›
This forum is in permanent archive mode. Our new active community can be found here.

GeekNights Thursday - Last Week Tonight and the Daily Show

MrPeriodMrPeriod
in GeekNights

Tonight on GeekNights, with Emily replacing Scott, we talk about The Daily Show (which Rym has watched for a decade longer than Emily has) and Last Week Tonight. In the news, we talk about the ridiculous and tragic situation in Ferguson and what happens when you give small town police departments in racially tense regions paramilitary hardware and little oversight. Also, change.

Download MP3
Source Link
«1

Comments

  • Victor FrostVictor Frost
    Emily on the show again, Huzzah!
  • Victor FrostVictor Frost
    In terms of guest hosted Geeknights episodes, we at Friday Night Party Line followed the format exactly. Unfortunately, Scott never put it online, so nobody who wasn't on the show heard it.

    I still have that... maybe I should just put it up.
  • Dazzle369Dazzle369
  • ColdguyColdguy
    I agree with you notation on last week tonight is just better than the daily show. I have described it to my family as he 60 minutes of political satire.

    I also lime the main bit is made available on YouTube the day after it airs. Its not the whole thing but at least most of the episode is there. Only hope he continues batting home runs in the upcoming episodes.
  • sK0pesK0pe
    Well John Oliver understands the Internet.
    He had political satire podcasts before he was on radio or TV and still continues the podcast (it's currently on break while Last Week Tonight airs).
  • CremlianCremlian
    I think Last week tonight also is a lot freer to do what it wants because HBO compared to Comedy Central.
  • AprecheApreche
    I wasn't a fan of Colbert on the Daily Show, and I'm still not. I also wasn't a fan of Oliver on the Daily Show, but his new show is good because he's no longer playing a stupid character.

    A foolish character is not funny on its own. You can play it like Charlie Chaplain where it works because you have sympathy for them. You can also play it with a straight man to (often literally) smack some sense into the buffoon. I guess you can also go the Eric Cartman route where most of the time simple karma will take the role of the straight man.

    I mean, imagine watching Pinky without the Brain or Costello without Abbot. As the viewer I find myself in the role of the straight man, yet unable to act upon it. This only causes stress, not humor. You don't laugh when the funny character does something completely moronic. You laugh when the straight man slaps him in the face afterwards. Without that, it's just painful to watch.
  • RymRym
    Scott had a hard time watching "Bringing Up Baby."

    "He should just hit her."
  • AprecheApreche
    edited August 2014
    Rym said:

    Scott had a hard time watching "Bringing Up Baby."

    "He should just hit her."

    Nothing else was working. At the very least he should have just left and gone home.
    Post edited by Apreche on
  • RymRym
    She would have followed him. She would have broken into his house.
  • AprecheApreche
    Rym said:

    She would have followed him. She would have broken into his house.

    If someone breaks into your house, you can justifiably hit them.
  • MATATATMATATAT
    As much as I enjoy my girlfriend's brother's company when he puts on an episode of that political Bill Marr show it kinda irks me. Mostly because its really biased and generally comes down to "debating" ie try and make the conservative in the room look like a fool.
  • RymRym
    It's hard to have a truly conservative position that isn't, at its core, foolish.
  • MATATATMATATAT
    The couple that I've seen I guess I would characterize as conservative leaning towards middle. But then the rest of the panel is padded with comedians or popular actors. Then it seems like it ends up being Bill Marr saying "hey look at how dumb this guy is". John Stewart keeps it generally lighthearted but Bill Marr is borderline bullying these people.
  • sK0pesK0pe
    News satire providing better quality news than what you expect to be real news in the US is sad but not unpredictable.
  • SuperPichuSuperPichu
    Anybody else watch Philip Defranco?
  • open_sketchbookopen_sketchbook
    Rym said:

    It's hard to have a truly conservative position that isn't, at its core, foolish.

    Save for on issues that the liberal side are stupid about for arbitrary reasons, leaving the conservative-ish side right by default, or at least through their desire to be contrarian. See: Nuclear power, lefty anti-vax.

  • sK0pesK0pe
    SuperPichu said:

    Anybody else watch Philip Defranco?

    I watched him for a bit and then realised he's a kid who doesn't understand how the world works outside of his bubble and doesn't understand what news is.
  • CremlianCremlian
    Strange I listen to Bill Mahr's podcast of his shows and I don't really see him trying to make the conservative look like an idiot. If he did they wouldn't be on his show.
  • MATATATMATATAT
    Cremlian said:

    Strange I listen to Bill Mahr's podcast of his shows and I don't really see him trying to make the conservative look like an idiot. If he did they wouldn't be on his show.

    Lol I've been spelling his name wrong this entire time. I dunno, I've only ever seen two or three episodes but that was my first impression. Maybe not that they try but it just seems very one sided. And since its his show he feels safer to make these jabs that don't get argued because "its for the show". Maybe that's sorta the appeal of the show but I just don't care for it much.
  • StarfoxStarfox
    You guys are talking about Bill Maher, right?
  • Punt RocketPunt Rocket
    No man, they're talking about Bill Marr. Weren't you paying attention?

  • MattMatt
    For you city-folk, it's relatively easy to get tickets to Jon Oliver's show. Free taping, and a good way to spend a Sunday afternoon. They give them out a few Sundays in advance, at 3PM on his website. I am going at some point in early September.
  • RymRym
    I will get tickets.
  • ShadedSpriterShadedSpriter
    on the Cameras on Police Officers - different forces in the UK have used them for nearly a decade now - I am hoping for a Bill to come across in the next parliament to making them standard issue for all officers. (Looked up my local force and they have had them for over a year.)

    There is one other program I would suggest you watching if you like these sort of shows - Charlie Brooker's Weekly Wipe. You have likely seen one of these clips from earlier seasons on youtube:

    Generic News Report or Mass Shooting.

    I have also realised a lot of the podcasts I listen to basically fall in the same category as The Bugle Podcast - people making jokes about world news - hell, Andy Zaltzman was on at least 2 of them this year.
  • Luke BurrageLuke Burrage
    I wanted to catch up with the latest clip from Last Week Tonight, about Ferguson and related issues, and for the first time got this message:

    "The uploader has not made this video available in your country."

    Sucks!
  • ColdguyColdguy
    Luke Burrage said:

    I wanted to catch up with the latest clip from Last Week Tonight, about Ferguson and related issues, and for the first time got this message:

    "The uploader has not made this video available in your country."

    Sucks!

    Should be up later on Tuesday since the show airs in the UK on Monday.
  • Luke BurrageLuke Burrage
    Aha.
  • VichusSmithVichusSmith
    Of all the terms I have heard in recent years, "punches down" could be the most irritating.
  • RymRym
    VichusSmith said:

    Of all the terms I have heard in recent years, "punches down" could be the most irritating.

    How so? It fairly succinctly describes a particularly shitty brand of "comedy" while elegantly differentiating it from similar but legitimately funny jokes.

Sign In or Register to comment.