Posts Tagged ‘David Letterman’
What We Learnt From David Letterman’s Retirement: Be Online And Be A White Male
David Letterman at the taping of his first talk-comedy hour
Date: 01/02/1982
FOR years, David Letterman has been a televisual tour-de-force. However, the rug was getting pulled from under his feet, thanks to being old-school.
Of course, the only thing more old-school than Letterman himself, is the business he works in.
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Posted: 14th, April 2014 | In: TV & Radio | Comment
Barack Obama shows David Cameron show to do Letterman
BARACK Obama went on the David Letterman show. So Did David Cameron. The Prime Minister came away looking like a man imbued with all the gravitas or a welk and the sharpness of a blunt tool:
Posted: 1st, October 2012 | In: Politicians | Comment
Homophobia, David Letterman, GLAAD, Amanda Sampson And Banning The ‘Tranny’
STAFF shagger David Letterman makes a joke about Amanda Sampson – who was born ‘Mitch‘ and now works at the U.S. Department of Commerce – and people at the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) are unhappy.
GLAAD? Does the acornym follow the name, or is it the other way around? Is every label an acronym dmeanding to be written in capital letters: GAY (Get A Yacht), Homo (He Owes Me One), NORWICH (K-Nickers Off Reqdy When I Come Home)? DISCUSS.
GLAAD issues a statement:
“Depicting people reacting in horror to transgender individuals is a dangerous stereotype for popular media to perpetuate because it contributes to the societal conception of transgender people as abnormal and deceptive, which all-too-often results in anti-transgender violence and/or discrimination when played out in reality. We are reaching out to CBS Late Show with David Letterman with our concerns about this transphobic joke. Please send your concerns to CBS.”
Meanwhile, over in the UK press, the word Tranny or TRANNY is being outlawed. MacGuffin looks at it:
A about a Sunday Life article headlined ‘Tranny worked in rape centre’ was upheld in what the PCC called:
a landmark ruling on the use of terminology in this area.
Taking into account the full context of the piece, the Commission considered that the use of the word ‘tranny’ – which was a needless abbreviation, held by many to be offensive – was pejorative. The complaint was upheld on this point.
If the PCC regard ‘tranny’ as ‘needless’, ‘offensive to many’ and ‘pejorative’ – as they should – then context should not matter.
The PCC added that this was the first ruling under a change to the Code which occurred in 2005 after representations from community organisations:
Individuals who are undergoing or have undergone treatment for gender reassignment will be included in the categories offered protection from prejudicial or pejorative references.
All of which should mean that the word ‘tranny’ is effectively banned, along with other offensive slang terms on race and homosexuality.
But if this change has been in effect for over four years, how has the Sun published stories such as:
- Let perv tranny rot in a men’s prison
- Meet Britain’s oldest tranny…at 75
- Tranny can live in women’s jail
- Teen tranny’s debut video
- Mona’s tranny gaffe
- When Harry met tranny
- Cops’ canny tranny is hate crime nanny
And those are just ones where ‘tranny’ is used in the headline in the last year.
In all, there appear to be over 50 results found for ‘tranny’ on the Sun website, although a couple of these are about transisitor radios.
Press for Change, a lobbying and educational organisation for ‘equal civil rights and liberties for all transgendered people in the United Kingdom’ produced Transsexual People and the Press in 2004, which said:
Expressions such as ‘gender-bender’, ‘sex change’, ‘tranny’ or ‘she-male’ are considered inappropriate ways to describe persons experiencing a medically recognised condition.
And, unsurprisingly, there are several references to ‘gender-benders’ in the Sun archives too (for example, here, here and here).
The Sun isn’t the only one – the Star also uses ‘tranny’ needlessly, and the Mail seems to have a policy that has renamed Trinny and Susannah ‘Trinny and Tranny’.
But if the PCC thinks the word ‘tranny’ is pejorative and offensive, why has it taken four-and-a-half years for them to issue a ruling against the use of the word? Why has it ignored the repeated use of it by the Sun, and others, for so long?
