!
HS: What's weird about that incident, I was in the middle of trying to be funny on your show...listen to me...stay with me on this [Crosstalk: DL: Howard...Howard (repeating...)]
Robin Quivers: Yeah, cause I'm trying to figure out how she would know he stood up for her.
[Crosstalk: DL: In the middle of trying... HS: He told her. He went home...]
RQ: Yeah, but the whole idea is to do it in public so everybody knows...
HS: You shoulda told me off on the show...
RQ: Yeah.
DL: I was graceful...I was gracious enough, I did the gentlemanly...[Crosstalk]
HS: I went home that night, I was all shook up. I started to write Dave a letter to say Hey, I sit there...[Crosstalk...DL: ...letter from Howard...] Yeah but I never sent it and I'll tell you why. I was sittin' there and I was sayin' well what did I do wrong? I goof around on the radio all the time...it was...you're girlfriend's probably a beautiful woman, but it was a bad picture of her in the Enquirer, they had her jogging with her hair back...
DL: I understand that, you understand that, she doesn't understand that. She's unaccustomed to having people say unpleasant things about her on the radio. I had to react to that. That's all that was...
HS: Well wasn't I in the middle of trying to be funny? You don't yell at me when I...
DL: You're still trying to be funny...
HS: I see... [Laughter] So you still with the same girlfriend?
DL: Yeah.
HS: You are? You stick to the one girl...
The Palins aren't just politicians, they're parents, and they're probably GD sick of their kids being used as political targets. Letterman wears his liberal politics on his sleeve, but when he gets called on it, back he slinks into a "You can't criticize me, I'm just a comedian stance," trying to turn the criticisms back on those who are making them. Well too bad. When the shoe was on the other foot, and Letterman's adult girlfriend was being made fun of, his attitude was a little bit different. The Palins wouldn't be much ("weasels" to use Letterman's own term) if they sat back and didn't defend their own teen children from classless jerks like Letterman. He should be on notice (and take his own advice), and stick to making fun of the grownups.
He doesn't get it, not just because he's a celebrity surrounded by yes-men, but because these are the kinds of jokes he's hearing being told around him so, he figures, why shouldn't he get in on the act? And what's the big deal? After all, everyone in his New York liberal circles talks like this. There's no one to tell him to lay off the kids. Telling.
Update: CBS loses advertiser. [via Ace]
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, p.44
Wow. What a find (and pretty sharp analysis, as well).
Thanks! (I added a paragraph I meant to jot down earlier.)
There is such an insipid, picknose, wastrel and light-weight quality to this ("superficial" doesn't really capture it, even "moronic" falls short) that the bare fact that it does somehow require comment is itself a cultural and political marker. Pop culture can reflect a simple and beguiling spirit of fun and remove from the day-to-day grind, the wear-and-tear. But, stuff like this David Letterman, automaton, laugh-track schtick is simply pitiably sad. Still, it does in fact necessitate commentary and reflection, perhaps much as a sewage treatment center is needed. Though even comments such as the latter come across as gratuitous, despite their simple descriptive force.
The continuing attack on the Palins even since they have returned to Alaska and away from the National Stage is indicative of the ferocity with which the Western Left, Elites hold the average white European Westerner and their culture in contempt. They despise the Western Redneck, yet they see the savages in the jungles of Amazon as a culture worthy of the highest respect and protection.