TV Pundits, Commentators and Anchors

[katyseagull]

Who do you feel is the most irritating and most entertaining TV pundit or commentator? Do these guys qualify as pundits -


Most Perplexing: Dennis Miller
Most entertaining: Bill Maher;
Most Irritating with the occasional hilarious observation: Ann Coulter

Do you like any of them? Lol, how about that James Carvel guy, a trip or what? [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]


So I was watching the O’Reilly Factor a few days ago (yes that’s always a chuckle) and Dennis Miller was on there talking about Katie Couric. I seriously had no idea what he was trying to say. Is that guy getting weirder or is it my imagination? I need a translator [img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img] I’ll try to find some funny transcripts with him and O'Reilly and post them later.

Does anyone else watch these cable news channels besides me? Each one has its preferred roster of pundits.

At first I thought the concept was ridiculous. Like why would we care what the hell Bill Maher or Dennis Miller have to say about anything and why give them their own political shows? But then I got to thinking about Richard Pryor and how his sociopolitical commentary influenced a generation so perhaps it’s not weird after all.

Ok so which commentator or anchor makes you cringe?

[RunDownHouse]

In college, a buddy of mine was on a committee that brought political speakers to campus for talks. They brought Carvel once, and he was hilarious. He spent the first 20-30 minutes telling jokes and anecdotes, many at the expense of the Clintons, before getting to more serious business.

Afterwards, I talked to my friend. He said that among Carvel's requests for the speech was that he have some wine in his dressing room before the talk. He polished off two bottles by the time he went on, perhaps enhancing his comedic timing.

I don't watch much news/politics TV, so my loathing for TV commentary is restricted to sports guys. It seems everyone hates most of those, most notably Skip Bayless.

[Dominic]

I like Bill Maher a lot. Always entertaining and funny, while making the perfect point. He also has the best guests, and even though his politics are obvious, he treats those guests he disagrees with wit respect - giving them the opportunity to voice their viewpoint.

The others are unwatchable, IMO.

[Blarg]

Bill Maher is great. Jon Stewart is usually pretty decent. Stephen Colbert can be good, but he is so heavily schticky that he can get tiresome real fast. Plus, sometimes his writing really has its ups and downs. I don't know that I'd consider any of these guys pundits, really, though. They interview pundits.

As to the pundits themselves, Christopher Hitchens is about the only one I care much about, except for Al Franken, who is usually funny and often does a wicked skewer right where it's needed. I'd add in Chomsky, but nobody ever has him on.

Dennis Miller is uselessly verbose and hyper-pretentious, while still having either absolutely nothing to say at all or saying something inane. His layering snarkiness on top of non-observations as if it were a final crowning glory on a remarkably keen, nuanced series of insights and brilliant commentary make him look like a lost, bewildered, and ever more frantic little boy who can't find his way home.

People like Coulter and Limbaugh make virtually anyone look good in comparison. I'd rank their contributions as worse than none, because they make their dollar on simple sensationalism and hate-mongering. Ann Coulter makes Wally Jay look even-handed.

[katyseagull]

[ QUOTE ]
I like Bill Maher a lot. Always entertaining and funny, while making the perfect point. He also has the best guests, and even though his politics are obvious, he treats those guests he disagrees with wit respect - giving them the opportunity to voice their viewpoint.

The others are unwatchable, IMO.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah I like Bill Maher too. I was really shocked when he lost his show. I'm always surprised by how funny he is. I think I'm surprised because I don't usually like arrogant people and he sort of is one. But he can come up with some hilarious stuff that's for sure. He has some good guests but sometimes I think his format doesn't work that well for me. One time he had on Jason Alexander and I remember thinking that his guests that particular week weren't exactly meshing. It seems like there's always one too many guests on his show.

[katyseagull]

I knew I would screw this up. I'm not even sure what a pundit is [img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img]. I looked it up on wikipedia

"an expert or opinion-leader who analyzes events in his or her area of expertise in the popular media"


So I guess Bill Maher and Dennis Miller are commentators who have pundits as they're guests and for some reason people like Bill O'Reilly like to have on Dennis Miller and Maher as their guests.

Are Ann Coulter, Al Franken and James Carvel pundits or just political analysts?



Ann Coulter and Al Franken: Both of these people are annoying. Franken possibly more so than Coulter though I happen to agree with his politics more than hers. I wish Ann Coulter wouldn't grin so much. She laughs at her own jokes and her eyes are always flitting around coyly like she's trying to flirt or something. She reminds me of my friend's little sister who is really taken with herself. She says some really wicked stuff however. I think she occasionally has a valid point but it's hard to notice because she's so damn snotty and smug that my first instinct is to want to kill her.


Limbaugh: I forgot about him. He's actually one of my least favorite. I don't think he's humorous at all. Old guys like to listen to him. We had an old man at my office who would listen to him religiously and thought the guy was a god. I think he's a jackass and I really don't care for his style. I can stomach Bill O'Reilly a lot more than I can Limbaugh.

John Stewart: I enjoy his show and watch it frequently. I think his manner of speaking is retarded and his little gestures and head jerks are getting old. Right now my favorite thing about the show is Aasif Mandvi. He is hilarious.

Stephen Colbert: Not into this at all. I think >50% of his jokes fall flat. I don't appreciate his format or satire or whatever it is.


Dennis Miller: Good description Blarg. He is hyper-pretentious and just ridiculously verbose. I still need to find some of those transcripts.

[Blarg]

Yeah, three guests at once is a bit much to make mesh, when they're usually there pretty much at random.

[DrewDevil]

It would be a lot easier to list the good ones, because so many of them are just awful.

One guy who a lot of people love that I don't is Stephen Colbert. There comes a point when someone becomes so ironic that he's not ironic anymore, or something.

[nick604]

I'm a big fan of an anchor/interviewer in the UK called Jeremy Paxman, who's famous for his brand of rottweiler-style journalism.

Here's a youtube selection of his finest moments...

[youtalkfunny]

Chris Hitchens is the man.

Bill Maher is the best.

Denny Miller never disappoints me...

...except that one time in 1996 when I payed money to see him in Las Vegas, and got nothing but recycled material I had heard before. Really, emptying your George Bush41 bag in a 1996 show makes it clear that you're not earning your pay tonight--going to the Ronald Reagan bag is just adding insult to larceny.