Tonight Show: I Think Keith Olbermann Was Censored

[Syrinx]

Generally, I think, the Tonight Show is taped live, so it looks just like a live show, right?

However, there was a particularly clumsy edit during KO's appearance.

Ordinarily, maybe I'd think it was due to timing constraints or something. Maybe Keith's bit ran a little long, and they had to make room for the final musical segment.

But it happened right after Keith commented that Bill O. had defended the World War II Nazi's three times recently "and I wish I were making this up, but I'm not."

Bang. He didn't even get a chance to finish the thought really.

From that comment, to an incongruous shot of the chinnier than thou dude.

I'm telling you, NBC cut some of that O'Reilly/Nazi conversation out. Probably fearing litigation of some sort? :shrug:

If any of you have the KO Tonight Show appearance on tape or TiVo, and I'm sure someone does, please look. I'm certain I saw a major "CYA" edit job.

Please don't get me wrong. I'm not accusing KO of anything. But I do suspect that NBC censored Keith.

Am I hallucinating?

[durrrty libby]

1. I tivo'd the show, but haven't watched it yet

I'll weigh in on it later

[Berry Cool]

2. I taped it and just watched again.

It's possible, but actually had whatever he said next been cut out, it would have provided more context for what O'Reilly said--not that that would have helped Bill-O any. But the cut you're thinking of would have been right after KO said "Bill O'Reilly defended the Nazis from World War II on three separate occasions." This is the kind of claim that would normally require explanation, for the sake of fairness. Well, maybe KO did attempt to explain it--and the explanation just took up too much time (and was a downer--I mean, this is an entertainment show, do people want to listen to KO recounting the massacre of American WWII soldiers?). And maybe that was cut.

On the other hand, maybe KO knew an in-depth explanation would have been a downer, and thus did not give one, and they went on--rather abruptly, it would seem to us, because if we were just talking with KO and didn't know about it and he said such a thing, our first instinct would be not to ask him "So did you ever meet Bill face to face?" but "Really? When did he defend the Nazis? That's preposterous."

[Patsy Stone]

6. I agree with your first assessment

It did appear to be, if not an edit, a very abrupt end to that discussion. I believe, with the way Keith enjoys talking, he did explain. If there were three separate occasions Bill-O did that, that would require three separate explanations. No matter how briefly you did that, you're still spending two minutes doing it. Neither the audience, Jay, nor Jamie thought anything was amiss. I think they edited for time.

[Syrinx]

15. after seeing it once more, your second possibility's probably right

I felt really certain after seeing it the first time that it had been edited. But after seeing the clip once more on Countdown, I think your second explanation is probably the truth. :hi:

[SharonRB]

3. I taped it and will watch it tonight when I get home from work.

[WolverineDG]

4. I didn't notice anything

and usually bad edits scream at me. :hi:

dg

[Syrinx]

12. hey!

I watched the clip again on Keith's show, and I think maybe I was wrong. It still seemed a little odd, but not as egregious as I thought originally. :hi:

[RevCheesehead]

13. Maybe it was just an awkward pause.

Jay's not the smoothest interviewer, ya know. :)

[Syrinx]

14. yeah, maybe that's it.

The way the video cut had me suspicious. Maybe I'm paranoid, but, hey, five-and-a-half years of Bush rule will do that to a fella. :hi:

[RevCheesehead]

16. That, I completely understand.

I'm not paranoid - I'm just a realist. :scared::tinfoilhat:

[Gogi]

5. Leno's just a bad interviewer...

Look at how he let his first guest ramble on. Had to be one of the most boring things I've heard in a long time and it was'nt just me, the audience was bored too. KO got the biggest laugh; it was like the audience woke up.

[Patsy Stone]

7. Well, that's true regardless.

I like Jamie Pressley. I haven't watched the Tonight Show in so long that I couldn't believe how boring it was.

:hi:, Gogi!

[WolverineDG]

8. What I couldn't believe was

letting the show run 27 minutes & going to another break before the first guest came out! Johnny must be rolling in his grave somewhere....

:hi: Pats & Gogi!

dg

[Patsy Stone]

9. Good point.

The monologue has become all important.

:hi:

[Berry Cool]

10. There's hardly anything else left to the show.

The first guest gets 10 minutes (two five-minute segments). The second guest gets 5 minutes (one segment). The musical guest gets one 5-minute segment. The other 40 minutes are taken up by 10 minutes of monologue and 30 minutes of commercials.

I swear the show is half commercials.

[RevCheesehead]

11. And they wonder why people are turning to the Colbert Report.

I stopped watching the network late night shows years ago.
Last night was enough for me to be satisfied with that decision.

But it was nice to see Keith, all purple-y and GSB-y. :loveya:

[Syrinx]

17. I really miss Johnny Carson!

The best late-night ever (well, in my lifetime) was Johnny Carson leading into Dave.

David Letterman was really a lot funnier back then, though he has better substantive interviews these days, when the guest warrants substance.

And Johnny was truly the king. It really didn't matter if his material was funny or not, he could make it funny.

Nowadays I'm a CBS person. Dave and Craig Ferguson. That Scottish dude is really funny, but sometimes I tune out after the monologue and email. His guests are often kind of low-tier. But then again he often has writers and astronauts and assorted kinds of guests that have become atypical on talk shows. I get so sick of actors, actors, actors all the time. By the way, he's hosted Connie Schultz several times. She's the very charming, Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist for the Cleveland Plain-Dealer, who happens to be married to Sherrod Brown, the congressman who is going to take Mike DeWine's senate seat this fall.

And by the way, you all might want to tune into the Late, Late Show With Craig Ferguson on Friday night. He's going to have a very special guest. :)

http://www.cbs.com/latenight/latelate/

(BTW, I thought Jaime Pressley had some really pretty legs. And I love the show "My Name Is Earl." But I hate that NBC is moving the show up an hour to 7 central. That sucks, and I'm sure you know why.)

[Berry Cool]

18. Oh, I knew about KO, but I didn't know Ferguson had hosted Connie.

Seriously? Connie got all kinds of crap when she got named for that Pulitzer, people writing in saying she didn't deserve it. I don't doubt that half the crap she got from readers had to do with her choice of husband. Hmph.

[Syrinx]

19. Seriously

I could've sworn I'd seen her on three times. But I can only find documentation for two appearances.

God, I'm such a nerd... googling Late, Late Show appearances by a Cleveland columnist. ;)

January 3, 2006 (Season 2, Episode 67)

September 14, 2005 (Season 2, Episode 3)