S16.E26: Jack Bryan, Jim Carrey, David Axelrod, Michelle Goldberg, and Charlie Dent

[formerlyfreedom]

Airing Friday, 9/7/2018

 

Quote

Jim Carrey, David Axelrod, Charlie Dent, Michelle Goldberg, Jack Bryan (director)

[DB in CMH]

Carrey is just too much. He kinda reminds me of Robin Williams in that way - he can't turn it off.

Wow, that was a bit uncomfortable with Michelle during new rules. She looked ticked during the sign off, making sure to fold her arms when the camera came to her.

I agree with Bill on Franken, even if I didn't see eye to eye with how he reasoned it out.

[GoldenGirl90]

45 minutes ago, DB in CMH said:

 

Carrey is just too much. He kinda reminds me of Robin Williams in that way - he can't turn it off.

Wow, that was a bit uncomfortable with Michelle during new rules. She looked ticked during the sign off, making sure to fold her arms when the camera came to her.

 

Yeah, the segment with Jim Carrey got annoying, fast. They spent the first five minutes going back and forth talking about how much they love each other, where they both auditioned for such-and-such... Bill looked like he wanted to move on to the next subject but Jim kept it going. 

And I agree - the New Rules segment when Bill started talking about Al Franken got suuuper awkward. It was kind of shitty of Bill to say to Michelle, “I’m getting to that, you had the whole show and now it’s my turn,” or whatever he said. Michelle looked pissed at the end. On the flip side, the guests normally don’t interrupt Bill during the New Rules segment. I don’t know but it was just awkward.

And what was up with Bill’s “even the Indians can make casinos work” comment? I know he meant Native Americans and he meant that as a slight towards Trump but it was poorly worded.

The middle of the show before Jim Carrey came out was pretty good. 

Edited September 8, 2018 by Alexis2291

[Robert Lynch]

Was Jim off his meds or something? 

[Victor the Crab]

1 hour ago, Robert Lynch said:

Was Jim off his meds or something? 

Was he ever on any? I kinda figured Jim Carrey would act like a hyperactive kid in need of a strong dose of Ritalin, so I was not surprised by his behavior tonight.

3 hours ago, Alexis2291 said:

And what was up with Bill’s “even the Indians can make casinos work” comment? I know he meant Native Americans and he meant that as a slight towards Trump but it was poorly worded.

Sometimes assholes gotta be assholes.

Yeah Bill, it would be nice to have Al Franken back on Capitol Hill. But spare me your non stop outrage about how he left the way he did. The onus of that was all on Franken, not on Democrats like Kirsten Gillibrand. I could see why Michelle Goldberg would interrupt Bill the way she did.

[littlecatsfeet]

7 hours ago, Alexis2291 said:

And I agree - the New Rules segment when Bill started talking about Al Franken got suuuper awkward. It was kind of shitty of Bill to say to Michelle, “I’m getting to that, you had the whole show and now it’s my turn,” or whatever he said. Michelle looked pissed at the end. On the flip side, the guests normally don’t interrupt Bill during the New Rules segment. I don’t know but it was just awkward.

He literally said "that's not your place". Just....wow. I actually don't agree with her POV on the matter, but that was incredibly rude and subjugating.

And I agree Indian remark was tone-deaf as well. He has no self-awareness.

[Gemma Violet]

Jim Carrey was awful.  I hope he's never asked back.

[sistermagpie]

8 hours ago, Alexis2291 said:

And what was up with Bill’s “even the Indians can make casinos work” comment? I know he meant Native Americans and he meant that as a slight towards Trump but it was poorly worded.

Oh god, yes, that was terrible. That wasn't an insult to Trump, Bill, it was a weird insult to Native Americans. Nobody has "casinos" in their cultural heritage for goodness sakes!

I was on Michelle's side about Franken. I miss having him as a senator but if so many people didn't take "women are liars" as the default in the first place we wouldn't need a Me Too movement. Of all the problems in the world too little tolerance for grabbiness is not high on my list of priorities. We get it, Bill, your pov on this subject is that women are lying and/or hysterical and if somebody squeezes their ass remind themselves that it's better than being raped by Trump. Plus we've got plenty of comedians who are all over Trump. I'm comfortable having people like Kamala Harris take the lead in the senate.

