Fremde Frau

Wonder if he'll try to kiss Jon again.

Jon on Fallon was great, especially this part: People have been talking about inhumane farming practices for years, but nobody wants to actually address the conditions in which these animals live before they become food... or the process by which they become food. Because half of the people who know it cry freedom or god, and the other half cry eww and never think of it again. (I agree with Victor the Crab: that seemed like a counterproductive way to introduce a new correspondent. They're usually better about highlighting the new person. I wonder if Jon has had much of a hand in writing or editing anything these last two weeks. Regardless of whether or not I agree with the punchline of a piece, the narrative arc and focus are generally much sharper than they've been lately.) Welcome back, Lewis!

Great finds, nowandlater! Wow, baby Jon is so different... and yet, so familiar. Here is the second part of Jon's Fresh Air interview.

I rewatched the Detroit piece and then started to rewatch some of Jessica's other segments, and I have to say that two little things have become my favorite little things about the show: how happy Jessica looks whenever she cracks Jon up, and how proud Jon looks after any one of Jessica's bits.

Looking forward to Toni Morrison tonight. I'm in such awe of everything she has accomplished and the beauty of her work. What a legend.

Would the universe tell us if we were getting stupider? Why is this anything at all? In the worst case scenario, it should be a teaching moment for the news media, politicians, economists, et al., to explain to the general public how insurance works. In the best case scenario, it should be a non-story of someone in the public sphere saying something stupid while the media, government, and public go on about their lives. Instead, here we go again with a non-issue becoming its own reality on which everyone has to comment--not only perpetuating the ignorance and misinformation, but potentially becoming the foundations for public policy. No wonder Jon couldn't stop swearing. I can't wait to see The Imitation Game; I'm no mathematician, but cryptanalysis is in some aspects contiguous to what I study. As for Benedict Cumberbatch, I haven't seen Sherlock or Star Trek Into Darkness or anything else in which he has starred, so this is the extent of my opinion: wow, what a voice.

All of that 2012 hysteria was off by two years...

Incredible that either one of them came within voting distance of the executive branch. What the hell, America? Seriously. What the actual hell?

Unfortunately, our system is designed to reward strategy, not hope and actual change.

I think one thing that I found interesting about that interview is how it became meta. It's always interesting when Jon turns the interview back on the interviewer, but it's not all that common to start dissecting each other's body language. I guess it just hit all of my "conversation analysis" buttons; I felt like pulling out my notepad and writing an analysis of it. Here is Gael talking about the film, including what it's like to be directed by Jon. These two interviews are older (from the London Film Festival). It was interesting to hear from some other actors, since so much of the press has been devoted to Jon, Maziar, and Gael. (I hope we get a Kim Bodnia interview sometime soon.)

That first segment felt like something that had been edited and picked at until it lost coherency, and then they ran out of time to clean it up. Jessica's name on a segment has become a guarantee of quality.

The world has turned upside down! The (bucket) apocalypse is nigh! p.s. The audience was particularly annoying last night, but Stephen enjoyed their energy, so I feel bad for saying that.

I didn't equate them. This is the only material I've seen of hers, and her manner and the questions she asked reminded me of the 2010 Maddow interview and the 2011 Wallace interview, where they were asking the same sorts of questions in a similarly insistent manner. This is a nice interview with Maziar Bahari.

Okay, you guys have convinced me! I do hope they bring back the Toss for Larry. They have a different dynamic than Jon does with Stephen, but I love it, and their desk pieces are my favorites of all of the contributor pieces. As a pair, they always seem to be ready and willing to go over the line of comfort to make the point--and not in the sense of cringe humor, like Sam's or Jason's, but addressing real social tensions. On top of that, they seem to have respect and affection for each other. Well, clearly Jon has respect for Larry since he wanted him to host his own show, but I get the sense that there's a professional and personal trust going both ways. (Of course, I am basing this on nothing but my subjective interpretations of how they interact once their segments end and the camera pulls away. I really know nothing.) Here's the Stern interview. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOmpew0RwEk

This is one of the more interesting interviews he's had, with Wendy Mesley on CBC News. It's about 13 minutes. I don't know Mesley's background, but she and Jon got into a really fascinating place that was both cordial and tense. She was almost--and I understand the weirdness of what I'm about to say--a blend of Rachel Maddow and Chris Wallace, asking Jon to understand and articulate his own social and/or political importance. In any case, it was nothing like 95% of the interviews he's had over the last month or so.

