Pic of Hitchens during his “trying to look like Martin Amis” period. Oh wait..That is Martin Amis!
Here’s Hitchens
If you didn’t get to see yesterdays Jon Stewart show with Christopher Hitchens, you missed an incredible spanking. Hitchens had his ass handed to him over his position concerning the Iraq war (hint: he’s a big fan of it). Worse was Hitchens inability to realize he was ambushed on the show and his further inability to defend himself. It got so bad that he lost his train of thought once and mumbled through it and tried to use his old tricks of snide comments to get back on top of the argument. At one point he called Stewart “Sunshine” which was supposed to be insulting I think. Nothing worked and at one point Stewart began to toy with him like a cat with a mouse. Stewart wouldn’t even help Hitchens get back his lost train of thought when he easily could have. He let Hitchens swing in the wind. It was hilarious. I’ve never seen anyone do this to Hitchens before. I’m certain that Hitchens was upset over his fumbling performance.
I do think Hitchens is a great wit, but his act needs upgrading. It’s deteriorated to lame asides and berating people with clever phrasing and not much else. His overall arrogance and condescending attitude is also out-of-control.
Catch a rerun if you can.
The winner
In case you missed it. http://www.mininova.org/tor/98040
Jon Stewart has to be one of the smartest guys around. I wouldn’t like to have him kicking my ass around. His show isn’t really a comedy show – it’s a news and commentary show, disguised as a comedy show. I’m a huge fan here in Portugal, even though we get the shows almost one month late! But that’s better than never! I’m looking forward to seeing it!
You can catch the clip over at Crooks and Liarshttp://www.crooksandliars.com/#a4634
Here’s the video!
http://www.comedycentral.com/shows/the_daily_show/videos/celebrity_interviews/index.jhtml
Definitely Stewart’s best interview to date. His wit and intelligence is far superior to Hitchens as was evident last night. It’s always great to see such a notoriously self righteous prick have his entire argument torn down.
Stewart has received a lot of flack for not dishing out better argument to his guests – in his attempt to not litter the airwaves with more mindless banter – I think his showcase last night was a response to those criticisms. I hope we see more of it.
John,
the video is available online from Comedy Central:
http://www.comedycentral.com/shows/the_daily_show/videos/most_recent/index.jhtml
Boris
Link to video:
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2005/08/25.html#a4634
I was watching that, it was very nice to see jon owning another somewhat political figure? im not sure of that since this is the first ive heard of hitchens.
Jon Stewart for Prez 2008!
You know what I’d like to see? A debate between Stewart and Bush… mmm… I think I would almost feel sorry for Jr… almost.
oh, and Dvorak gets NO SPAM, and you can too with his three step process…
Noooooooo. One of the few nights that I actually miss the show.
Update. A streaming version is available at:
http://www.comedycentral.com/shows/the_daily_show/videos/most_recent/index.jhtml
Ok, you convinced me John. Since I won’t be home to view the rerun tonight I will just have to Bittorrent it.
Here is a link to a re-cap of recent shows…
http://www.comedycentral.com/shows/the_daily_show/videos/most_recent/index.jhtml
Well obviously the poster never even watched the video. It was spirited debate with Hitchens living in reality and Stewart in his Utopia, choosing to ignore Iraq’s ignoring of 17 UN resolutions and callig a 1998 resolution by the US Congress simply “symbolic” and never to be enforced.
I agree with Paul. I thought it was a pretty good debate between the two of them, but Jon clearly had Hitchens stymied on the handling and timing of the war in Iraq.
Um, I saw the clip and I don’t really see the big deal here. It looked like to me two friends batting some ideas around. Hitchens was clearly trying to push his book though, which is why he wanted to go on to begin with I imagine.
At two points, it seemed they agreed. First, Hitchens agreed that Bush saying “We’ll fight them over there, instread of here” was stupid, and later he said he has a piece coming out on the Weekly Standard criticizing how Bush is handling the war.
So, uh, if the “Left” or Democrats really consider this a victory, they must be pretty hard up.
Christ Dvorak! It’s obvious you’d have sex with Stewart. His show stinks by the way.
http://www.comedycentral.com/shows/the_daily_show/videos/celebrity_interviews/index.jhtml
I was actually hoping to see Hitchens get his a** handed to him as was claimed, but no, it didn’t happen. He articulated his points well, even though being ambushed by Stewart. He gains credibility points with me by pointing out some of the fallacies w/Bush’s thinking – “We’ll fight them over there, instead of here” being stupid. I also liked his statement about the leftists who claim the cause of terrorism is from us being in Iraq – the cause of terrorism stemming from our resistance to it – as being masochists…
Stewart was good, but I wish he didn’t use that debate trick of talking loudly nonstop over the other guy, until the audience starts cheering, drowning out a response (hence Hitchens losing his train of thought), ala Oprah. I think he’s better at the comedy news bits than political commentary ala Al Franken.
I liked it that they were friendly at the end. Obvious respect.
I have to agree that it was in no way a ‘slam-dunk’ on the part of Stewart. Saying that, I suspect that Hitchens genuinely likes sparring with him, as the level of banter is an order of magnitude above what he probably normally encounters.
A Stewart ‘slam-dunk’ interview would have to be the one with the ‘bow-tie’ asshole from Crossfire. Sorry, I forgot asshole’s name; forgive me, I’m Canadian.
