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Videos- David Axelrod on The Tonight Show

Palin Watch: Leno show hacks reality

By GottaLaff

My pal Micheal Stinson, aka Symbolman, aka the co-author of The Sarah Palin Rogue Coloring & Activity Book, nearly got me to go to The Tonight Show taping the other day. Yes, that one. Where BlueJeans McJokeFest made her stand-up debut. But sadly, or maybe happily, I couldn't make it.

However, Micheal sure did, and he's posted about it in great detail. And he's also graciously given me permission to cross post part of it here.

Enjoy:

[I]t’s my opinion that audio portions of Sarah Palin’s March 2nd appearance on Jay Leno’s Tonight show were added or amplified, edited before broadcast to make it appear that Sarah Palin was more welcome than she was.

I know. I was there.

They added laughter where there was none during uncomfortable portions. Well, there was some laughter. Mine, of derision. During those pregnant pauses in her performance I was laughing long and loud, couldn’t help myself as much of what she was saying was utterly surreal, ridiculous, hypocritical - nonsense, spewed platitudes, pushed buttons. I was seriously thinking of leaving as it was getting hysterically unfunny.

After sitting through the taping of the show in the studio I can recount many portions where there was little or no laughter or response, but at the later broadcast they are smoothed over with applause and laughter that WERE NOT THERE at the taping. Groans, hoots, grumbling, or just dead silence - all missing. [...]

[W]e flew 6 thousand miles round trip from the east coast to be in the audience as a sort of mellow protest, wave copies of the book to freak her out, hand them out to staff & audience at the Studio. Security waved our copies on through, and folks there were reading it during the show and cracking up at the humor. Even the camera guys.

Well, not the one Security guy during the show who told my wife to sit down, she was dancing and waving our book, and to the shows credit we weren’t expelled nor did they confiscate the books.[...]

From my seat to the right of the stage, by the band, I could tell that an average of 70% of the audience did not like Sarah Palin. Many literally sat on their hands. [...]

But when Jay brought out Sarah Palin, she was completely nerved. Watch the video, check out her breathing, she’s Freaked and talks a mile a minute. Both my wife and I agreed - when you actually get close enough, she’s just plain Creepy, and those yech vibes filled the room. [...]

At at least four points in the show she was getting so far out in screwball territory, or was just so damned unfunny that I couldn’t help but laugh when no others were, at the absurdity of her statements. [...]

One: She was so happy to back John McCain’s bid for re-election in Arizona, at least for now, left the audience puzzled, confused. I Chortled with great vigor. Not in the broadcast.

Two: During the monologue when she made a crack about No Tomatoes being allowed, even the Teabaggers in the audience didn’t want to touch that one. The Sarah Sucks crowd, my people, said nothing. Crickets. The whole audience seemed stunned, and again, I howled. Not in the broadcast. Nothing. Nada. [...]

Three: Explaining how it’s cool to write on her hand. She lied about what was on there, then sails to pluto with, “my dad, a teacher, used to come home with notes (answers?) written all over his hands…” again, dead air. No ONE was buying it, it was just too bizarre. The answer? Just ADD canned Laughter. A lie.

Four: Was directed at US. (Of course this joke was written long before we were in the audience, and hey, she kills moose, so, it’s kind of an obvious one) The Moose Joke. [...]

Leno’s show used the ambience to give Palin Cover. They sold her. Her book, her body, her celebrity, her future, all of it. And 70% of an audience weren’t buying it, but you can’t tell from the broadcast.

I know. I was there.

They should bear some responsibilty for hawking a defective product. This is corporate shilling in the worst way, not only to raise Leno’s ratings, but to push Palin on a crowd with fake laughter and applause. [...]

Your reality has been hacked.

But not mine. I was there.

I wanted to say that Leno has earned his ratings, that he’s funny, and he is at times, and deserves his talk show.

Can’t. Not now. Sorry to say, The Tonight Show is a lie, more than ever a corporate shill that’s performing a cultural engineering service. Selling garbage, that is literally ruinous to our nation and women’s rights. That destroys the fabric of our society. It’s real.

I saw it. I was there.

There is a whole lot more to read here.

VIDEO- Palin on Leno show: "There needs to be the fairness, the balance in there — that’s why I joined Fox"

By GottaLaff



Talky McNonsense has completely lost touch with reality. To refer to ClusterFox as anywhere near fact-based borders on delusional.

Did I say "borders"?

But as ThinkProgress has repeatedly documented, opinion leaks into Fox’s supposedly straight news, with breathless promotion of the Tea Party movement, distortions of facts and outright parroting of GOP talking points. Even the company’s own president admitted yesterday that the White House had some “legitimate complaints” during its spat with Fox News last fall.

Palin booked... on Leno

By GottaLaff

NBC just can't get it right:

Jay Leno will return to The Tonight Show next week and Sarah Palin will appear on Leno's second night back, reports the New York Times.

