the comic's comic

Saturday Night Lip-Sync

Oh my! Tonight's SNL was so sad that it even made Ashlee Simpson look like Milli Vanilli. Where is MTV to save poor Ashlee? Her mic sounded funny during her first song, Pieces of Me, as if there were a backing track. We found out why during the second song, which was...Pieces of Me. The track began with vocals and music, although Ashlee wasn't singing. Pause. Track began again. Ashlee's lips still not moving. Ashlee bounded offstage, while the band strummed on. At show's end, Ashlee's excuse: "I'm so sorry. The band played the wrong song." Yes, that must've been it. The band thought a live national TV audience wanted an encore. Too funny.

Watch the clip here.

The media briefly turns on Jon Stewart

I've been away from blogging for a few days -- take one road trip, add interviews and save all remaining time to concentrate on watching my beloved Boston Red Sox -- but have noted with interest the media's take on Jon Stewart's "Crossfire" appearance last Friday. Initial stories played up the on-air "debate." Follow-ups from the TV critics played up either the blog commentaries or pointed out that Stewart might actually have a valid point. Funny, it took a fake news guy to tell the real news people about the failings of another supposedly real news program. For now, it has derailed the usual media cycle, which upon anointing Stewart as the IT guy, then goes about bringing him back down. As they did with Howard Dean, Paris Hilton and everyone else who captures the public's attention. Pump them up, then blow them up. That's the media way.

Watch the "Crossfire" footage here.