Your Moment of Late Night Cartoon Violence

February 6, 2008 4:05 PM

Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert and Conan O'Brien fight over Mike Huckabee (which is so much more fun than Jimmy Kimmel and Matt Damon fighting over Sarah Silverman).

Yeah, fake fight, especially knowing Conan and Colbert are united against bears.

Besides, we all know Chuck Norris MADE Huckabee, and Norris could roundhouse kick the asses of O'Brien, Stewart, Colbert, Letterman, Leno, Ferguson, Ellen, Martha, Rachael, Regis, Kelly, Maury, Montel, Springer, Judge Judy, O'Reily, Olbermann, Hannity, Colmes and all the 'Ladies' of "The View" all at the same time with both hands and one leg tied behind his back. Oprah? A tossup.

And if a vote for Huckabee is a vote for McCain, is watching Craig Ferguson a vote for Ron Paul?

posted by wendell (57 comments total)

Yeah, but, Sarah Silverman is worth fighting for.

However, I must admit that this is probably the best running joke since the writers' strike.
posted by krinklyfig at 4:08 PM on February 6

The writers strike has shown that, on The Daily Show, the emperor has no clothes. Conversely, on The Colbert Report, the emperor is wearing a Voltron-like mech robot with the power to implode galaxies
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 4:15 PM on February 6 [11 favorites]

The only thing worth fighting for in regards to Sarah Silverman is who gets the first rib-kick.
posted by mckenney at 4:15 PM on February 6 [3 favorites]

Dear sweet Jesus, please end the writers strike.
posted by Pastabagel at 4:15 PM on February 6 [1 favorite]

Ummm...those are three funny guys, but that went on waaay too long, and had no punchline. It's a case of "yeah, we're comics known for our intellect and wit, but let's "slum it" and do some wacky slapstick! It'll be funny! And wacky!" And the Sarah Silverman song is better 'cause it's got Matt Fucking Damon in it.
posted by zardoz at 4:19 PM on February 6

goddammit christshitting fuckass

can we go ten days on the internet without a chuck norris joke or reference of some kind please

i still love you, wendell, but dude come on like really man what's up
posted by Mikey-San at 4:21 PM on February 6

Whoa, dunno what happened to my shift key there. Adjusts necktie.

It was a pretty good bit until it got slapsticky and went on for three full minutes at the end with basically no jokes. The stunt double part gave me a chuckle, though.
posted by Mikey-San at 4:23 PM on February 6

Shit. Is comedy that difficult? First Silverwoman, then this?
It all makes the writers seem indespensible.
posted by foodeater at 4:27 PM on February 6

If yall hate Sarah Silverman so much, why dontcha threaten to come over there and "fuckstart" her head if she doesnt shut up?

Seemed to work out ok for those two other guys.
posted by Senor Cardgage at 4:34 PM on February 6

It was a pretty good bit until it got slapsticky and went on for three full minutes at the end with basically no jokes. The stunt double part gave me a chuckle, though.

Well, the fight seen was kind of boring, but keep in mind that it had been lead up too for weeks on all three shows, and not in a way that made it seem like anything would actually happen.

Plus, I actually watched Conan for the first time in, like, a decade.
posted by delmoi at 4:35 PM on February 6

I loved the parts where two of them were standing around in the hallways BS-ing while they were waiting for the third to finish his show.

Must be painful for the writers to see this stuff get posted everywhere.
posted by smackfu at 4:39 PM on February 6

Besides, we all know Chuck Norris MADE Huckabee

That was part of Conan's argument. Yes, Norris made Huckabee, but CONAN MADE NORRIS, thanks to the Walker, Texas Ranger Lever.

Just trying to keep things straight.
posted by mrnutty at 4:43 PM on February 6

Must be painful for the writers to see this stuff get posted everywhere.

Of course it's painful for them, they're compassionate people. I wish it could be unposted.
posted by mumkin at 4:46 PM on February 6

smackfu writes "Must be painful for the writers to see this stuff get posted everywhere."

It's for lack of anything else to post. It's not like it's really brilliant or anything, but TDS has a funny bit for the first time in a while, and Huckabee's a good sport. I can't say for sure, but I wouldn't see something like this as a threat to their creative powers.

I agree with *deep breath* East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 *gasp*. How about just "East?" OK, so I agree with East that Colbert is obviously much better at improv. But I never got the impression that Jon Stewart thought of himself as the brains behind the funny, although that's sort of his shtick.
posted by krinklyfig at 4:54 PM on February 6

I just had a flashback to about 10 years ago of trying to use the comedycentral.com website and it being just as futile and broken.
posted by destro at 4:55 PM on February 6

All I have learned from this is that I really can't make my mind up as to which one of the three I love more.
posted by Kattullus at 5:03 PM on February 6

Damn you, wendell!!!!
posted by Sys Rq at 5:05 PM on February 6

Stewart has been...watchable since the strike began. This Conan-Stewart-Colbert thing has gotten really, really grating. *single tear*
posted by everichon at 5:08 PM on February 6

Must be painful for the writers to see this stuff get posted everywhere.

Are you kidding? Writers or not, I really don't see how a wildly successful internet clip bolsters the AMPTP's case that internet broadcasting isn't profitable. This is proving the writers' point and they didn't even need to get dressed this morning.
posted by XQUZYPHYR at 5:09 PM on February 6

Huh. This was so painfully unfunny that if my boyfriend weren't watching it with me last night I'd have fast forwarded through it. Instead, I turned away.
posted by birdie birdington at 5:09 PM on February 6

I also find things unfunny and share that opinion.
posted by smackfu at 5:24 PM on February 6 [1 favorite]

SysRq, you inspired me to post this; I had been sitting on this story, even when the Kimmel thing got posted, but when I saw your comment, the only one (at the time) mentioning this Historic TV Moment, I knew it had to hit the Front Page, and you apparently weren't going to do it. (Come on, Dude. Do your First Post, I promise I will not call you out in MeTa.)

More background on the "Great Fight".

Norris made Huckabee, but CONAN MADE NORRIS...

And if Conan ever said that in front of Chuck, he wouldn't have an ass left to kick. Yes, the Chuck Norris meme is played out, but I felt I would be remiss if I didn't mention it here (and at least I saved it for the "more inside", and didn't pollute the front page with it).

But as far as jumping the shark is concerned, I do sincerely wish we still had the img tag. [CLICK HERE]
posted by wendell at 5:26 PM on February 6

Huh. I wondered the other day how these shows were going without writers. Now I know.
posted by Tehanu at 5:29 PM on February 6

As far as jumping the shark is concerned, there is no substitute for the original.
posted by krinklyfig at 5:33 PM on February 6

I actually didn't post it because, as others have stated, it wasn't all that funny. Funnier than Kimmel, sure, but most things are.

No, this was just a blatant three-way exercise in t i m e - f i l l i n g .

Hey, Craig Ferguson got his citizenship the other day, you know.
posted by Sys Rq at 5:34 PM on February 6

.
posted by notmydesk at 5:35 PM on February 6

They seem to be filling time in a way consistent with WGA strike rules, so kudos to them. It's creative, even if it isn't funny. It falls flat, but that's because we're all comparing it to what their writers usually write for them. And their writers are good.

I miss you, Daily Show and Colbert Report writers. Best of luck Saturday. Don't write until it's right. Fuck the Oscars.
posted by Tehanu at 5:44 PM on February 6

This is not satire. Let's face it. This is what we really wish would happen between David Letterman, Jay Leno, and Oprah Winfrey - only even less funny and with blood loss. If anything, this was a parody of the Late Night Talk Show wars in the 1990s.

When the writers get back, no doubt someone will ask them why they never tried to do a team up between Colbert, O'Brien, and Stewart before. I can already hear the answer, "we would do it when it was funny."
posted by ZachsMind at 5:55 PM on February 6

...this could also be a parody of what DC and Marvel have been doing in recent years (heck, what they've always done) with regards to the seeming endless battles between big name characters. Like the Civil War, recent Hulk craziness, DC's multiple crises, etc. The purpose of plot lines now seems to be to generate reasons to give half the characters in a respective universe reason to fight the other half.
posted by ZachsMind at 5:58 PM on February 6

Jon Stewart is one of two head writers on The Daily Show.
posted by birdie birdington at 5:59 PM on February 6

It's kind of bad form to knock another crappy celebrity fake fight post on Metafilter in one's own crappy celebrity fake fight post on Metafilter. This one in particular was more interesting to read about on cnn.com that actually witness.
posted by Burhanistan at 6:03 PM on February 6

Jon Stewart is one of two head writers on The Daily Show.

Yeah but he's normally got a writing staff of something like 14 people. Now it's just him. It's much, much harder to be funny consistently for an entire program when it's just one person coming up with material.
posted by Tehanu at 6:05 PM on February 6

Yeah but he's normally got a writing staff of something like 14 people. Now it's just him.

No, he's not writing.
posted by birdie birdington at 6:30 PM on February 6

Right, but he's coming up with the ideas for the show.
posted by Tehanu at 6:32 PM on February 6

Hey, Craig Ferguson got his citizenship the other day, you know.

Yeah, I'll do a post on that tomorrow :)
That, and him getting the call to do the White House Press Dinner where Colbert was so infamous two years ago. But what you didn't know is that he was third choice, after Ellen Degeneres and Steve Carell turned them down. DAMN, I used my best link on the subject...

BTW, if a vote for Huckabee is a vote for McCain (as the Colbert video showed), is watching Craig Ferguson a vote for Ron Paul?
posted by wendell at 7:20 PM on February 6

I do appreciate that Jon Stewart ad libbed a line from Avalon in the hallway. ("You cut the turkey?") His look of embarrassment immediately following was priceless, like, "Oh, none of you have seen that movie."
posted by Astro Zombie at 7:36 PM on February 6

Mike Huckabee congratulates Canadians on their National Igloo.
posted by plexi at 7:37 PM on February 6

This thread is WAY funnier than the three way - but I still love those guys.

And come on... The Matt Damon 'riding the pony' dance interlude was so unexpected that my fullers shot out of my nose. Nice to see a celebrity (one with credible talent) throw out something like that.
posted by caveat empress at 8:00 PM on February 6

Ferguson should do the Oscars. I'd take him over any of these idiots.
posted by dobbs at 8:23 PM on February 6

blatant three-way exercise in t i m e - f i l l i n g .

Somehow that made it more enjoyable.

But yes, writers back please.
posted by Artw at 8:49 PM on February 6

No, this was just a blatant three-way exercise in t i m e - f i l l i n g .

Which they admitted to when Jon showed up on The Colbert Report. At least this was mildly amusing... some of their other padding has been boring.
posted by crossoverman at 9:24 PM on February 6

Burhanistan: "It's kind of bad form to knock another crappy celebrity fake fight post on Metafilter in one's own crappy celebrity fake fight post on Metafilter."

This obviously calls for a crappy crappy celebrity fake fight post on Metafilter fake fight on Metafilter.

May the best crappy celebrity fake fight post on Metafilter win.

(I call the rubberized Louisville slugger!)
posted by Rhaomi at 9:35 PM on February 6

I was just entranced to see three of my crushes on the teevee at the same time, occasionally touching each other.
posted by loiseau at 12:52 AM on February 7 [1 favorite]

wendell:
That, and him getting the call to do the White House Press Dinner where Colbert was so infamous two years ago. But what you didn't know is that he was third choice, after Ellen Degeneres and Steve Carell turned them down. DAMN, I used my best link on the subject...

They shoulda shut down the whole Press Dinner institution after Colbert. No one will ever do anything as awesome as that, period.

Seriously, Craig Ferguson? WTF? Wasn't he the boss on the Drew Carey show? Why do I even know that? What does he do that's worth seeing?
posted by loiseau at 12:56 AM on February 7

Stewart on this clip: "This was the stupidest thing in the history of television..."
posted by chuckdarwin at 4:02 AM on February 7

Seriously, Craig Ferguson? WTF? Wasn't he the boss on the Drew Carey show? Why do I even know that? What does he do that's worth seeing?

