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SlothfulCobra posted:I get the sense that Oliver created a variant on the news comedy show with the central gimmick of quality investigative journalism, but sometimes he forgets how that is the biggest draw of the show. To you perhaps.
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Nov 16, 2018 17:49
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Servaetes posted:Yeah, I think I follow you. Out of curiousity, would this be kinda close to the point you're getting at? Honestly the worst part of all of these comedy shows drinking from the same well, pulling from the same pool of talent, and trying for the same sort of responsible political humor is that they all go after the same topics as they happen and they all go for the same jokes. If any of them hit a clunker, they all hit the same clunk, if any of them make a hit, then odds are it's going to get worn out by all the other shows before the cycle drops it. The world is lesser for the lack of diversification. And I say all this, but I still like political humor. You know what show manages to always stay fresh to me? John Oliver's old show that he left behind, The Bugle. It casts a wider net looking at politics around the world, has its own, unique style of humor, and intersperses everything with weird less-political bits like history and puns. FDR's lobsters still stands out to me as one of the great dumb jokes of our time.
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Nov 16, 2018 18:27
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SlothfulCobra posted:It casts a wider net looking at politics around the world, has its own, unique style of humor, and intersperses everything with weird less-political bits like history and puns. With bullshit history and terrible puns. (I love the Bugle)
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Nov 16, 2018 18:52
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Maybe Oliver just isn’t for ~YOU~. It’s totally ok.
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Nov 16, 2018 18:58
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SlothfulCobra posted:Honestly the worst part of all of these comedy shows drinking from the same well, pulling from the same pool of talent, and trying for the same sort of responsible political humor is that they all go after the same topics as they happen and they all go for the same jokes.
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Nov 16, 2018 19:47
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They're all also the same jokes you already read on Twitter/CSPAM 24 hours ago (or worse in LWTs case)
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Nov 16, 2018 19:57
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Honestly if you catch all those shows, it’s on you. Rather than take Stewart’s “I’m just a comedian, not a policy leader” defense, I do think Oliver wants these segments to provoke discussions about policy. It’s what makes his show different IMO, because the others are just Screaming Into The Void. They’re just doing jokes about him having lovely hair or doing bad impressions of the “I’m walkin’ heah” accent. Craptacular! fucked around with this message at 20:06 on Nov 16, 2018 |
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Nov 16, 2018 20:03
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I watch Last Week Tonight for the deep dive into obscure issues. And the animal photoshops. For some reason they always make me laugh.
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Nov 16, 2018 21:53
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Hasan Minhaj's Netflix show is very comparable to LWT's format; with the deep dives sprinkled with jokes that are often love-it-or-hate-it pop culture references. The big difference is that Minhaj has said he's going to avoid talking about the POTUS. And his show has more "woke liberal hashtag excellence" cultural posturing, which might put off many people. I appreciated how his extended bit on Affirmative Action places heavy emphasis on anti-AA activists' Asian American enablers; that he's willing to use his platform to "police" the worst aspects of Asian America. I'm still waiting for a post-Stewart spinoff show that's unabashedly left wing, rather than liberal. The field is crowded, but it seems like most of these shows are ignoring the tensions within progressivism (or in Sam Bee's case, taking the wrong "side"), and will still largely be be blindsided if the political tide turns towards Sanders or Ocasio in a few short years.
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Nov 16, 2018 22:34
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webmeister posted:There was one guy who I’m pretty sure had a bot that posted in the Game of Thrones thread two minutes after the episode finished, saying “well I thought that episode was garbage, personally” Sad how it started out as trolling and evolved into genuine heartfelt commentary about the quality of the show.
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Nov 17, 2018 07:26
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GutBomb posted:The point of the show is to make stupid jokes about the news. If you want the news watch the news. Only old people do this anymore. People under 60 don't watch the news, they watch variety shows.
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Nov 17, 2018 11:04
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Sodomy Hussein posted:Only old people do this anymore. People under 60 don't watch the news, they watch variety shows. Maybe Cobra is over 60 and we've figured this all out!
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Nov 17, 2018 19:16
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Sodomy Hussein posted:Only old people do this anymore. People under 60 don't watch the news, they watch variety shows. Seriously though. It’s not like this is the only show that does deep dives (and it doesn’t really dive that deep, it shows clips from sources that dive deep) If you want deep dives into topics like this without the humor watch BBC’s Panorama, PBS’s Frontline, look at https://www.propublica.org. There are outlets for this kind of journalism without the humor.
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Nov 18, 2018 00:10
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I used to listen to Democracy Now! every day, religiously. I stopped because of unrelated reasons, but boy, sometimes I reflect on all the real news I’m no longer hearing every morning, and breathe a sigh of relief. It’s really dark. Enjoy the comedy.