And can we expect the PCC to challenge any future use of the term?
ANORAK will answer that for you: no. Here’s the video to be offended by:
spotter – RR
Posted: 7th, January 2010 | In: Reviews | Comments (10)
BNP Leader Nick Griffin’s Question Time Review, With Jan Moir, David Letterman And All The Views
DID BNP leader Nick Griffin do it on Question Time? Did Nick Griffin do what everyone who sat up to watch political chatter over tractor racing, repeats of Coronation Street and strippers get what they hoped for? Did he tick the boxes? Let’s take a look:
Sky News: “Disgusting’ Griffin Defends Ku Klux Klan”
Far-right BNP leader Nick Griffin has defended the Ku Klux Klan, attacked Muslims and called gay couples “creepy” in a controversial appearance on BBC’s Question Time.
Were it not for the KKK, Griffin could pass for a tabloid hack voicing off. “JAN MOIR FOR LEADER!”, “BUY THE DAILY EXPRESS!” come the cries from the BNP voting households. Can Griffin recover?
At one point moderator David Dimbleby snapped at the BNP leader for smiling as he struggled to answer a question about his past denial of the Holocaust. He was booed as he attacked Jack Straw’s father for being in jail for not fighting in the war while his own father was serving in the RAF.
Smirking… Snide comments about MPs…We stayed awake for this?
Sky’s chief political correspondent Jon Craig said: “Griffin was exposed on Question Time as a nasty piece of work, with unpleasant views on race, immigration, Islam, homosexuality and Winston Churchill.”
BNP leader is unpleasant… We needed to watch him to know this?
Those front pages:
“Griffin uses BBC to attack Islam and defend the Klux Klux Klan” – Daily Telegraph
“As protestors bay outside, Griffin says “I’m not a Nazi’” – Guardian
“Hostile reception for Griffin” – The Times
“BIGOT AT BAY – Jeered, scorned and ridiculed…but still BNP leader milks his moment in the spotlight. Now the BBC faces angry questions of its own” ” – Daily Mail
“Griffin baptism of fire at the BBC” – Indy
“BNP leader Nick Griffin is… A DISGRACE TO HUMANITY” – Daily Express
“RAT RUN – BNP chief scuttles away after humiliation on TV” – Daily Mirror
“BNP CHIEF IS A NUTTER… even wife puts boot in” – Daily Star
The Show Without Punch
The Guardian: “BNP on Question Time: Lone voice freezes Griffin’s grin”
Nick Griffin was not sitting on the far right of the panel. But if that would have been a cliche too far for Question Time’s producers, Mentorn, there was symbolism enough as the four men and two women took their seats for last night’s recording.
Faced with the BNP, all three mainstream parties, in what had doubtless been the subject of some negotiation by the programme’s producers, were seated squarely to the left of the long, curved desk, with David Dimbleby in the centre acting as a reassuring buffer against any anticipated xenophobic spittle.
Bonnie Greer alone, unelected and hence beyond contamination, sat next to Griffin, though with her elbow nearest to him planted firmly on the desk throughout, one shoulder directed in sniffy contempt.
And her eyebrows ready to fire at will.
The Times: “Audience is outraged as Griffin says Churchill would have joined BNP”
The British National Party’s exposure to a nationwide audience provoked outrage last night as its leader reiterated his claim that Winston Churchill would have joined his party.
And Churchill would have served diligently under leader Nick Griffin. Right, nick? Far right!
BBC: “Griffin attacks Islam on BBC show”
His references to Britain’s “indigenous people” prompted other members of the panel to challenge him to say he meant white people. Mr Griffin said the colour was “irrelevant” and said Mr Straw would not dare go to New Zealand and tell a Maori he was not “indigenous”. “We are the aborigines here,” he claimed
At least he’s doing jokes now.
