Originally Posted By alexbook "The Worst Person in the World (and 202 Strong Contenders)" Keith Olbermann This book is suffering from Lenny Bruce Syndrome. That’s what happens when a satirist is so intent on making a point that he or she forgets to be funny. On his TV show "Countdown," Olbermann regularly "nominates" people for the title of "Worst Person in the World." (The title comes from an old Bob & Ray joke.) Most of the "nominations" are humorous, "News of the Weird"-style stories about stupid criminals, petty bureaucrats, and egomaniacal entertainers. Here’s one of my favorites: >>Andrew Jacobs, a Vienna, Virginia, martial arts instructor. Among his pupils, a pair of 10-year-old twin girls. Saturday, police say, he went to their home, broke in, and tried to rob the house and abduct the girls. The bad news for Mr. Jacobs: He's a moron. Even though he was wearing a mask, the girls, of course, recognized his voice. The good news for Mr. Jacobs: He is such a good martial arts instructor that the girls apparently beat the crap out of him, blackening his eye and giving their parents the chance to hit him over the head with a lamp.<< Some of the "nominations" are topical, mostly making fun of conservative politicians and media figures. Unfortunately, many of these jokes haven't aged well, as the news events they relate to have receded into distant memories. (How many good Harriet Miers or Michael Brown jokes have you heard lately?) Over time, Olbermann seems to have become obsessed with Fox News in general, and Bill O'Reilly in particular, "nominating" O'Reilly again and again. Olbermann also interrupts the jokes now and then to share "serious" commentaries. The seriousness and the O'Reilly-bashing culminate in Olbermann's famous (or infamous) commentary attacking O'Reilly over the "Malmedy massacre" story. Now, I happen to feel that this commentary is moving and well written (though I know many WE'ers don't agree), but... It's not funny. I'd give a book of Olbermann's jokes 3 stars out of 4. I'd give a book of his political opinions 2 and a half stars. This book, which is neither fish nor fowl, gets just 2 stars from me. Sorry, Keith. ----- Olbermann's comments on Malmedy: <a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/200606030002" target="_blank">http://mediamatters.org/items/ 200606030002</a> O'Reilly's comments: <a href="http://www.jewishworldreview.com/cols/oreilly062705.asp" target="_blank">http://www.jewishworldreview.c om/cols/oreilly062705.asp</a>
Originally Posted By SingleParkPassholder I'll give him credit for using Bob and Ray as inspiration. You can never go wrong there.
Originally Posted By DAR First things first. Bob and Ray? As for the book itself it seems like anytime any radio or tv talkshow host writes a book, it seems to be the same stuff regurgitated over time. Whether it's Franken, O'Reilly, Hannity, Olbermann or whoever. And they're written with the same sanctimonious attitude that see we're smarter than all of you, so here's a book to tell you why. Now that's not to say I don't like some of the books in these fields. For example I like anything Bernard Goldberg does. But the rest of these I won't spend a dime on.
Originally Posted By SingleParkPassholder Bob and Ray- one of the funniest radio and TV comedy teams ever. Ray, incidentally, is the father of Chris Elliot, who made his name as one of David Letterman's writers and the Man Under Stairs when Letterman was doing Late Night on NBC. <a href="http://www.bobandray.com/" target="_blank">http://www.bobandray.com/</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_and_Ray" target="_blank">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B ob_and_Ray</a> <a href="http://www.radiohof.org/comedy/bobray.html" target="_blank">http://www.radiohof.org/comedy /bobray.html</a> <a href="http://www.english.buffalo.edu/faculty/schmitz/bobray.htm" target="_blank">http://www.english.buffalo.edu /faculty/schmitz/bobray.htm</a> <a href="http://humor.about.com/library/blds011099.htm" target="_blank">http://humor.about.com/library /blds011099.htm</a> <a href="http://bearmanormedia.bizland.com/id46.html" target="_blank">http://bearmanormedia.bizland. com/id46.html</a> Not that I'm a fan or anything.
Originally Posted By DAR Okay now I know who Bob is, I remember him from Chris' show Get a Life which was very funny.
Originally Posted By DlandJB Ray, incidentally, is the father of Chris Elliot, who made his name as one of David Letterman's writers and the Man Under Stairs when Letterman was doing Late Night on NBC. >>>>>>>>>>>> That would be Bob's son.
Originally Posted By DlandJB There are advantages. You can be amused by the same story more than once.
Originally Posted By SingleParkPassholder Actually, I shouldn't joke. My father-in-law, who is retired LAPD and a legend within the department (a Korean War vet, he was Mayor Tom Bradley's first non-black partner, former NYPD, taught Chuck Norris martial arts and was the Rampart watch commander when the Robert Kennedy assassination went down), has Alzheimer's. We were told around 67% of retired LAPD has Alzheimer's. This guy used to be Fearless, and now he's happy to feed the birds in the backyard.
Originally Posted By YourPalEd <<<We were told around 67% of retired LAPD has Alzheimer's.>>> Stress from the job. Sort of like arguing with someone on laughingplace.
Originally Posted By YourPalEd I worked at cannon films, and saw chuck norris almost everyday for a few years. He was always very friendly to everyone, even me.
Originally Posted By gadzuux >> We were told around 67% of retired LAPD has Alzheimer's << What is that about? I haven't heard of stress as being a cause of alzheimers before.
Originally Posted By vbdad55 <It's becoming a way of life.< SPP - in my house we call it Sometimers syndrome. Sometimes we remember, and sometimes we don't
Originally Posted By vbdad55 ^^^^^^^^^^ and no I do not also think Alzheimer's is funny, my mother in law who lived with us for the last 4 years of her life suffered from it, it is very sad, so I don't want someone to jump on me for that either.
Originally Posted By SingleParkPassholder ">> We were told around 67% of retired LAPD has Alzheimer's << What is that about? I haven't heard of stress as being a cause of alzheimers before." Don't really know. As as we can tell, no one has looked into any causal link between being a police officer and Alzheimer's. We're finding it's almost as if they want to shove it under the rug. On the Chuck Norris thing, I should point out that my father in law was just one of many instructors Norris has had over the years.