[iMonrey]

What is this movie that Jack Bryan made, did they ever say the name of it? Is it available anywhere other than iTunes? Is it free on iTunes? If not, nobody is ever going to see it.

I don't think I agree with Bill that the anonymous op-ed writer is a hero or a patriot. I guess I can see both sides but to me a real patriot resigns and comes out publicly with this information. The op-ed writer is just aiding and abetting.

Yeah, Jim Carrey has always been Robin Williams levels of hyperactive. And yeah, the Obama years were great, but no he didn't bring the nation together. What we're seeing now is partly the result of the Obama presidency - Trump seized upon it and exploited it.

Whether or not Al Franken got a raw deal, he's not the one to be championing as our next presidential candidate. However amusing it would be to see him debate Trump, we need someone with far less baggage or we run into the same narrative where both choices are "equally bad." Although I admit, I did not know that his chief accuser was a Sean Hannity plant. (And yeah . . . Michelle Goldberg looked really pissed off at the end there. LOL. )

Best joke of the night? Ivanka Trump Blow Pops. Because I'm 12.

Next week, John Kerry - yay! Oh, and S.E. Cupp - boo!

[Milburn Stone]

8 hours ago, Alexis2291 said:

And I agree - the New Rules segment when Bill started talking about Al Franken got suuuper awkward. It was kind of shitty of Bill to say to Michelle, “I’m getting to that, you had the whole show and now it’s my turn,” or whatever he said. Michelle looked pissed at the end. On the flip side, the guests normally don’t interrupt Bill during the New Rules segment. I don’t know but it was just awkward.

The instant that happened, I felt bad for Bill. His territorial instinct caused him to react like a comic being heckled. But the moment the "not your place" remark was out of his mouth (or even a nanosecond before), I bet he was going "uh oh." That's why he immediately followed it with the words you quote, which I think were intended to justify his reaction, although they didn't do much to help.

Completely apart from gender issues, it isn't the place of anyone on the panel to undermine Bill's closing speech. That is not the point-counterpoint segment of the show, and for any panelist to think that his or her two-cents is welcome there is a major misreading. My guess is that Michelle, in that moment, was impelled by the question, "What will social media say about me if I stay silent?" The internet, she imagined, would be all over her for failing to respond to Maher. But it's never good to let our choices be determined by what we anticipate social media will say. So, bad form on her part. Poor response on Bill's part. She won't be rebuked for her breach, but he may be for his.

[GHScorpiosRule]

I’m just exhausted. So I’m grateful that Bill didn’t have any batshit crazies on last night.

And thought Carrey was annoying for the most part, he did get in some good serious points.

And for all of Bill’s tone-deafness and assholishness, and both are legion, I’m glad he’s not that much of a grudge holding ass. He invited Michelle Goldberg back after she handed him his ass the last time she was on.

But yeah, the bit about Franken started well, and then just blew up. 

But I do miss Al. 

Maybe Bill should have Senator Harris on the show, instead of whining. I mean was he praising the Democrats because Axelrod was on? Because every week he’s whining how they’re weak and not winning, which wasn’t what he was saying last night.

Bill’s like that Paula Abdul song: one step forward, but with him, 100 steps BACK.?????

Edited September 8, 2018 by GHScorpiosRule

[b2H]

Thinking I may just delete the ep.

[ganesh]

The panel was actually good, and once Carrey got out of the way it was good too, so I wouldn't just not watch. 

I liked Bill totally crashing on the chocolate milk joke but every laughed because they knew the punch line and gave him a hand. 

Bill always gets really pissy if someone interrupts him during New Rules, and to be fair, he was getting to the additional allegations, like literally in the next line of the monologue. He's even snapped at his friends during the New Rules. Bill's reaction shouldn't be surprising to anyone familiar with the show. 

52 minutes ago, Milburn Stone said:

His territorial instinct caused him to react like a comic being heckled.

I think that's all it was and had it been one of the guys he would have done the same thing. I don't think it's anything more than that. She can be mad and he could have been more polite about it, but not everything has to be A Thing. 