Just saw it, thanks for the heads up. I don’t think I’d characterize it the way you did. By far Stewart’s best (and final) point was about the way Bush is conducting the war — something Hitchens also criticizes quite frequently.
I was also really impressed with Stewart here, but he is hit or miss. He’ll have a great interview like this, but then Robert Kennedy Jr. will come on and he’ll pitch softballs.
rabbit punching a hungover hitchins makes stewart a legend?? i guess it does to dwebs looking for an anti war “voice”. just a little reminder….its comedy fnning central… not face the fnnin nation… i wouldnt think any one going on there would be taking it too serious or prepairing speeches because.. guess what .. its comedy fnnin central!!! not cnn.. stewarts a bushwackin dikhead no better that the diks hidin in the bushes in iraq imho… makes him no braver 4sure.. as to fnnin iraq … oh yes i guess we would be better off if bush would have sat on the lilly white like jimmy carter did and let iraq fall to a radical bunch of diks like iran did… i know i would feel way more safe had that happened.. 4 fnnning sure….
The “bow-tie asshole” is Tucker Carlson.
If you want another great one, watch Jon versus Bernard Goldberg (“100 People Who Are Screwing Up America”.) Incredibly funny, and he gets his point across at the end too.
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2005/07/13.html#a3919
Hoo boy. If this is Hitchens being handed his ass on a plate…
FREEDOM OF SPEECH IS GOOD
FREEDOM OF SPEECH IS GOOD
FREEDOM OF SPEECH IS GOOD
must…censor…morons….
FREEDOM OF SPEECH IS GOOD
FREEDOM OF SPEECH IS GOOD
FREEDOM OF SPEECH IS GOOD
Blog on, John. You’ve seen prouder days.
Well faustus, in the words immortalized in the movie ‘Road House’…. “Opinions vary”.
Personally I enjoyed the heck out of it. It was the first time I’ve ever seen Jon Stewart come on with such an attitude and make his points so forcefully. One of the things [I] noticed was that Hitchens seemed to get a bit defensive when the audience applauded loudly for Stewart a couple of times.
I, like some others posting here hope this is a sign of things to come !
I wonder if this will make some of the conservative guests think twice before they agree to come on the show again ?
Maybe that wacko Zell Miller will come back wanting to challenge Jon to a duel… (during sweeps?)
BTW, I agree with Hitchens on a number of issues, but he is a bit quick to turn nasty at times. To his credit though, his vocabulary is considerably less crude than yours faustus.
PS: How is it that Margret Carlson is so smart, and her son Tucker such a loser ?
The weekly standard article Hitchens referred to in the interview:
http://weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/005/995phqjw.asp
It was a great moment for the Daily Show, but I have to agree that there is a lot of bias in the Dvorak Uncensored note about it. What happened was that Stewart almost lost his cool with a guest — a big no-no — and Hitchens defused a situation that he did not want to see happen. I have seen Hitchens with Stewart before and they appear to genuinely enjoy their repartee. Hitchens was being kind. And if you think I’m just blowing smoke, here’s the tip-off: at the very end, Stewart shamefacedly asked for a round of applause for Hitchens, trying to make up for how close he got to losing it. If he really wanted to hear Hitchen’s answer, he could have had one, but he did not give the man a chance. It was like watching a traditional chess player (Hitchens) against one of those one-move-per-second chess players. If lightning chess is the game, then the lightning chess player will win — but it doesn’t make him a better chess player. How much would anyone care to bet that Stewart all but apologizes on his next show?
Hitchens is self-absorbed in his ramblings. Impossible for most people to gleen his POINT. He wanders AROUND points, and goes off topic, in a rather “I’m a very smart schoolboy” kind of way. I find him a bore. He was arrogant in the interview on the Daily Show. His asides were trying to be too-cute. (He’s too old for too-cute. Not boyish.) One gets the sense that this guy has no real FEELINGS behind his words — written or spoken. He lost his train of thought, not because he was sidetracked, but because his words were just words.
Compared to JS, who’s emotions are always just below the surface, Hitchens came off as addled. (Having his knuckles knocked by a verbally superior ruler.)
Hitchens is trying to play both sides of the field. He wants to promote the US to war with — god knows whomever — meanwhile, laments that the Daily Show audience isn’t cheering for him. He lost the discussion, debate…exchange of ideas before a live, and home audience.
BTW…who ever it was in the glut of comments who went the name calling–liberal–nonsense. The whole “liberal” crap isn’t flying anymore. Stop with the AM Talk Radio label they’re as OLD, and worn out as spandex and disco shoes. Our president is giving us talking points instead of answers, and our nation is in occupation of another country…for questionable reasons. We are sending our sons and daughters, husbands and wives off to be killed for what? It’s not a liberal observation, it’s just an observation. Our pres is acting like a moron, and the world is noticing.
LOOK…the Emperor has no clothing.
It certainly wasn’t Hitchens best performance, but it wasn’t that bad.
Meetsy – Of course the old “liberal” crap isn’t flying anymore. It’s now “progressive” crap. And that’s still airborne.
Streklov, I’d be PROUD to be called either/both of those names!
People, take a minute to lookup the definitions of each.
Oh my, what terrible people THEY must be !
Then think about it.
What’s the alternative to being liberal ?
What’s the alternative to being progressive ?
I don’t like “labels”, but if I’m going to be labeled, those are two that I can gladly live with.