THIS Is Staffs: “Mixed blessings in TV’s big time”
“The vast majority of this audience finds what you stand for disgusting,” one man told him. “You’d be surprised how many people would have a whip round to buy you a ticket to the South Pole,” said another. “It’s a colourless landscape and it’d suit you fine.”
The Times:
The redoubtable American playwright Bonnie Greer, who refused to look his way, started him off by referencing the new law that would require the BNP to admit non-whites to its membership. “You laugh,” said Ms Greer. “If I was you, I would be scared.” The vision of the policy U-turns a mass influx of Muslims would cause, was such a good joke Mr Griffin even applauded.
She wasn’t joking. If every non-white, Jews, Muslims, Hindu and more join the BNP, the BNP would die.
The Sun: “I’m the most loathed man in Britain”
SMUG bigot Nick Griffin appeared on BBC1’s Question Time last night – after sparking mayhem at Television Centre. At one point the fascist BNP leader, 50, confessed he was “the most loathed man in Britain” among Nazi sympathisers.
The Opinions
Daily Mail, Max Hastings: “Repugnant, slippery and exposed as an empty vessel”
Anyone think Hasting is giogn to talk about the war?
Greer said that Churchill’s mother was possibly of Mohawk Indian descent, which made nonsense of the BNP’s ideas on British racial identity. As a history lesson, almost all the panel talked tosh. Winston Churchill, in his own time, possessed the values and racial attitudes of the Victorian aristocracy from which he came, wildly politically incorrect in modern terms.
The Guardian, Aditya Chakrabortty: “Nick Griffin on Question Time: No big gaffes, so he will say it’s a success”
Griffin’s success last night can be defined as follows: neither cabinet ministers nor protesters stopped him from getting on air and there were no punch-ups nor any telltale flashes of temper. For the BNP, those are sufficient grounds to chalk up last night as a victory.
The Sun: “Sun panel gives its verdict on BNP leader”
Matthew Todd, editor of gay mag Attitude, says… Saira Khan, of TV’s Apprentice, says….
You need to know what the gay man and the Asian woman think of Nick Griffin?
FT, Matthew Engel: “’Billy Bunter’ is wounded in bear-bait
This was not Question Time , it was a bear-bait, with Nick Griffin as the animal supposedly undergoing torment. This was the only way the BBC could square its decision to invite him with the bien-pensant view that he should never have been allowed. It would have been far better if he were just allowed to rabbit on until even the most alienated builder in Burnley realises that Mr Griffin is unimaginably stupid. Last night’s performance may have created some kind of sympathy for him….
The Times, Andrew Billen: “Question Time, BBC 1”
Maybe Mr Griffin couldn’t find a gag writer, or maybe he thought by looking serious and speaking slowly he would be taken seriously. But this tactic was soon in trouble and, suddenly, after 10 minutes he went as giggly as a sixth former…
There was so much ganging up, I was half-reminded of barmy David Icke’s sorry appearance years ago on Wogan in which he elaborated his sci-fi conspiracy theories. It is not easy — it even requires courage — to say the unsayable even when the unsayable is plain wrong. Unfortunately, Mr Griffin — evasive, hair-splitting, his every other answer further proof of bad faith — turned out to be unspeakable. Sympathy for the devil? I think not.
Anyone else on the show?
The representative of what’s left of New Labour was Jack Straw, striking absurd Churchillian poses, who was his usual evasive old-line political self. He was outshone by the Tory communities’ spokesman Sayeeda Warsi. But Mr Griffin was the most incoherent and unconvincing.
CRIKEY, Alex Mitchell: “BBC’s Question Time gets Nicked with a reborn Alf Garnett”
Instead, Question Time presented the British public with a reborn Alf Garnett with none of the comic satire of Warren Mitchell…His presentation is so lightweight it’s difficult to see him emerging as the leader of a major neo-Nazi force, which is what the political hysterics are predicting.