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Nov 18, 2018 00:28
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webmeister posted:It also ignores that LWT also has actual tangible effects. Like buying a bunch of medical debt and forgiving it. Raising money for LGBT charities via the Marlon Bundo book. The ridiculous felons-can't-vote law in Florida that Oliver mentioned a couple of months back got overturned this election, partly because of the attention he brought to it. Encouraging people to make pro-net neutrality FCC submissions. Etc etc. And ran Our Lady of Perpetual Exemption which I have to say might be the funniest bit I've ever seen him do. I pee'd myself twice watching those episodes, especially the four foot wooden penis Craptacular! posted:Honestly if you catch all those shows, it’s on you. LWT doesn't always hit on the big story of the week beyond a few minute segment and moves on to something else. I honestly really feels he does care deeply about what he talks about and comedy is just his way of coping while being incredibly entertaining. He doesn't just blast whatever top issue of the time is, he either goes way in depth on it or passes it by on his way to another issue SocketWrench fucked around with this message at 05:21 on Nov 18, 2018 |
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Nov 18, 2018 05:13
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Last Week Tonight is great. Oliver gets bonus points for actually seeming to give a drat instead of Steward's "well I am just a comedian" copout. Stand by your convictions. Don't know why but the whole: I am saying something and when someone challenges it I'll just say " Whatever man, I don't care anyway" schtick is getting real old.
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Nov 18, 2018 15:40
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The "I'm not a comedian" line gets cited a lot in Stewart criticism, but I remember he only used it in specific circumstances, like in his moment with Tucker Carlson. He specifically used it against media hacks who claimed the high ground. It wasn't a blanket "silence criticism" defense that many said it was.
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Nov 18, 2018 16:45
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It was more like, "I'm a comedian who happens to be doing a news/current events thing, don't expect me to do your job for you" [to an actual reporter/journalist].
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Nov 18, 2018 20:20
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Yeah, Stewart was more saying that his show was on Comedy Central, you go there for comedy, not serious journalism, which fair. Its not his fault or his charge to fix the fact that the media was so mistrusted that people felt he was more trustworthy than anyone else delivering any type of news.
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Nov 18, 2018 21:21
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SlothfulCobra posted:Honestly the worst part of all of these comedy shows drinking from the same well, pulling from the same pool of talent, and trying for the same sort of responsible political humor is that they all go after the same topics as they happen and they all go for the same jokes. I had some serious whiplash here. "Oh right the Bugle! I forgot to put it on my poecasf subscriptions again quite a while ago! Maybe I shou- John Oliver isn't on it anymore? Oh nooooooooo"
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Nov 19, 2018 00:48
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GreyjoyBastard posted:I had some serious whiplash here. "Oh right the Bugle! I forgot to put it on my poecasf subscriptions again quite a while ago! Maybe I shou- John Oliver isn't on it anymore? Oh nooooooooo" You still need to listen to The Bugle. Andy has got an amazing set of rotating guest hosts now, and they are all insane and never hesitate to give Zaltzman poo poo at every opportunity.
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Nov 19, 2018 01:58
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Well, that was an amazing payoff.
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Nov 19, 2018 05:43
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I kinda felt bad for that mustang
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Nov 19, 2018 05:45
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The Authoritarianism segment was thoroughly depressing.
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Nov 19, 2018 10:11
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Yeah, hell of a downer to end the season on, but it's an important topic. As the pressure from climate change mounts, the number of people and nations susceptible to authoritarianism is only gonna go up.
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Nov 19, 2018 10:37
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pwn posted:The Authoritarianism segment was thoroughly depressing. Brazil, the Philippines, India, eastern Europe, and many other countries placed ultranationalists in power in part because of the mere threat of social change. Oliver's analysis lacked a "Why now?" which I feel would have been important to try to answer.
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Nov 19, 2018 15:09
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joe looney!
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Nov 19, 2018 16:20
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Echo Chamber posted:I thought it was disappointing. It kind of reflects Oliver's liberal impulses more when a stronger analysis would have been welcomed. Like, he gave rotting American institutions too much credit, when Trump's ascent could largely be credited to their failings. And a lot of Trump's setbacks could be credited to the divisions within the GOP and the president's preference for smoke and mirrors over actually doing the dirty work. Oliver is consistent in having his analysis be hamstrung by being a liberal
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Nov 19, 2018 18:05
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There will never be a proper leftist version of these shows because leftists and corporate owned media networks inherently don't mix. Best you'll ever get is Chapo, who would all shudder at the comparison but it's just true, or the left side of YouTube such as ContraPoints, Shaun, hbomberguy, Philosophy Tube, and the like. Frankly there's so much good and funny lefty content on YouTube I'm not sure why I still watch this show. Inertia, mainly. There's occasional good episodes, still. I mean, really - LWT even at its best doesn't hit the in-depth information/wit balance nearly as well as videos like this https://youtu.be/GWwiUIVpmNY TXT BOOTY7 2 47474 fucked around with this message at 22:08 on Nov 19, 2018 |
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Nov 19, 2018 22:05
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Speaking of spectacularly dumb and amazing ways to waste HBO's money.