He's the host of the Late, Late Show. Plus, as noted above, he just got his American citizenship, so I'm sure they'll play that up a bit.
posted by inigo2 at 6:16 AM on February 7

Must be painful for the writers to see this stuff get posted everywhere.

somebody should consider the audience's pain after watching this shit -- why should it be all about the writers?
posted by matteo at 6:59 AM on February 7

and, by the way, Ferguson is just another case of a Brit whom a lot of Americans find witty because they mistake the unusual accent for wit. if anything, Ferguson is a tool, someone even less funny than the sad Bill Maher; and it does not surprise that, in an act of impressive bullying, Ferguson once cut a Maher segment short just because, God forbid, Maher's Michael Jackson joke had offended Ferguson's petite bourgeoisie sense of what's proper for corporate entertainment to broadcast.

Ferguson = tool

I don't see why Americans should celebrate Ferguson's inclusion in their nation -- it's not like they're short on tools nowadays.
posted by matteo at 7:04 AM on February 7

Christ, I forgot how tall Conan is.
posted by CitrusFreak12 at 8:08 AM on February 7

I thought that they dragged the joke on a little too long, but the premise, build up, and initial execution were very clever, particularly in that they indicated really early on that it was just intentional time filler.

And I guess I don't get the Ferguson hate. I don't watch him regularly, but when I do catch him, I'm typically pretty entertained. Particularly during his interviews; he seems to have a knack for getting people to let their guard down and give us a glimpse of who they really are.
posted by quin at 8:24 AM on February 7

"Ummm...those are three funny guys, but that went on waaay too long, and had no punchline."

"I thought that they dragged the joke on a little too long..."

Do you guys ever actually watch Conan O'Brien?

Since they ended the thing on his show, they were using his humor sensibilities more. He always does that. He drags a premise through the mud and sometimes there's no punchline and never was gonna be one.

It's why he has a late night network show, while we just post to MeFi.
posted by ZachsMind at 9:03 AM on February 7 [1 favorite]

Lots of grumpiness. Three guys without writers needed to fill some time and stumbled upon a reasonably creative way of wasting some minutes on all three shows at once.

As the "feud" went on, all three of them have made joking comments to the effect that that's why they're doing it.

Sure, it's stupid, but so what? It's not like any of the people involved are above going for stupid laughs.

Also, there's a ton of animated GIF fodder in that fight scene. I personally would go for the two Colbert-as-Bruce-Lee moments.
posted by sparkletone at 10:02 AM on February 7

matteo writes "and, by the way, Ferguson is just another case of a Brit whom a lot of Americans find witty because they mistake the unusual accent for wit. if anything, Ferguson is a tool, someone even less funny than the sad Bill Maher; and it does not surprise that, in an act of impressive bullying, Ferguson once cut a Maher segment short just because, God forbid, Maher's Michael Jackson joke had offended Ferguson's petite bourgeoisie sense of what's proper for corporate entertainment to broadcast."

He does the best monologue on late night television, hands down. I love Conan's sense of humor more, but Ferguson is a traditional story-teller type comedian (as was Bill Cosby), and it's rare these days. He can do a very long monologue night after night, and it's usually the best segment of the show (certainly not the skits, which are occasionally funny but pretty lowbrow in general). The accent really doesn't matter - it can't hurt - though his personality and communications skills do help.
posted by krinklyfig at 10:21 AM on February 7

quin writes "And I guess I don't get the Ferguson hate. I don't watch him regularly, but when I do catch him, I'm typically pretty entertained. Particularly during his interviews; he seems to have a knack for getting people to let their guard down and give us a glimpse of who they really are."

You can easily tell he's smarter than many of his guests, but he lets them look good anyway. I always liked Letterman because he didn't play that game and would cut anyone down who puffed themselves up (not so much anymore), but there's something to be said for a gracious host who can still do good interviews, much like Johnny Carson used to do.
posted by krinklyfig at 10:24 AM on February 7

ah wendell, why did you have to go there? methinks you're trying to start a not fake feud with me. i have no choice but to confess that i'm f*****g Steven Colbert, Jon Stewart and Conan.
posted by barrakuda at 12:29 PM on February 7

yea, genius :D

getting the call to do the White House Press Dinner

ooooo, cool; not tool!
posted by kliuless at 6:59 PM on February 7

Outtakes from the brawl
posted by smackfu at 7:27 AM on February 13