posted by: comedy central insider

The 1/2 Hour News Hour, part of Fox News' attempt to lure in that coveted 18-34 demographic, premiered tonight, and writers from the CC Insider were among the dozens of people watching. Let's take a look at some of the show's subject matter…

  • Marion Barry
  • An ACLU case from 1977
  • Ed Begley, Jr.
  • The Bygone Era of the Obvious Laugh Track
  • "Angry Lesbians"
  • Che Guevara
  • Chairman Mao

In what decade did they write this show? Did they really devote the show's running gag to Ed Begley, Jr.? Really? Ed Begley, Jr.??? (For those of you under the age of 30, Ed Begley, Jr. is a character actor who used to get some press last millennium for his advocation of hybrid cars, such as the Toyota Prius, which is, like, doing well or something.) Did cast member Susan Yeagley steal these jokes from her husband Kevin Nealon's old Commodore 64?

In all fairness, the show did have a few decent bits, including a rather clever segment in which an expert could link any problem in the world to Global Warming in six steps or less. And they referenced a book for mentally underdeveloped children called "The Little Engine That Couldn't Quite." (Really, who doesn't have a soft spot for a retard joke?)

But so much of the rest of the show was just so helplessly out of touch and soft that it seems questionable what good it will do for anyone. Even a brief showing by brilliant alternative comedian Ann Coulter–who, for years, has managed to trick most of the country into believing that he's a vitriolic female conservative–couldn't pull the show above the level of a high school AV club produced parody.

With its resurrected jokes and lifeless delivery, the show seems unlikely to appeal to anyone except your conservative great-uncle and the completely untapped zombie demographic.

Please, if you've seen the show, give us your opinions.

Comments (31)

Posted by Justin Baker on February 19, 2007 at 1:05 am

Carols Mencia is a thief who steals his jokes. Here is proof:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jsq1uTLBHBc


Posted by mg on February 19, 2007 at 1:38 am

I just watched the replay and was disappointed (didn't think that was possible). The format sucked, the hosts were awkward and amateurish and most of the jokes were just not funny. Oh, and the fact that they used a laugh track was pathetic.

I figured they would have plenty of material to work with but they simply dropped the ball (Ed Begley jr.?). I guess they were afraid of pissing off all those hollywood celebrities they are always bitching about. You gotta make sure you can get hired after this show tanks in two weeks.

I chuckled a few times at the t-shirt bit but found it even funnier that they felt the need to explain the jokes to the audience (Bubba don't know who Idi Amin is).

I also found it odd that they would tout this as the "Conservative Daily Show" and then cast a post-op transsexual as the Vice President. Go figure.

My impression? I've seen better chemistry and material on public access cable. They better keep the resumes up to date.


Posted by mg on February 19, 2007 at 2:12 am

BTW, don't forget, this is an ALL NEWS CHANNEL. Bye-bye last shred of credibility.


Posted by cminus on February 19, 2007 at 2:32 am

i was slack jawed, not at that it was a conservative show, but that the jokes were SO bad. they had a good idea with obama, then that went on forever.

but really, i dont think there was a current joke in there.

kudos for getting rush, but it wasnt really funny, it was just more of a conservative daydream, maybe somthing to get the crowd warmed up.

the aclu thing could have also been good, but if i remember correctly the aclu also helped out disenfranched black people before 1964.

i could only imagine them going for people so old or so out of touch that the demographic couldve have still been fooled by 1987-1992 producion values.

and the hybrid car joke? isnt that one of the best selling cars in the country? and didnt ford lose 12 billion last quarter?

this is politics first, and humor second.

they need dennis miller and pen gillette…QUICK!


Posted by Stephen Schilling on February 19, 2007 at 4:04 am

I just saw it….UGH! It was like watching juvenile deliquent teen boys try to be funny by blowing up frogs with firecrackers. It was just sad and disturbing.

Conservatives CAN be funny, but only when their goal is comedy for comedy's sake. It seemed that their goal was to attack liberals and comedy was merely the vehicle. Fox's morning show, "Fox & Friends," is WAY funnier (but that's only because they're trying to be serious. Steve Doocey is a comedy juggernaut!)


Posted by bleacherbum on February 19, 2007 at 4:20 am

They've has such a long time to prepare a pilot episode and this is what they came up with?

I watched the entire show without one burst of laughter. I was expecting at least a chuckle, but it was just uninspiring.

The only segments that were merely ok were the ACLU segments. Other than that, there was no substance on any joke, and the delivery was very poor. Not sure if the audience was alive for the entire show.

Unbelievable…Makes you appreciate what Jon and Stephen do that much more.


Posted by MadMoll on February 19, 2007 at 7:29 am

Revenge of the People's Republic of Berkeley, where the writers came from…


Posted by dick rich on February 19, 2007 at 9:38 am

Gosh. I liked it. Hope they do a rating-scale on

each of the "first 100 gags" on the Daily Show.


Posted by jason on February 19, 2007 at 9:58 am

It reminds me of liberals' talk radio problem. Rush and his ilk are so strong because they've been honing their skills for decades, but liberals thought they could simply launch Air America, put on some liberal yappers, and good radio would be born. Turns out, not so much.

Now, Fox News looks at Jon Stew and Colbert — whose shows are really sharp and benefit from these guys' years of experience — and assume conservatives can do the same thing simply by writing some jokes and tossing it on air. Turns out, not so much.


Posted by GlennBecksATool on February 19, 2007 at 10:18 am

I disagree that TDS or TRC is a partisan political strategy. I laugh equally as hard at hillary or kerry jokes as I do bush. They really need to learn from their mistakes and not live in their own delusions of what went wrong.


Posted by Wahzoo on February 19, 2007 at 12:47 pm

THHNH are the initials for Fox News Channel's news parody show. Sound out the initials and that's the kind of comedy we saw Sunday night.

Thin.

The laugh track was a killer and the anchors as stilted as local news c. 1977. The ACLU jokes were of that era too as was most of the material.

The thing that makes Daily Show and Colbert so great is topicality. There's a staff of real news people along with joke writers to keep stuff fresh. About the two newest things were the series of Hillary jokes and the "BO Magazine" satire. Everything else was really pretty tired, with the same old "Godless liberal" rant.

Even Limbaugh, who can be wildly funny when he wants to be, seemed to be stilted when paired with Ann Coulter in a sort of "Liberals Worst Nightmare" scene. I would recommend they use these types more sparingly as surprise guests like SNL does. If they try to make this a recurring theme, then it will become boring even for conservatives.

This needs some grown-ups, like a Dennis Miller, to strengthen the product and to make it more topical. Otherwise, these guys are going to run out of material pretty quickly since they aren't as aware as, say, a previous poster who mentioned Steve Doocy, whose background is primarily in things like "PM Magazine" but could throw some ad lib bombs in there, even if they don't make their target really well.


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