Bill is standing up for his friend, and he gets to say what he wants on his show. I don't know the extent of the allegations, but the fact one was a Hannity plant was news to me. That doesn't mean any of the other women's accusations are any less valid. I think the overall point though was the Bill was trying to inject some nuance into the issue. I don't know if there has been any. Not that anyone shouldn't be punished for doing this like that, but we do expect the punishment to fit the crime in this country. I take his point, but I don't know if he's the one who should be making it.  

 

58 minutes ago, iMonrey said:

Whether or not Al Franken got a raw deal, he's not the one to be championing as our next presidential candidate. However amusing it would be to see him debate Trump, we need someone with far less baggage or we run into the same narrative where both choices are "equally bad."

Even if Franken were cleared of everything, and he won't be because he already apologized for the picture, this is exactly what will happen. I do think Bill is correct is that there needs to be someone who treats Trump like a heckler and can verbally joust around him. 

 

56 minutes ago, iMonrey said:

Next week, John Kerry - yay! Oh, and S.E. Cupp - boo!

#SippyCup

I do think the republican guy was off about how the election isn't about the democrats and all they have to do is run against Trump. I don't think that's going to work. "We need to just talk to them about our policies" isn't going to work either. We said it here last week - they need to run on being the adults in the room. 

[Medicine Crow]

Pardon me for asking if this has already been addressed, but I can't find O/T on Youtube? 

[ganesh]

Bill was doing a show in Vegas last night, so typically there's no OT because he leaves right after the Real Time closes. 

[GHScorpiosRule]

6 minutes ago, Medicine Crow said:

Pardon me for asking if this has already been addressed, but I can't find O/T on Youtube? 

Because there as no overtime this week. There a...what do you call it? At the bottom of the screen that listed this week’s guests that it would return next week.

2 minutes ago, ganesh said:

Bill was doing a show in Vegas last night, so typically there's no OT because he leaves right after the Real Time closes. 

Yup and we got the tag it would return next week.

[Gemma Violet]

I figured there was no Overtime when I saw the guests rising from their chairs at the very end.  I didn't know about Bill's Vegas show but that explains it.  

[Victor the Crab]

1 hour ago, ganesh said:

I think the overall point though was the Bill was trying to inject some nuance into the issue. I don't know if there has been any. Not that anyone shouldn't be punished for doing this like that, but we do expect the punishment to fit the crime in this country. I take his point, but I don't know if he's the one who should be making it.

Bill does nuance the way a bull runs right through a china shop. He acts like a Whinny Little Bitch™ whenever his old pal Al Franken's sexual assault allegations come up. Boy needs to drop it altogether and move on to important issues.

2 hours ago, iMonrey said:

Oh, and S.E. Cupp - boo!

Cupp can definitely be an earful. But I will give her credit for trying to drag her fellow Republicans kicking and screaming into the 21st Century, instead of relying on their old hateful platforms to get them into power.

[Drumpf1737]

What are Kamala Harris and Cory Booker not doing that Franken would? I wish someone had asked Bill that.

Michelle Goldberg has been persona non grata for a while now and is just making her way back into the broadcast spotlight. It'll be interesting to see where she pops up next.

Edited September 8, 2018 by Drumpf1737

[ganesh]

Just because Bill is bad at it doesn't mean it's not a worthwhile issue for discussion though. Bill is bad at making arguments. Rather than stick up for his friend, the more pertinent question is 'who decides how long someone has to go away for?' It's not like he went to jail for 18 months and can say, "I did my time, I want to move on and be a part of society again." The punishment fitting the crime is a reasonable issue to raise. I would dispute how we all handle sexual harassment/assault isn't important though. 

5 minutes ago, Drumpf1737 said:

What are Kamala Harris and Cory Booker not doing that Franken would? I wish someone had asked Bill that?

Bill's whole intro into the monologue was that 'we need a comedian to treat Trump like the heckler he is. I know one such person.' Harris and Booker are doing just fine and don't have the 'just as bad' baggage; Booker literally ran into a burning house to save someone. Democrats need someone figuratively bulletproof. Franken isn't that, but Bill was talking probably about too many things at once. 

