Colbert vs. Stewart
| Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., puts on a fake beard to show solidarity with the Writers Guild of America during a mock debate Wednesday about negotiations between the guild and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. – Tim Sloan/Getty Images |
When you put a bunch of politicians in a room with writers from “The Daily Show” and “The Colbert Report,” the pols are bound to try to step up their jokes and one-liners … as always, with subpar results.
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At a mock debate held Wednesday on Capitol Hill about the negotiations between the Writers Guild and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., donned a fake beard to show her solidarity with the writers. “This could be my Dukakis moment,” she said, referring to former Massachusetts Gov. Mike Dukakis’ infamous tank photo during his unsuccessful 1988 presidential run.
If you thought Schakowsky was funny, Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Tenn., thinks she may have had an unfair advantage. “[Rep. John Hall, D-N.Y.] and I are both freshmen so we don’t have writers,” Cohen said.
He added: “If I find Osama bin Laden and brought him in shackles to George Bush, the thing I will have been most known for in my district is being on ‘The Colbert Report.’ ”
Not everyone was amused. “Listening to Steve Cohen trying to sound hip is making my hair hurt,” said Rep. Anthony Weiner, D-N.Y.
“Colbert Report” writer Peter Gross was happy to be on Capitol Hill, but had one criticism. “We saw ‘Charlie Wilson’s War’ last night and I’m a little disappointed with the lack of strippers here,” he said.
Later on, speaking to journalists at the offices of Americans for Tax Reform, several of the writers said, while they’ve heard plenty of good material since the strike, they haven’t been turning it into material. “It really does take work to pound this stuff into comedy,” said “Daily Show” writer Jason Ross.
And in response to a question about whether the writers’ contract applies to the adult-film industry, the “Daily Show’s” Tim Carvell quipped, “It’s been hardest on them because their actors are really bad at ad-libbing. Those girls don’t go wild all by themselves.”
