Punditry

The other night, The Daily Show had on what was its best "Great Moments in Punditry as Read by Children" that I have seen.

For those of you unfamiliar with the show, this skit usually lasts about 30 seconds or so and involves children reading transcripts from talk-shows of pundits saying usually ridiculous things. As it goes, these are often quite funny and reveal the idiocy of the comments by decontextualizing them from the talk-show format which serves to mask what is being said.

For this skit, there were four children reading a section from "Hannity and Colmes" on some date from, I think, last summer. They were discussing the "scandal" of the Democrat who illegally removed documents from some library (I can't remember right now exactly who it was or the circumstances). For the skit, there was a young man reading Hannity, another reading a democratic commentator, a young girl reading Ann Coulter, and another young girl reading Colmes. The main thrust of the selection begins with "Ann Coulter" making a statement about the theft of documents and the "democrat" stepping in to correct what did turn out to be an exaggeration.

"Hannity" then jumps on the "democrat" for interrupting and the two go back and forth as "Hannity" suggests that the "democrat" needs to get in line or he will cut off his mic and throw him off the show. The two argue over this for some time, with "Coulter" jumping in from time to time to try and add something.

What makes this so wonderful to now is that it is going on for longer than usual. As I mentioned, these segments usually last about 30 seconds at most. This one goes on for at least a minute. And what you begin to notice after a while is that throughout it all, "Colmes" is sitting on the side doing nothing. I began to wonder after a while of watching the young girl "Colmes" fidget and squirm while the others argue if she was ever going to say anything. Then, suddenly, the other three pause and then look over at "Colmes" who says "We'll be right back." She then begins to laugh and says "I wasn't paying attention."

Whether this was scripted or not, what made this so great was how it reveals so completely the function of Colmes on this show - he is nothing but a prop on the set. During the usual viewing of the show, the edits and cuts mask the fact that Colems is often doing little more than sitting there waiting to cut to commercial while Hannity makes points. The staging of this as well as the final "acting" of the young girl playing "Colmes" reveal perfectly the charade that is this show.

Great work.