[sistermagpie]

1 hour ago, Victor the Crab said:

2 hours ago, ganesh said:

I think the overall point though was the Bill was trying to inject some nuance into the issue. I don't know if there has been any. Not that anyone shouldn't be punished for doing this like that, but we do expect the punishment to fit the crime in this country. I take his point, but I don't know if he's the one who should be making it.

Bill does nuance the way a bull runs right through a china shop. He acts like a Whinny Little Bitch™ whenever his old pal Al Franken's sexual assault allegations come up. Boy needs to drop it altogether and move on to important issues.

Given his pattern, I really don't see him looking for nuance so much as having a pretty high bar for what he considers credible accusations that are worth taking seriously. He and Bari Weiss (a favorite of his) seem to love to claim that mild offenders like Azis Ansari are getting treated the same as Harvey Weinstein when they actually aren't. I seem to recall Bill saying that AA's show was cancelled due to that article by the girl who went out with him and that just wasn't true.

Al Franken is free to run for office again and there are plenty of people who would support him (and probably blame Kirsten Gillibrand for his troubles). Louis CK returned to a comedy club to loud applause etc. He just, imo, identifies with the man in the situation until the guy gets into Cosby/Weinstein territory.

[meowmommy]

2 hours ago, Drumpf1737 said:

Michelle Goldberg has been persona non grata for a while now and is just making her way back into the broadcast spotlight. It'll be interesting to see where she pops up next.

She shows up on All In with Chris Hayes all the time.  Don't know if that qualifies as broadcast spotlight.  I used to FF past her; she was too cute by half, but now I listen on occasion.  

6 hours ago, Gemma Violet said:

Jim Carrey was awful.  I hope he's never asked back.

I disagree.  He was himself.  And with the enthusiasm of an immigrant, now naturalized citizen.  I thought he made some good points.  And spoke cogently, from experience, against the trope that Canadian healthcare is shit.

5 hours ago, iMonrey said:

Next week, John Kerry - yay! Oh, and S.E. Cupp - boo!

3 hours ago, Victor the Crab said:

Cupp can definitely be an earful. But I will give her credit for trying to drag her fellow Republicans kicking and screaming into the 21st Century, instead of relying on their old hateful platforms to get them into power.

Wasn't she just on a few weeks ago?  (ICBW; my memory is shit.)  I don't mind retreads, but there are lots of other people out there.

John Kerry will be just what I need instead of Ambien.  He's earnest as fuck, and sleep-inducing.  And on a book tour, which is the only reason he's showing up everywhere now.

And forgive me for not remembering who here made the point some weeks ago that Bill never has two women on his panel, but it's become the first thing I look for as soon as the lights come up.  And it's still never happening.  It can't be an accident.  

[Medicine Crow]

4 hours ago, GHScorpiosRule said:

Because there as no overtime this week. There a...what do you call it? At the bottom of the screen that listed this week’s guests that it would return next week.

Yup and we got the tag it would return next week.

I have an attention deficit ... I can't read & listen simultaneously.  I can't read the "crawl/chyron" & still get what's being said, so I ignore it!!  Just sayin'.  Sorry to bother!!

[GHScorpiosRule]

4 minutes ago, Medicine Crow said:

I have an attention deficit ... I can't read & listen simultaneously.  I can't read the "crawl/chyron" & still get what's being said, so I ignore it!!  Just sayin'.  Sorry to bother!!

It shows up before the show starts!? Right before Bill starts his monologue.

[DXD526]

I don't think Cupp has been on very recently, but she is a semi-regular who seems to be on a couple of times a season. I've always found her insufferable. Lately, though, the headlines of her columns have gotten my attention with their anti-45 bent and I find myself agreeing with most of what she writes these days. That's what 45 has done, made me agree with Sippy Cup. For that alone, he deserves my undying enmity.

I loved Jim Carrey's entrance, sitting back and plopping his new Nikes on the table. That was awesome! Unfortunately, it went downhill from there. He is indeed incapable of turning it off. Or even dialing it back a bit. And he doesn't have to make a joke out of everything. He says he's a fan of the show, so then he knows that comics go on all the time and talk seriously about politics and current events. But even if he started to make a point about something, it would morph into a joke. His politics obviously lean to the left, judging by those paintings he does, and I think Bill was trying to get him to have a real conversation by showing some of the paintings. But he couldn't stop cracking jokes. It just got tiresome after a while. 

[ganesh]

Cupp is about promoting Cupp. Being anti 45 serves that role. 

[Victor the Crab]

9 minutes ago, DXD526 said:

His politics obviously lean to the left, judging by those paintings he does, and I think Bill was trying to get him to have a real conversation by showing some of the paintings. But he couldn't stop cracking jokes. It just got tiresome after a while.

I've seen Carry's paintings. And, at the risk of evoking Godwin's Law, they make Hitler's paintings look like exhibits at the Louvre.

[Eliot]

7 hours ago, iMonrey said:

What is this movie that Jack Bryan made, did they ever say the name of it? Is it available anywhere other than iTunes? Is it free on iTunes? If not, nobody is ever going to see it.

I don't think I agree with Bill that the anonymous op-ed writer is a hero or a patriot. I guess I can see both sides but to me a real patriot resigns and comes out publicly with this information. The op-ed writer is just aiding and abetting.

Yeah, Jim Carrey has always been Robin Williams levels of hyperactive. And yeah, the Obama years were great, but no he didn't bring the nation together. What we're seeing now is partly the result of the Obama presidency - Trump seized upon it and exploited it.

Whether or not Al Franken got a raw deal, he's not the one to be championing as our next presidential candidate. However amusing it would be to see him debate Trump, we need someone with far less baggage or we run into the same narrative where both choices are "equally bad." Although I admit, I did not know that his chief accuser was a Sean Hannity plant. (And yeah . . . Michelle Goldberg looked really pissed off at the end there. LOL. )

Best joke of the night? Ivanka Trump Blow Pops. Because I'm 12.

Next week, John Kerry - yay! Oh, and S.E. Cupp - boo!

The movie is called Active Measures. Just watched it on iTunes and am now very scared and depressed. I believe it is also in theaters and available through Amazon Prime. It’s important. Watch it.

Count me among those who thought Bill was insufferably rude to Michelle Goldberg. He could have simply said, “I’m getting to that” when she interjected instead of scolding her the way he did. I get that it’s his TV show, but she WAS his guest. And I didn’t see him scurrying over to apologize to her or clear the air as the credits rollled.

[littlecatsfeet]

The issue as I see it is, the "it's not your place" comment is typically reserved for women & minorities when they try to speak up. Others may disagree, but being female & a minority, it just hit a raw nerve with me. I agree that Michelle should have not said anything, but that was the worst possible response from Bill. But certainly not out of character for him, unfortunately.

I think Jack Bryan tried to explain where his film was available. I heard "it's available on iTunes and....." and then Bill interrupted. Not the most stellar of either interviewers or hosts, but he's managed to stay on the air this long for some reason, so....actually, his show last week was pretty good. This was not. Pretty cringy.

[Miss Slay]

Has Michelle ever watched the show? I feel like she hasn't otherwise she'd realize "new rules" is essentially a joke segment. It would be like interrupting the daily show during the first segment... I think Bill might have come come across rude but she really messed up the flow of New Rules, imo.

That said, I didn't find her that great on the show and would be surprised to see her back. I think 

[GHScorpiosRule]

11 hours ago, Miss Slay said:

Has Michelle ever watched the show? I feel like she hasn't otherwise she'd realize "new rules" is essentially a joke segment. It would be like interrupting the daily show during the first segment... I think Bill might have come come across rude but she really messed up the flow of New Rules, imo.

That said, I didn't find her that great on the show and would be surprised to see her back. I think 

She’s been on this show before. She was on last season.

[DB in CMH]

20 hours ago, littlecatsfeet said:

The issue as I see it is, the "it's not your place" comment is typically reserved for women & minorities when they try to speak up. Others may disagree, but being female & a minority, it just hit a raw nerve with me. I agree that Michelle should have not said anything, but that was the worst possible response from Bill. But certainly not out of character for him, unfortunately.

From what other said here Michelle said "it's not my place" first.