The Times, Libby Purves: “‘All of the panel wanted to attack a man who wanted to be attacked’
It was an odd show because almost all of the questions — even the five minutes on gays — were BNP-related, and the entire audience and panel anti-Griffin. Dimbleby, briefed to keep quoting his YouTube nonsenses back at him, risked making him seem a victim. Griffin’s tactic was to grin pudgily and to keep his answers crisper than Jack Straw’s (not difficult). It is never easy for a chairman to come down hard on someone who keeps it brief.
The Times, Matthews Parris:
Nobody crashed. Nobody descended into incoherence. All of them — landed with the task of attacking a man who wanted to be attacked — found their own distinct way of doing battle. But nobody dared try what, if it could have been done, would have been the most devastating tactic of all, and perhaps the only tactic that would have done Mr Griffin any real harm: to brush him aside as a small man, enlarged by the anger of his enemies.
The Times, David Aaronovitch
Griffinism is a state of permanent denial, followed by self-incrimination and wild eccentricity…
Tested on his penchant for Holocaust denial he became a Holocaust-denial-denyer, replying “I do not have a conviction for Holocaust denial” and telling the nation how he couldn’t explain how and in what way he had changed his mind on the Holocaust as he might be prosecuted in France.
On Islam he slipped in a reference to supporting Israel on Gaza, which was unlikely to win the Jewish vote and likely to baffle the BNP vote.
Finally he confided that he thought the BBC to be “part of a thoroughly unpleasant ultra-leftist establishment”, when voters know it best for Strictly Come Dancing. He showed himself to be, not so much a fearful Nazi, as kook.
Late Show With David Letterman Amy Poehler; Nick Griffin; Judy Collins performs. 11:35 p.m. KCBS
His Last Word
The Herald: “BNP leader laps up the publicity but wilts in Question Time heat”
Reviewing his own performance he said: “People will see the extraordinary hostility shown to me from the people representing the three old parties. It’s still a matter of the main political parties being against the outsider and that is what it is about.”
The Last Word
Radio Netherlands: Giving the far right rope to hang itself
It’s a risk. As soon as you promote extreme attitudes you create more attention for those views. Professor Groebel says the media also plays its part, being more interested in risky, thrilling stories than moderate ones. On the other hand, he says, to suppress them completely is dangerous because you then have a movement that you cannot control publicly. In the end, people have to be trusted to weigh up their politicians, says Mr Groebel. “A strong democracy does not necessarily have to fear more extreme views if they are placed in context and surrounded by good moderation.”
The Mail: “Talk about bare-faced hypocrisy.”
Normal service has been resumed, the Mail is attacking the BBC:
Amidst the furore over the BBC’s decision to invite Nick Griffin on to Question Time, its director general, Mark Thompson, claims that he had no choice because of the Corporation’s ‘central principle of political impartiality’. What a pity that the BBC for years has comprehensively trampled this so-called ‘central principle’ into the dirt. This is an organisation that’s utterly in thrall to the left-wing agenda of the majority of its staff.
Nick Griffin – an unlikely man who would never get anywhere in a major political party gets a lot of attention…
Posted: 23rd, October 2009 | In: Key Posts, Politicians | Comments (28)
Bill Clinton’s Top Ten David Letterman Jokes
DAVID Letterman sticks his tongue through his teeth and fesses up to shagging members of his staff. It’s an all-too- predictable story of a powerful man shtupping younger women keen to impress the boss and get ahead (fnar).
A story of enemies, the law and tapes. You may have heard the story before in the case of Bill Clinton.
Bill loved the ladies, and Dave loved that Bill provided him with easy material for his funnies. Like Bill, Dave has nicknames for women working under him (hit that snare drum). You can read them here. Here’s Dave:
“Today, Monica Lewinsky is 28,” he joked in 2001. “It seemed like just yesterday she was crawling around on the floor in the Oval Office.”
