VIDEOS OF THE DAY: Take That, Bill O’Reilly!
Hey, sketch and satire writers– I’m guessing you’ve all seen the video burning up the Internet of Bill O’Reilly melting down on Inside Edition a few years ago. Well, even…
Hey, sketch and satire writers--
I'm guessing you've all seen the video burning up the Internet of Bill O'Reilly melting down on Inside Edition a few years ago. Well, even better are these two shorts-- Stephen Colbert's brilliantly written "defense" of him, and Barely Political's "unseen footage" of O'Reilly's off-screen producer. This is some great satirical sketch writing. (And if you haven't seen the original video, watch the Colbert clip-- he shows the original in its entirety.) (Also, check out the great Hardball clip as well...)
The Colbert Report: Bill O'Reilly/Inside Edition Defense
Barely Political: Bill O'Reilly's Producer (unseen footage)
And as long as we're talking politics, you gotta see this clip from Thursday's Hardball, where Chris Matthews destroys right-wing talk show host Kevin James with his own petard. (They're discussing Bush's Thursday morning speech to the Israeli Knesset, or Israel legislature, in which he compares Democrats today to Nazi appeasers.)
Hardball: Chris Matthews & Kevin James
(Although I have to say: the Democrats won't shut up about how inappropriate and uncouth it was of President Bush to criticize Barack Obama, a political rival, while on foreign soil, and I really wanna say, "Really, guys? That's what you're upset about? He criticized a rival while he wasn't standing on U.S. soil? Do we really live in a world where you can't talk about someone-- especially if you're saying something inordinately stupid-- unless you're standing in the same country? In a world of globalization, supersonic jet travel, and the Internet, what does that matter?! As if Bush would've been standing in Alberton, Montana, or Leesville, Louisiana, that somehow would've given the comments a better context?! Really?!!" Come on, Democrats, you can do better than that.)

Jane Friedman is a full-time entrepreneur (since 2014) and has 20 years of experience in the publishing industry. She is the co-founder of The Hot Sheet, the essential publishing industry newsletter for authors, and is the former publisher of Writer’s Digest. In addition to being a columnist with Publishers Weekly and a professor with The Great Courses, Jane maintains an award-winning blog for writers at JaneFriedman.com. Jane’s newest book is The Business of Being a Writer (University of Chicago Press, 2018).