Daily Show guest gets fired

July 23, 2005 2:58 PM

A guest from a Daily Show joke piece was fired from the Broward Art Guild (which still lists her as the exec. director). The strange thing about this story is that in the original piece, the artists involved in a guild show were the source of controversy (for this (NSFW) and this), the director was simply subjected to a few goofball questions from Ed Helms. She was fired in a secret session because, I assume, from the bad press.
posted by mathowie (18 comments total)

I'm outraged at something!
posted by ColdChef at 3:40 PM on July 23, 2005

Speaking from experience, board politics in arts organizations can get ridiculous. Part of the job of an Executive Director in many organizations is to talk to the media (interestingly, a Google search turns up a recent Michelle Malkin column of all things, in which the pundit refers to a talk she had with Buzzi about the exhibit in question), so the board's reasoning of "Well, she didn't tell us that she was going to talk to The Daily Show" seems silly. In the linked article, one board member alleges that the other directors wanted to get rid of Buzzi anyway, and the Daily Show piece was probably just a convenient excuse.

It sounds like this was done in a very underhanded manner.
posted by the_bone at 3:50 PM on July 23, 2005

Typical student crap. Not that either of those middle-aged guys are students, but both of them could have done a LOT better than the sophomore antics that they somehow got to stick on the gallery walls - a Saddam sodomized Bush and a Pope Benedict Nazi? Seconds on the Nytol, please!

No wonder Broward County is the cultural capital of the world - genius!

An once more of research, curiosity or creativity on the artists' behalf would have replaced Saddam with Fahd bin Abdul Aziz, OBL or a Poppy Bush. But Saddam's in jail and Dubya is still nominally in charge of the country - no prison bitches are anywhere to be seen.

These Historical 'satires' would make David and Rubens cry. And BOTH of these 'artists' are too old to have the music-video excuse. I wonder if either of these guys would recognize a metaphor if they saw/heard one...

But the question remains - was Susan Buzzi curating shows at the Broward Co. Art Guild, or just presiding over some sort of social club?
posted by vhsiv at 3:52 PM on July 23, 2005

'Bad press'? Metafilter and The Daily Show are talking about the gallery - certainly that's better than they were doing before...
posted by vhsiv at 3:56 PM on July 23, 2005

bad press

No, you mean evil press.
posted by nervousfritz at 4:28 PM on July 23, 2005

I saw that interview. If giving interviews (to sarcastic assholes) was part of her job, it doesn't seem all that unfair that she should lose it. She didn't do very well.
posted by sfenders at 5:03 PM on July 23, 2005

Typical student crap. Not that either of those middle-aged guys are students, but both of them could have done a LOT better than the sophomore antics that they somehow got to stick on the gallery walls - a Saddam sodomized Bush

The peice didn't have saddam in it, just someone described as a "saudi" IIRC.

Maybe you should do more research.
posted by delmoi at 5:03 PM on July 23, 2005

Damn this (optional, but irresistable) lack of preview.
posted by sfenders at 5:03 PM on July 23, 2005

Speaking from experience, there's not too much that a
board member dislikes more than getting a phone call from
someone who says "Hey, I just saw one of your art directors
on TV and they sure looked stupid" without even knowing
that your art director was going to be on TV.
If she had been art director for 10 years, and the board of
directors fired her for an embarassing mistake, she must have
been on the outs with them before the Daily Show interview.
posted by the Real Dan at 6:17 PM on July 23, 2005

I saw that show. It wasn't a very good one (i.e., not that funny). She didn't respond very well, either; she didn't have to be so serious. It's comedy! Still, it seems that this is just an excuse to fire her and doesn't have anything to do with the content of the show, as she didn't say anything even remotely controversial.
posted by aerify at 6:32 PM on July 23, 2005

sfenders: I saw that interview. If giving interviews (to sarcastic assholes) was part of her job, it doesn't seem all that unfair that she should lose it. She didn't do very well.

aerify: It wasn't a very good one (i.e., not that funny). She didn't respond very well, either; she didn't have to be so serious. It's comedy!

Isn't it The Daily Show's modus operandi to have the interviewees play everything straight / deadpan, and to have the humor come from the interviewer's stupid questions, outrageous antics, etc?

I saw this bit and I thought it was very strange, not one of The Daily Show's funnier bits. But not because of anything the guild director did or didn't do.
posted by Western Infidels at 8:06 PM on July 23, 2005

Someday I hope to be in on a Secret Metting of the Board.

Maybe I should socialize more.
posted by Balisong at 9:15 PM on July 23, 2005

Isn't it The Daily Show's modus operandi to have the interviewees play everything straight

Yes, but she played it confused and disoriented by the strange man with his crazy questions. Then got angry, in a pathetic helpless sort of way. Sort of sad. Such is my recollection, anyway. I may have been drinking heavily that night.
posted by sfenders at 9:21 PM on July 23, 2005

The funniest part of the piece was when Ed Helms acted surprised that there would be a controversy over art in a show called "Controversy." I guess that the board didn't expect that either.
posted by fungible at 10:32 PM on July 23, 2005

I thought she was in on the joke, and acted accordingly. I actually thought she was pretty funny, particularly when you consider the absurdity of the 2 artists who seemed to be competing for the 'Most Blistering Social Commentary' title. That's sort of the Devil's Bargain you play with The Daily Show, though, innit? You get your publicity at the price of the writers' snotty comedy.
posted by maryh at 10:54 PM on July 23, 2005

Keeping up on the Ed Helms news, numero uno?

;)
posted by mwhybark at 12:58 AM on July 24, 2005

You can see the segment on this page, the one titled "Total Eclipse of the Art."

BTW, is it just me, or does The Daily Show website keep getting worse and worse?
posted by planetkyoto at 2:07 AM on July 24, 2005

Wait... she was in on it?
posted by VulcanMike at 2:36 PM on July 24, 2005