Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Couric-Palin Interviews More Entertaining than CBS Primetime Lineup

The CBS Evening News with Katie Couric received only a minimal boost to its anemic ratings from a week of interviews with Sarah Palin. Which is a shame.

Those who weren't watching missed out on a sublime mix of surreal absurdity and outright stupidity. Sarah Palin's disjointed answers sounded like edited snippets even when there was no editing. In fact her performance was so over the top, that it actually was funnier than Tina Fey's SNL impersonation.

Those who compare Palin to Bush because of their willful ignorance miss the crucial difference between the two. Whereas Bush's plodding, monosyllabic incoherence is annoying and infuriating to watch, Palin is a delight. Bush's fake Texas drawl is irritating, but Palin's Alaska/Fargo accent always adds the right comedic touch to whatever incredibly offbase thing she says. Her goal seems to be to regurgitate whatever information her handlers had her memorize, whether or not it pertains to the question being asked.

Palin could be considered a comedy idiot savant. In addition to having no ideas, she has no idea she's funny. They say there's a fine line between comedy and tragedy. Hopefully, our country won't cross that line on Election Day.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Unfortunately, America has a habit of voting political comedians to the Oval Office. The trouble is, once there, they stop being funny.