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Posted: 3rd, October 2009 | In: Celebrities, Key Posts | Comment (1)
David Letterman, Lame Jokes And Madeleine McCann
MADDIE WATCH – Anorak’s at-a-glance guide to press coverage of Madeleine McCann, Kate McCann and Gerry McCann – the one about the disabled prostitute, David Letterman and Robert Halderman…
The Times: “Letterman extortion suspect is ‘true crime’ news producer”
David Letterman has been the alleged victim of an alleged extortion plot.
The man accused of trying to blackmail the talk show host David Letterman was named today as an Emmy award-winning TV news producer who specialises in investigating “true crime” mysteries.
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Posted: 3rd, October 2009 | In: Key Posts, Madeleine McCann | Comment
What We Know About Stephanie Birkitt, David Letterman’s Former Lover
THE, alleged, David Letterman extortion plot focuses on Robert Halderman, who works on the true-life crime show 48 Hours – he claims to be not guilty of trying to extort £1.2million from Letterman over the TV hosts alleged affairs with members of his staff.
And it also shines a light on Stephanie Birkitt, a woman widely named as a Letterman conquest – she called the TV presenter as “the greatest boss I could ever have”.
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Posted: 2nd, October 2009 | In: Celebrities | Comments (5)
Before The Sarah Silverman Sex Tape, A Look At David Letterman’s Extortion
DAVID Letterman has moved on from fantasizing about Sarah Palin’s underage daughter being raped to a story of his alleged dalliances with members of his staff. Says our man in LA:
First Conan O’Brien winds up hospitalized with a concussion after hitting his head during a silly stunt on his show, then comes word that someone’s about to release a sex tape that Jimmy Kimmel made with Sarah Silverman, and now David Letterman says his sexual affairs with members of his staff led to an extortion attempt. Not a good week for the white guys of late night television.
We’d guess Jay Leno is sitting pretty right about now.
Posted: 2nd, October 2009 | In: Celebrities | Comment
Plot To Kill Big Brother Star
IN “Psycho threat to kill girl of Big Brother boss”, the Sun’s Colin Robertson says:
CHANNEL 4 chiefs were in panic last night after a fan threatened to kill boss Andy Duncan’s daughter if they did not reinstate the Big Brother live feed.
Attacking the children is all the rage. David Letterman has joked about Sarah Palin’s 14-year-old daughter being raped.
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Posted: 12th, June 2009 | In: Celebrities | Comment
Letterman’s Sexual Fantasies About The Wrong Palin Girl
DAVID Letterman makes a joke about Sarah Plain’s 14-year-old daughter Willow being sexually assaulted and then explains that he was misunderstood.
You see, Dave was talking about the other daughter, not Willow, but Bristol Palin being attacked:
Letterman insisted today that the real target was [Sarah Palin’s] 18-year-old daughter Bristol.
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Posted: 11th, June 2009 | In: Reviews | Comment (1)
Those Sasha Obama Rape Gags in Full
WITH too few jokes about The One, David Letterman makes a funny-funny-funny joke about raping Sarah Palin’s 14-yer-old daughter, Willow Palin.
Jim Treacher hold on to his sides:
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Posted: 10th, June 2009 | In: Politicians | Comment (1)
Billy Bob Thornton Presents The Most Awkward Celebrity Interviews Ever
ANORAK brings you the Most AWakwards celebroty interviews ever.
In 1963, the Irish writer Desmond Leslie – enraged by a nasty review of his wife’s latest play – was able to infiltrate the audience of David Frost’s studio discussion show, march up to offending reviewer Bernard Levin and land a superb left hook on his nose in front of 11 million viewers.
“Just a minute Mr Levin, this will only take a minute,” Leslie had said with impeccable politeness before unleashing a blow described by The Times as “the most public punch since Sonny Liston took the heavyweight title from Floyd Patterson”.
Billy Bob said he was upset because Ghomeshi referred to his acting career in the introduction to the interview. He said he’d told the producer to focus on the band and not mention his acting.
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Posted: 9th, April 2009 | In: Celebrities, Key Posts | Comment (1)
