Friday, July 24, 2009

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Letterman's Folly

I've always been a bigger fan of Jay Leno and Conan O'Brien in the late night arena, but you have to have some respect for what David Letterman's done in the business. That being said, the latest escapades with a joke he told about Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's daughter have gotten a little out of hand.



Last week, Letterman told a joke on air concerning one of Gov. Palin's daughters, hoping she hadn't been "knocked up" by Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez during the governor's trip to Yankee Stadium in New York. Letterman didn't specify which daughter he meant, her 18-year-old daughter (who has already been knocked up once before) or her 14-year-old daughter, a person whom the joke would have taken some nastier connotations if it were really intended for her.

Governor Palin was outraged, and demanded an apology and even Letterman's firing. She wanted to FIRE a late night icon, because a joke he made was concerning HER family. I'm sure if the joke was made about 98% of other families, with or without underage daughters, it would have slid right by. But because Palin wants to appear to support family values and the morally right road, she got angry, and her supporters got angrier.

Well, on Monday night Letterman issued a public apology on his show, claiming that the poor delivery of the joke was his fault, and that the joke was "flawed" to begin with. He said the ultimate success of the joke depends on its perception rather than what he intended it to mean, saying "if you have to explain a joke, it's not a very funny joke."

"All right, here - I've been thinking about this situation with Governor Palin and her family now for about a week - it was a week ago tonight, and maybe you know about it, maybe you don't know about it. But there was a joke that I told, and I thought I was telling it about the older daughter being at Yankee Stadium. And it was kind of a coarse joke. There's no getting around it, but I never thought it was anybody other than the older daughter, and before the show, I checked to make sure in fact that she is of legal age, 18. Yeah. But the joke really, in and of itself, can't be defended. The next day, people are outraged. They're angry at me because they said, 'How could you make a lousy joke like that about the 14-year-old girl who was at the ball game?' And I had, honestly, no idea that the 14-year-old girl, I had no idea that anybody was at the ball game except the Governor and I was told at the time she was there with Rudy Giuliani...And I really should have made the joke about Rudy..." (audience applauds) "But I didn't, and now people are getting angry and they're saying, 'Well, how can you say something like that about a 14-year-old girl, and does that make you feel good to make those horrible jokes about a kid who's completely innocent, minding her own business,' and, turns out, she was at the ball game. I had no idea she was there. So she's now at the ball game and people think that I made the joke about her. And, but still, I'm wondering, 'Well, what can I do to help people understand that I would never make a joke like this?' I've never made jokes like this as long as we've been on the air, 30 long years, and you can't really be doing jokes like that. And I understand, of course, why people are upset. I would be upset myself."

"And then I was watching the Jim Lehrer 'Newshour' - this commentator, the columnist Mark Shields, was talking about how I had made this indefensible joke about the 14-year-old girl, and I thought, 'Oh, boy, now I'm beginning to understand what the problem is here. It's the perception rather than the intent.' It doesn't make any difference what my intent was, it's the perception. And, as they say about jokes, if you have to explain the joke, it's not a very good joke. And I'm certainly - " (audience applause) "- thank you. Well, my responsibility - I take full blame for that. I told a bad joke. I told a joke that was beyond flawed, and my intent is completely meaningless compared to the perception. And since it was a joke I told, I feel that I need to do the right thing here and apologize for having told that joke. It's not your fault that it was misunderstood, it's my fault. That it was misunderstood." (audience applauds) "Thank you. So I would like to apologize, especially to the two daughters involved, Bristol and Willow, and also to the Governor and her family and everybody else who was outraged by the joke. I'm sorry about it and I'll try to do better in the future. Thank you very much."

This seemed to hit the nail on the head. There's not much more you can do as a comedian than to admit your joke simply wasn't funny and unfortunately it rubbed a few people the wrong way. But there are still Palin supporters demanding Letterman's firing, and corporate powers-that-be removing their sponsorships from Letterman's program. That's not to say that Leno and Conan collectively have made 35 jokes about Palin's older daughter Bristol, compared to Letterman's 8.

It's a shame Letterman wasn't specific enough, but it's not really like he needed to be. Anyone with half a brain could probably recognize that a joke about one of Gov. Palin's daughters getting pregnant is probably directed at the one who has already gotten pregnant before. Letterman really didn't have to apologize for a joke like that, but because it was about a public official who has the power to cripple and destroy him, he had no choice, and he made about the classiest apology one could. Let him go on with his show and stop taking things too seriously, Palin. His show if full of jokes, not actual political commentary.

Friday, June 5, 2009

Me, Myself and I

What I'm trying to do with Off the Air is provide a little insight into the behind-the-scenes world of television, films and other types of media issues that are going on today. From what the network execs are planning for the upcoming sweeps week to the latest dramas occuring in court to protect the media's right to investigate and report the news, this blog covers what matters.



As for myself, I'm currently a senior going to the University of Florida. I'm studying here to someday work for a network producing shows and other programs. I really enjoy UF, from the top-notch football to the consistently tropical climate. It does have its downfalls though; the university is one of the largest in the nation and so sometimes you feel like more of a number than a known student. The real connections you need to make are through professors and other professionals working there, but it's often rare you'll ever have the same professor for more than one class.

I like to offer my own perspective, but I also draw from a number of sources, including mediaweek.com, the Poynter Institute, and the Huffington Post.