"It will be her first interview on a late-night talk show, and it will be on the one that happens to compete with David Letterman, with whom she has engaged in a long-standing feud."

Jay uses blue cards, Chatty McVacuous uses her hand. Bets on Leno using hand scribble that night?

Leno set to return to 'Tonight Show'

By GottaLaff

Oh. Boy. Real. News. ::dripping sarcasm::

Via an e-mail alert:

Jay Leno is set to return to "The Tonight Show" at 11:35 p.m. unless Conan O'Brien has a last-minute change of heart about hosting the show in a later time period.

Yeah, whatever. I never watched to begin with.

UPDATE (h/t: Clancy):

It seems likely that Leno will end up returning to The Tonight Show where he earned the title of the King of Late Night, while O’Brien’s representatives will negotiate a settlement for the 46-year-old comedian to leave the network. It also seems certain that the settlement will involve some sort of compromise that prevents O’Brien from immediately jumping to the competition. Late Night with Jimmy Fallon will continue to air at 12:30 p.m.

Conan O’Brien Says He Won’t Do ‘Tonight Show’ Following Leno

By GottaLaff

Good for Conan. He was royally screwed:

After only seven months, with my Tonight Show in its infancy, NBC has decided to react to their terrible difficulties in prime-time by making a change in their long-established late night schedule.

Last Thursday, NBC executives told me they intended to move the Tonight Show to 12:05 to accommodate the Jay Leno Show at 11:35. For 60 years the Tonight Show has aired immediately following the late local news. I sincerely believe that delaying the Tonight Show into the next day to accommodate another comedy program will seriously damage what I consider to be the greatest franchise in the history of broadcasting. [...]

But I cannot participate in what I honestly believe is its destruction. [...]

There has been speculation about my going to another network but, to set the record straight, I currently have no other offer and honestly have no idea what happens next.

You can read his entire letter here.

I wonder what the legal repercussions will be.

Video- The Tonight Show: Shatner Gets Served By Palin

Thanks for reminding me I had this Clancy!!

Video- The Tonight Show: Shatner does Palin

Video Recaps | Full Episodes | Webisodes

h/t Clancy.

Ed McMahon has died

A very big part of my early life. Via MSNBC and KNBC. Added-

LOS ANGELES -- NBC News reports that Ed McMahon, the longtime sidekick of Johnny Carson on the "Tonight Show," has died after long battle with cancer.

The network home of the "Tonight Show" confirmed the television icon's death with McMahon's publicist, Howard Bragman.

He was 86.

Video- President Obama offers his thoughts on Conan taking over The Tonight Show

Did McCain snub Palin on Leno?

Man, Sar can't catch a break.

(CNN) — Did John McCain snub Sarah Palin during an appearance Mcnday on NBC's The Tonight Show?

That's what some pro-Palin bloggers and other political observers claim after the former GOP presidential candidate left out his former running mate when naming five governors who he thought were in position to lead the Republican Party.

"We have, I'm happy to say, a lot of voices out there," McCain told host Jay Leno before listing Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, Utah Gov. Jim Huntsman, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, and Florida Gov. Charlie Crist.

"There are a lot of governors out there who are young and dynamic," said the Arizona senator.

McCain then quickly joked, "I've left out somebody's name and I'm going to hear about it."

Criticism of McCain's comments are particularly fierce at TeamSarah.org, a blogging Web site for Palin supporters.

President Obama boosted "Tonight Show" ratings even higher than originally thought

By GottaLaff

One of our trolls came around the other day all huffy and puffy about the president's declining popularity. Um, wrong:

President Obama's appearance on "The Tonight Show" last week provided an even larger ratings boost than initially thought.

Early reports based on preliminary data were that Jay Leno's late-night program had drawn its largest audience in more than four years. But when the final numbers were released Thursday by Nielsen Media Research, it turned out that 14.6 million people tuned in -- the fourth highest number since Leno took over from Johnny Carson in 1992.

NBC said the only three Leno shows that attracted bigger crowds were his debut telecast, the night of the "Cheers" finale in 1993 and the night of the "Seinfeld" finale in 1998.

So much for Prez O's slide down the slippery slippage slope.

Nielsen: Obama visit a big boost for Leno ratings

Good because other than the oopsy, he was concise, understandable and very personable.

Last night's appearance by President Barack Obama was a ratings boon for The Tonight Show. The audience in metered overnight cities like Baltimore was the highest since Jan. 24, 2005, when the show featured a tribute to Johnny Carson, according to Nielsen figures released by NBC.

The last time Tonight scored a higher overnight rating was on May 14, 1998 -- the night of the finale of Seinfeld when the cast appeared on Leno's program. Overnight ratings for last night's show were the fourth-highest in the 16-year history of Leno's show.

Bottom line, one out of every four TVs is use last night was tuned The Tonight Show last night. The overnight ratings from metered markets are not conclusive or final. But they generally match up when final figures are released.

President Obama On The Tonight Show 3/19/09