Apparently the J-school faculty has final veto power over who our graduation speaker is. I (and I know many of the other students do as well) want Jon Stewart. Guys, we’ve been working our asses off for months and months, are we really going to gain anything by hearing some bigshot inspirational speaker to wow us with their waxing prose? Can’t we just take ourselves not so damned seriously for one day, and let Jon Stewart serve as King Lear’s Fool?
Newsday: (Courtesy AmericaBlog)
BY BRYAN VIRASAMI AND WILLIAM MURPHY
STAFF WRITERS
February 28, 2005, 7:25 PM EST
The reporter was fake, using a fake name, spoofing alleged fake White House reporter “Jeff Gannon.” But the news conference was real serious.
A “correspondent” from the fake news show, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, was outside City Hall yesterday to get some answers from City Council Speaker Gifford Miller.
Wearing a badly groomed hair piece, a fake mustache and an ugly 1970s tie, Rob Corddry waited patiently until after the real reporters had posed their questions to ask one about about Social Security.
Standing awkwardly with his legs far apart as though he were getting ready to sprint, nodding in agreement to every word spoken by Miller about the West Side Stadium, Corddry finally raised his hand.
“Mr. Speaker, Mr. Speaker,” he shouted, as if in a White House news conference, identifying himself as “Dino Ironbody”
His question: “How do you feel about the president’s awesome plan to privatize Social Security?”
Miller, who realized what was going on, played along.
“I’m not such a big fan of the president’s plan to private Social Security,” Miller said. “I think Social Security has worked pretty well for generations and we outta stick with something that works.”
After the gathering broke up, Corddry, in a move uncharacteristic of reporters, invited them to chat.
“Anybody wants to talk shop, I will be right here,” he said, pointing to the ground and cameras rolling. “Good conference man!”
A spokesman for Comedy Central, where the show is aired, said the pretend reporter was spoofing the former White House correspondent known as Jeff Gannon — who is really James D. Guckert — who worked for a conservative Web site and was accused of asking pro-Bush questions. The access Guckert enjoyed to White House news conferences has been a source of controversy.
Comedy Central says the segment will air during Thursday’s show.
And in other news:
