B.In the early days of “Saturday Night Live,” comic/writer Buck Henry (who co-wrote “The Graduate” and created “Get Smart” with Mel Brooks) had a one-man show he played in the morning. did a skit. Drivetime radio host of a political talk radio show.
He started the show by saying, “Today we’re talking about municipal bonds being issued in hopes of funding infrastructure projects. Call 555-TALK and tell us what you think about them.”
After a few seconds of awkward silence, he said. Do we need these new roads? How are you going to pay them in the future (so to speak)? Please call us. ”
No one calls and the silence is deafening. This continues for several more rounds until he finally says it. what’s on your mind? Call me and I’ll talk to you during the broadcast. ”
Still nothing, so he starts spiraling as he approaches the panic phase. No phone yet. Finally, at the end of the skit, she screams, “That’s right!” I think all catholic nuns are communist whores secretly working for the aliens who live among us! What do you think of that? ”
The skit ends with an excruciating silence.
I was thinking about that recently while listening to a lineup of right-wing speakers on KNST Radio. They are reeling after what should have been brutal midterm elections last November. They have to fill his year with word products until the 2024 election year.
Oh, they were all full of themselves heading into the election. “We (30%) are going to take back the country!” It became the Chicago River.
They were able to fill the rest of November and most of December with stolen elections and sick Trump talk of fraud and deception. But these days, perhaps flinching at having to bring up the name of Kari Lake, who handed the governor of Arizona to her on her silver platter, she’s not as crazy as she needs to cross the finish line. alienated no voters. She refused to live up to her brand of hateful nonsense.
A few weeks ago, it was actually interesting to witness the division in the world of right-wing speakers. National afternoon speakers — Sean Hannity and Mark Levin — were all about Kevin McCarthy becoming Speaker of the House.
Their endorsement was to hold your nose and vote, but they wanted McCarthy in the speakership so they could start chasing Hunter Biden’s laptop.
(If I ever meet Mark Levin, I’ll intentionally mispronounce his last name so that it rhymes with “Seven.” It cannot be expected to be taken seriously as the name of the Vice President of the United States at all disdain.)
But the local man was completely against McCarthy. He taunted him incessantly…until McCarthy was finally elected and the speaker moved on.
When I heard the new leader of the Pima County Republican Party on the radio the other day, something else came to my mind. From the late 1960s he had the Los Angeles Free Press, dating back to the turbulent political times of the early 1970s. Its overall edge and leftward editorial slant made it very popular. (The paper’s political cartoonist was Ron Cobb, who later created the creature in the movie Aliens.)
It burned brightly for a moment, but became the ultimate example of the saying, “When fanatics build firing squads, they rally in circles.” In the editing room, the purge was repeated along political and radical lines. In the end, only black communist lesbians remained. So the newspaper reader was… Angela Davis.
In these parts, after Lake blows an easily won state gubernatorial race, Blake Masters runs for US Senator at the hands of Mark Kelly, the queer Mark Finchem gets squashed in the election for Secretary of State, and Anchor. Baby Abe Hamade lost the election for Attorney General. Those with a clear mind will realize that if the disgusting hot sauce poured by the barrel made the party a little easier, they could have served a wider audience with delicious food. Voter range.
But no. After watching their party suffer one humiliating defeat after another, members of the Pima County Republican Party decided that the reason they lost so badly was because they weren’t crazy enough right wing! is trying to wipe out all RINO with the political version of ethnic cleansing. And they intend to do it in the home of the Democratic Party in a state that actually leans left, despite the national focus on local right-wing insanity.
Yeah, good luck with that.
It’s going to be a slow year for Crackpot Talk Radio. COVID-19 denial, anti-science, false vaccine claims, Hunter Biden… For us loyal listeners, the next election can’t happen anytime soon.