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Nov 19, 2018 22:43
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bull3964 posted:Well, that was an amazing payoff. Was it? I didn't like that end sequence at all, especially compared to some of the other movie previews they've done, which have been hilarious. ("Actually we rebranded. You work for CHORP.") A five-minute long montage of wax presidents awkwardly inserted into crime thriller situations just does nothing for me.
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Nov 20, 2018 15:16
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The authoritarian bit is both scary and depressing. It's not necessarily a given that democracy will triumph in the end, and it's fully possible it'll end up going quietly into that good night. I feel like there's also been a circular effect of our institutions weakening allowing authoritarians to rise up to help them deteriorate. Journalists just haven't been cultural heroes to us for a while. Great Musk burn.
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Nov 24, 2018 06:42
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Craptacular! posted:Yeah, I pretty much can’t take Colbert anymore, but on the Report not only was he great but people I argued with online who were like prototype Trump supporters of the 2000s actually watched and liked him, because he was so succinct at not only repeating their talking points but then tackling them and knocking them down one by one. Whether it was “the big media are the true liars” or “marriage equality means we all have equal opportunity to marry someone of the opposite sex” to “the problem with health care is ERs can’t throw people out for inability to pay”, he always showed that he understood the core argument by vocalizing it as a satire Hannity, before torpedoing it with punchlines. His current show doesn’t allow that sort of insight. Conservatives watched Colbert because they thought his character was what he actually believed and he was only pretending it was comedy in order to get liberals to watch him. Because conservatives are some of the dumbest motherfuckers on this planet.
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Nov 24, 2018 22:08
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It aired... On Comedy... Central
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Nov 24, 2018 22:34
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Bust Rodd posted:It aired... It was funny to watch him own libs with sincere conservative commentary.
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Nov 24, 2018 22:39
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SlothfulCobra posted:The authoritarian bit is both scary and depressing. It's not necessarily a given that democracy will triumph in the end, and it's fully possible it'll end up going quietly into that good night. I feel like there's also been a circular effect of our institutions weakening allowing authoritarians to rise up to help them deteriorate. Journalists just haven't been cultural heroes to us for a while. Its pretty telling that Oliver completely danced around the analysis that fascism rises when capitalism fails and that liberal democracy can do nothing to stop it This kind of narrow analysis only serves to hurt us. Those very institutions you point out very much delivered fascism to us on a silver platter regardless of their strength or weakness. If there's any silver lining is that those institutions are crumbling and hopefully will be dead soon. We can only be so lucky that liberalism has no future - the only question is will liberals choose socialism or fascism (probably the latter) Phi230 fucked around with this message at 22:58 on Nov 24, 2018 |
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Nov 24, 2018 22:46
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Orange Devil posted:Conservatives watched Colbert because they thought his character was what he actually believed and he was only pretending it was comedy in order to get liberals to watch him.
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Nov 24, 2018 23:48
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Phi230 posted:Its pretty telling that Oliver completely danced around the analysis that fascism rises when capitalism fails and that liberal democracy can do nothing to stop it Yeah, it's pretty telling that there are never any facists in socialist countries! waitaminute...
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Nov 25, 2018 00:03
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Azhais posted:Yeah, it's pretty telling that there are never any facists in socialist countries! Socialism is necessary and sufficient to both prevent and combat fascism. Glad to see you're not mincing words about which side you're more like to join I bet you think socialism is when the government does government things
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Nov 25, 2018 00:45
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Fascists are middle class suburbanites anf other upper class people - pretty much Oliver's audience. Its pretty easy to explain why he'd refuse to tackle the causes of fascism because it would make his audience feel bad All those socialist countries with *looks at paper* private enterprise, wage labor, and stratified economic classes I bet you think Saudi Arabia is socialist because they have public healthcare and government programs lmao The moment your comfortable, privileged lifestyle is threatened you're in the streets with tiki torches Phi230 fucked around with this message at 00:58 on Nov 25, 2018 |
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Nov 25, 2018 00:52
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