D: Victor the Crab, I... I hate you. You've now given me new nightmares. But let me share mine with you: that, in Stephen's last episode (which should be an hour-long special), he'll say goodbye at the end, and Jon will wave goodbye, as well, and we'll think that he's saying goodbye to Stephen and goodbye to us only for the winter break, but he's actually saying goodbye to us forever. And they'll clarify it later via Twitter: "The king is dead. Long live the king." And everyone will think that it's referring to "Stephen" and Larry, until the show opens up next year with Jessica at the desk. Thing is, Jon is so familiar with and tired of the hyperbolic media cycle that I don't know if he'd want to downplay retirement almost to invisibility, or if he'd accept the inevitable and offer us a direct goodbye, "Thanks for watching me all of these years. Stay tuned for your new host. Here it is, your moment of Zen (which will be Jessica usurping his office)." Anyway, I'm clinging to your interpretations as long-time viewers. I feel a not-slight sense of panic at the thought of both "Stephen" and Jon disappearing from TV before I've even had a chance to fall from my current state of infatuation into a milder, sustainable state of comfort love. Honestly, I feel somewhat like a kid in a new toy store, finding an Ollie doll, a Jon doll, and a Stephen doll, and as I'm sitting there playing with them, a clerk comes up to me and says, "Actually, we were just about to take the Stephen doll off the shelf. Oh, and we're no longer making the Jon doll. But please enjoy this limited edition Ollie doll, as it may be a premium-only item next year." stacey, that's a good point. Jon looks 80, so I keep forgetting that he's only (almost) 52. BOOM.

That is my dream ticket, as well. About Stephen and Jon, the live Q&A on Thursday was mostly silly but sometimes serious, and that was without Stephen's character. It'd be nice if they could have a serious conversation, but that would probably require Stephen to drop the character. They're kind of jointly at a big moment in their professional lives. They're both taking big risks after fifteen years of working together, even if the film doesn't change anything immediately for Jon. Plus, they've been close friends throughout those years, and now they're leading up to an end of their partnership. It'll probably be sweet and silly and supportive, with a significant dose of snark from "Stephen."

We'd be almost guaranteed a Republican in office, and no weight to counterbalance it.

I hope you both are right. That he talks about the show continuing on without him makes me think that he might step away even with Larry's show starting and the 2016 elections looming around the corner. On the other hand, they're sort of having a crisis of talent right now, what with Jason at least and possibly Sam leaving if that pilot goes well. Aasif and Al aren't there full time. Jessica and Jordan are super talented and capable, but one's young and one's still inexperienced, and I wouldn't be surprised if other networks were eyeing them for major roles, after how they've stood out all year long. It might be that Jon has to stay around longer than he's comfortable, simply for lack of an heir as ready for the desk as John was. I'll definitely be enjoying him while he's on TDS. It's been quite a run for him. I still have years worth of archived videos to catch up on, and the same for Stephen. I sure hope Comedy Central leaves those videos up for a while, if DVD sets are an impossibility. I can't hope to catch up yet on all that Stephen has done.

Victor the Crab, that was hilarious! I hadn't seen it, so I had to look it up: "The Carell Corral"

It was the best thing on TDS this week, easily tied with Carell's appearance!

The pacing seemed a bit disjointed, and to anyone following the deluge of interviews lately, there wasn't really any new information about the film. But I enjoyed the emotional experience of last night's episode quite a lot. Jason and the producer's interview was a little dry, but I'm glad they had a chance to talk about it again, since their role was so inadvertently pivotal in making this movie a reality. I loved how Maziar and John teased each other, and I thought that the professional trust between Maziar and Gael came across really well. That said, John and Jon cannot interact enough for me. Their joy in sharing the screen for a few minutes was all I wanted, really, once I realized what was happening. May they continue to pop in from time to time on each other's shows, for as long as they are on the air. @Chattygal, this article in Quartz sums up the reasoning, including a quote from Maziar that I hadn't seen before on his preference for his actor's nationality, and then the article goes on to make suggestions for Iranian actors who could have played Maziar, regardless of the safety or authenticity issues. (They raise an unfortunately great point that it's hard for actors to break out of the commonplace villain role. (Never mind. I misread the second part. Although it's implied, it's not directly stated that Jon being Jewish is an additional complication.))

That was a really excellent interview with Saman Arbabi. Fresh questions, thoughtful answers, and they had a great vibe between them. Thanks for the link! I wasn't being very clear. I didn't mean to imply that there was no context but just that they were poorly introduced and then never mentioned again, so I didn't get the focus on that one guy when Maziar was sitting behind him in the shadows. I definitely agree with you about what he represented.

