Tuesday, October 31, 2006
Borat, Letterman, O'Reilly
Borat's guest shot on Letterman was worth catching. Sacha Baron Cohen has the character down. I must have laughed through the whole appearance, a real accomplishment on these deeply formularized talk shows. Letterman in particular is a hard case. Letterman's recent dumb put-downs of Bill O'Reilly was a major miscalculation — the audience doesn't like O'Reilly, but they listen to him. Letterman appeared more a bully than what was his probable expectation: wild cheers for currently fashionable opinions, a truly demagogic approach. The cheers never materialized, although the hoots evoked by spectacle were in evidence. O'Reilly, strange as it seems, came off sounding circumspect, amazing, given the obnoxious exhibitionism of O'Reilly's character; Letterman couldn't pull off…what?, I never could figure out if Letterman wanted to make a point or take a cheap shot. I don't think Letterman knew — he just thought he had an easy chance and he would take it.
I seldom stop even briefly anymore to see what Letterman is up to; he has become disturbing looking as well, as though he needs to check himself into the Nicole Richie Wing of a local treatment facility for anorexia. Letterman was always a control freak, always unsympathetic, giving guests a hard time — it was his shtick, conflated with an articulated, glossy professionalism that could sound smart, clever. But now Letterman has curdled into little more than a smart-ass celebrity. Borat reminded the audience that you can be funny, edgy, but likable. The audience was with Borat; I don't know why they would be with Letterman.