The “Daily Show’s” John Oliver had no problem believing author Mark Leibovich’s account of Washington’s smarmy chattering class described in Leibovich’s new book, “This Town.” Oliver has seen Washington in action.
While Leibovich starts out his new tome talking about the hyper-networking that took place at the late “Meet the Press” host Tim Russert’s memorial service. Oliver simply pointed to the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner.
“There was a hub of people bouncing around tables, they brought in the colors, General Odierno got up to speak, talking about troops overseas–everyone talked over the top of him,” Oliver recalled, on Monday night’s episode of the “Daily Show.” “I couldn’t believe it–can you not even fake giving a s—?” the comedian continued.
Oliver pointed out that this was literally the least that people could do. “The least you can do is shut up when a general is talking about troops overseas, rather than talking louder over the top of him because you want a photo with Tom Brokaw, who is not there for obvious reasons.” (Brokaw is a big critic of the annual Correspondents’ dinner, which Washingtonians refer to as the “nerd prom.”)
Leibovich said that, sadly, the annual dinner is not the exception in Washington, it’s the rule; demonstrating “the bubble world Washington has become.”
“It’s a wonderful concentration of it in a few days,” Leibovich said. “I don’t think it is an outlier.”
Watch the exchange below.
The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
Get More: Daily Show Full Episodes,Indecision Political Humor,The Daily Show on Facebook