Jon and friend are doing his AMA now. Damn it. I have been listening to the NPR interview, and I just read this phone interview with the Wall Street Journal. Jon really is all but gone, isn't he? I get the sense from his interviews and from what people like Maziar, Stephen, and John have said that his work ethic won't let him half-ass it until he leaves, and it's clear that he still feels deeply and strongly about the issues that TDS covers, but it's also clear that he's privately ready for a "nap" (to quote his AMA). Damn. I did find it interesting, though, that he considers the film and the show to be the same conversation (the same material and work) along a great continuum, so maybe that means that he'll still be writing and performing stand-up or in the public sphere somehow after he's rested a bit. I just hope he stays until his contract is up and doesn't try to sneak out the back door in December or something.

I'm laughing out loud, maculae. Seriously, though. Why, Jon? Why? Does his closet hold an indefinite number of each piece of clothing that you list, or does he wash the same outfit over and over and over and then finally replace it with an identical outfit once it's too threadbare and indecent for public appearances? Oh, golly, let's see if I can remember... I don't think you missed that much, really. Some people were getting up to leave before coming back when they realized the Q&A was happening, so I was a little distracted at the start. Stephen was definitely praising Jon's film to high heaven but with a slightly sarcastic flavor to it, like he was staying a bit in character. Jon was, as usual, caught between appreciating the sentiment and dealing with the awkwardness by trying to blow it off with a joke, so they played on that for a few minutes. Stephen asked the usual question of why Jon felt compelled to make the film, and Jon gave his now-standard answer. Stephen wanted to know how Jon found the humor in the story, and Jon explained that much of that came from Maziar's own book. Then Jon went on to explain in a really nice way (I thought) how he and Stephen have always thought of humor as a way of coping with darkness, and yet what happens when the facilitator of that release mechanism (the audience) is taken away and you're left with nothing to reflect your humanity back at you? Jon explained how Maziar was able to humanize himself in a vacuum, through retaining his sense of humor and through his history, culture, relationships, etc. I thought that it was a very stand-up/performer way of understanding humor, but it also made me think of how effective my own sense of humor is when it's trapped in my own mind. Does it really relieve pain and stress or does it need a reflection somewhere? Anyway, it was a nicely considered answer. It was funny that, when the CIA stuff came up (both in the film and in the Q&A), the same person in the audience kept calling out "What?!" It looked like she was getting up to leave at one point during the interrogation scenes (gathering her coat and bags, etc.), but then she sat back down, and I forgot about it until the Q&A. Weird. I can't recall anything else from the beginning, but it might come to me later. I'm sorry! It was mostly them loving each other, though. Not exactly quotable but highly enjoyable. Don't forget Maziar hugging them instead of shaking their hands because of the "mutual masturbation" or however he phrased it. That was hilarious. On a side note, I loved that Jon couldn't stop hugging and clinging to Stephen at the end before the screen went black. He seemed so giddy and relieved to finally be at this stage and letting his BFF steer that ship for a bit. Kim was present in the NY audience, I believe. They could never find him, but Jon said he was there, and he got a round of applause. I loved how Stephen and Maziar joked about that. How did Stephen put it? "What part of Iran is Mexico?" Maziar and Jon: "Very south." Hee! Maziar and Jon have both addressed the "why is a Mexican playing an Iranian?" question, so I wished Jon had added the part about how he'd wanted to film it with all Iranian actors and in Farsi, but Maziar had been the one to insist on broadening the language/appeal/etc. The scene in question I loved that part so much. I felt that Maziar dominated the stage once he appeared, and perhaps Jon sort of intentionally closed in on himself, as well; he was sitting off to Maziar's side (Maziar was centered between them) and his body language was supportive of Maziar. I was surprised to learn that Maziar and Stephen had only met once before. With Maziar having breakfast with Jon so often over the last few years, and then working together so closely on the screenplay and film, I had assumed that Maziar would have been a regular presence. I wonder how much of that is Jon separating work on the film from work on the show (at least as much as was possible until this week), and how much of it is that Stephen and Jon actually don't socialize as much as people might imagine. I know Stephen has joked about that in the past, but maybe he was serious. That was an awkward moment where the sweetness of it was drowned out by the technical issues. I'm not sure why he asked her a question unless he was planning to relay her answer to everyone. She seemed to like the film, from what I could gather. That had me face-palming, as well. It seemed like Stephen was anticipating what "Stephen" might want to know--he even prefaced it by saying that this is a very American (i.e. dumb) question--but it was just a weird thing to ask. I'll try to remember more details!