[ganesh]

The context of the entire scene had Bill immediately following up with 'you had the whole show, this is my time now, and I'm getting to that,' and when he got to the other accusations that she mentioned, he acknowledged her as he was continuing the monologue. While her concerns where legitimate, Bill had also thought about that ahead of time when preparing the segment. 

Bill was pissy to be sure, but he's also been consistently pissy to whenever anyone interrupts New Rules, so I really don't think this is a huge deal. She can be pissed off Bill snapped at her and Bill should have handled it better. Actually if Bill just said, stfu, this is when I talk now, I don't think it would be an issue. 

So maybe in preproduction he needs to make sure one of the producers informs the guests that it's expected they stay quiet during the final segment.  

[b2H]

29 minutes ago, ganesh said:

Bill was pissy to be sure, but he's also been consistently pissy to whenever anyone interrupts New Rules,

He has taken folks to task before this where the violater believes it’s still a dialogue during New Rules.

[littlecatsfeet]

3 hours ago, DB in CMH said:

From what other said here Michelle said "it's not my place" first.

I skimmed throught the comments here; I don't see where anybody claimed that she said that first. Here's the clip of that segment:

[ganesh]

13 minutes ago, b2H said:

He has taken folks to task before this where the violater believes it’s still a dialogue during New Rules.

Some have which have been long time friends too. 

[littlecatsfeet]

I actually have no problem with him snapping at people interrupting him (although he's a notorious interrupter himself). It does push my buttons, I fully admit, that he used the phrase "it's not your place" to express his pissyness. Perhaps he didn't mean it in a sexist way, but to me that's how it sounded. I don't recall him using that term with a male guest. I could be wrong, I am anything but infallible. 

I agree with you that it needs to be explained to his guests in advance to be quiet during New Rules.

[DB in CMH]

1 hour ago, littlecatsfeet said:

I skimmed throught the comments here; I don't see where anybody claimed that she said that first. Here's the clip of that segment:

 

My apologies.

[scrb]

I do agree that ridiculing Trump would be effective.

 

especial mocking him while doing so with a smile would work on TV.

 

Didnt Gillinrand lead the effort to purge Franken, mostly to serve her purposes?

 

yeah anonymous accusers too, which Franken denied.

[Victor the Crab]

On ‎10‎/‎09‎/‎2018 at 12:36 AM, scrb said:

Didnt Gillinrand lead the effort to purge Franken, mostly to serve her purposes?

Why does Kirsten Gillibrand have to be "singled out" for driving out Al Franken? There were others who did the same, most notably Bill's favorite Bernie Sanders.

[Milburn Stone]

6 hours ago, Victor the Crab said:

Why does Kirsten Gillibrand have to be "singled out" for driving out Al Franken? There were others who did the same, most notably Bill's favorite Bernie Sanders.

There were others who expressed disappointment and regret and said that there should be an investigation, but my memory is that she was the first to pre-empt all that and just say "you have to go now."

So I looked it up on Wikipedia, and this is what they have to say:

She was the first in her caucus to call on Senator Al Franken (D-MN) to resign.

[UYI]

Is the Michelle Goldberg moment the reason New Rules got left off of YouTube? I don't have HBO (yeah, I know--lazy freeloader here, lol), so that's the only way I can really see it. I only saw her interruption. 

[Milburn Stone]

1 hour ago, UYI said:

Is the Michelle Goldberg moment the reason New Rules got left off of YouTube? I don't have HBO (yeah, I know--lazy freeloader here, lol), so that's the only way I can really see it. I only saw her interruption. 

But her interruption occurred during New Rules--during the monologue that is the concluding part of New Rules. So if you saw the interruption, you must have seen at least a portion of New Rules. So I'm unclear on what you saw and didn't see.

[UYI]

1 hour ago, Milburn Stone said:

But her interruption occurred during New Rules--during the monologue that is the concluding part of New Rules. So if you saw the interruption, you must have seen at least a portion of New Rules. So I'm unclear on what you saw and didn't see.

I saw the interruption clip on YouTube after I found out about it here. I missed everything else because the show didn't post it on their official YouTube page. Sorry for the confusion! 

[sugarbaker design]

FYI, Michelle Goldberg has an excellent column in today's NYT, it mentions her appearance on RTwBM.