The Unfunny Factor

Washington Post ^ | 4/15/03 | LLoyd Grove

[HumanaeVitae]

Maybe Bill O'Reilly should declare a "No-Quip Zone."

Emceeing Saturday night's Best Friends rock-and-roll gala at the Marriott Wardman Park -- which raised $800,000 for the 15-year-old charity benefiting inner-city schoolchildren -- the Fox News Channel star was trying to fill dead air during a lull in the entertainment.

Members of the "Best Men," as the sixth-to-eighth-grade boys in the program are called, were delayed getting onstage to perform a lip-synced rendition of the Four Tops standard "Reach Out (I'll Be There)." O'Reilly ad-libbed: "Does anyone know where the Best Men are? I hope they're not in the parking lot stealing our hubcaps."

[Paul Atreides]

O'Reilly ad-libbed: "Does anyone know where the Best Men are? I hope they're not in the parking lot stealing our hubcaps."

Change "O'Reilly ad-libbed" to "Chris Rock ad-libbed" and it suddenly becomes hilarious......to some people.

[sarasota]

Is it me or is O'Reilly losing his edge? I'm finding him tedious and annoying.

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[headsonpikes]

His heart's in the right place, but he's an Archie Bunker.

It's funny on TV, not necessarily so with real folks.

[Cincinatus]

Change "O'Reilly ad-libbed" to "Chris Rock ad-libbed" and it suddenly becomes hilarious

Although the article doesn't say so, I assume that these kids are black, thus making O'Reilly's comment tasteless. He would have gotten a laugh if he had made some comment self-denigrating to his own ethnic group, like asking if all of the Irishmen were out getting drunk at the corner saloon.

[Conspiracy Guy]

Bill has made the fatal mistake of taking himself to be too smart and too important. He is moments away from becoming either Geraldo or a Dimocrap. He will probably go to CNN.

[Pompah]

Your comment is the cold unblemished truth Paul. Rock Solid.

Very unsettling,and Hateful........To some people.

Pax-Aye

Pompah

[Teacher317]

He would have gotten a laugh if he had made some comment self-denigrating to his own ethnic group, like asking if all of the Irishmen were out getting drunk at the corner saloon.

Perpetuating the stupidity of Political Correctness, "only certain people are permitted to say certain things."

[Cincinatus]

You can call it "PC" if you want to, but I prefer to think of it as "good manners."

Ethnic humor is like a loaded machine gun -- it can be very effective, but should be used with extreme caution.

[finnman69]

O'Reiily, insert foot in mouth, pay penalty.

[mabelkitty]

Ethnic humor should be used by nobody, or it should be used by everybody.

That eliminates the discrimination issue.

[hgro]

"His heart's in the right place, but he's an Archie Bunker."

O'Reilly's brain is in his butt, his hand is busily raking in the shekels from the dumbos.

[Cincinatus]

Ethnic humor should be used by nobody, or it should be used by everybody.

Ah yes, the meat-axe approach, as opposed to the scalpel. Well, different strokes.....

[Sam's Army]

"Bill has made the fatal mistake of taking himself to be too smart and too important."

His only mistake here is that he was un-PC.

[Conspiracy Guy]

I used to like him but he has become so smug. The incident in question could matter less to me. I go outside and play with my Lab (she is mobile) during his show now. Bill has become sooooo boring.

[HitmanLV]

I think Papa John Phillips introduced one of the members of the band playing with the Mamas & Papas on the last day of the Monterey International Pop Festival, drummer 'Fast Eddie' Brick.

Papa John introduced the drummer, "...on drums, a young man from Chicago, 'Fast Eddie' [Brick]. Fast Eddie also specializes in hubcaps and car radios, so place your order."

[sarasota]

Seems like this O'Reilly transformation came just after Geraldo got booted.

[Conspiracy Guy]

No my loss of interest with Bill goes back to Spring of 2002. It seemed like he changed or at least my perception of him changed. Can't explain it, I try to watch and he can't hold my attention. To me he went from cutting edge to "I'm Bill and you're not buy my book Blah Blah Blah."