Leno to Host Carlin, Coulter on Wednesday

Atlanta Journal Constitution ^ | 6/13/06 | AP Wire Story

[Oshkalaboomboom]

"Tonight" host Jay Leno might want to consider wearing referee stripes on Wednesday's show when Ann Coulter and George Carlin are his guests.

Coulter, the acid-tongued conservative with a new book out, and Carlin, the quick-witted, antiestablishment comedian who's in the voice cast for the new animated film "Cars," were booked at separate times for the NBC late-nighter, a spokeswoman said Monday.

But the duo's meeting could produce serious fireworks for "Tonight," which usually limits its political fodder to Leno's bipartisan monologue jokes.

Coulter, author of "Godless: The Church of Liberalism," has drawn fire for attacking the four New Jersey widows who pushed for an independent commission to investigate the Sept. 11 World Trade Center attacks in which their husbands died.

In her book, Coulter accuses the women of "reveling in their status as celebrities and stalked by grief-arazzis. I've never seen people enjoying their husbands' deaths so much."

An appearance by Coulter on another NBC series, "Today," led to a prickly exchange with host Matt Lauer over her comments on the widows.

Also scheduled for "Tonight" Wednesday is Scottish singer and songwriter KT Tunstall.

[dead]

Last night, Leno was already apologizing to audience for having Coulter on two nights later.

[SlowBoat407]

Then Carlin or no Carlin, what is Coulter doing there?

Accepting an invitation for exposure.

Carlin is less than a talking head. He's a moving mouth.

[DCPatriot]

Coulter already cleaned Maher's clock...and changed his oil too!

They dated. ;^)

[Non-Sequitur]

They dated. ;^)

Absolutely no accounting for taste on Coulter's part.

[oblomov]

The best thing Ann could possibly do is make them lose their cool, while she keeps hers. That is all that matters on television.

[BaBaStooey]

KT Tunstall is a woman. And her music is pretty good, too.

[finnigan2]

"I heard Ann on Rusty Humphreys last night and she said she was not appearing with Carlin because for their was no point in her debating a professional comedian."

- Subsequent posters don't seem to get the point that Anne was making. She uses sarcasm to deflate self important liberal elitists and make them look silly. She has to play off of their pomposity and indignation to score points.
Carlin also uses sarcasm, is not pompous and too cool to show indignation. So their debate would be a dual of, "can you top this" funny one liners and he, being a professional comedian who has tested his delivery of one liners before many audiences, would win such a meeting.

[RedRover]

She sure has an interesting night ahead of her! The bright side for her, I guess, is that ratings will be high.

[DCPatriot]

Yes, but would be worse is for Carlin to appear after Ann...in the event she doesn't remain...and have him zing her repeatedly to the cheers of the morons in the audience.

[Verginius Rufus]

Oh, that Carlin. I thought it was going to be John Carlin, former Archivist of the United States (a Clintonista finally eased out by the Bush administration).

[Borges]

Carlin is one of the originators of the modern stand up persona. He's over the hill now but at his best he was brilliant and deserves to be ranked with the likes of Richard Pryor.

[mjolnir]

Carlin is one of the originators of the modern stand up persona. He's over the hill now but at his best he was brilliant and deserves to be ranked with the likes of Richard Pryor.

I probably shouldn't say this, because I know it'll make my appraisal of Carlin look weaker, but I never thought Richard Pryor was very funny either-- although I did think he was much funnier than Carlin. The stand up guys I've enjoyed--- Seinfeld, Brian Regan, tend to be "throwbacks." Then again, I suppose there wouldn't be an Eddie Murphy (who I've enjoyed a lot) without a Richard Pryor. The whole topical/conscious/serious point phase in comedy whether in Norman Lear shows or stand up in the seventies/ early eighties was in general something that annoyed me.

[Borges]

Well it makes your point of view easier to understand. It's just a matter of taste after all. Seinfeld was a throwback to observational humor and Mother-in-law jokes of the stand up comedians of old. Actually back then they called them 'Nightclub Comedians'. Mort Sahl was the one who brought current events into this medium.

[Antoninus]

He's over the hill now but at his best he was brilliant and deserves to be ranked with the likes of Richard Pryor.

Now there's good company to keep. Both Carlin and Pryor made their reputation on being foul-mouthed. But neither of them were anti-establishment. They're part of the entertainment establishment.

Real anti-establishment commedians, like Andrew Dice Clay, who made the mistake of insulting society's true sacred cows, get shown the door in a real hurry.

[Borges]

Pryor was the Dostoevsky of comedy. At his best he was drop dead brilliant and highly self critical. If you think Clay's smutty nursery rhymes act was anti establishment...

[Antoninus]

Pryor was the Dostoevsky of comedy.

Give me a break. I don't remember Fyodor dropping the f-bomb (or equivalent) 20 times per page. He didn't need to because he was a great writer.

[Borges]

That's what Pauline Kael called him. There was a lot more to him then expletives. Check out 1979's 'Richard Pryor in concert' If only his many imitators understood that.

[KC Burke]

I don't know if many have seen Carlin on political shows but he is 10 times more nasty and viscous than Michael Moore.

[Buggman]

So what does happen when you bring matter and antimatter together?

[dfwgator]

Yep nothing agitates "The Man" like:

Little Boy Blue
He needed the money!