Tuesday Night Fun Link

Jon Stewart searches for the taint of Abramoff money in Washington. And really, only Jon Stewart could make a grown man laugh as hard as I just did at a protracted "taint" joke. (A shaggy taint joke, if you will.) Credit and/or blame for this one to The Agitator.

Comments

[madpad]

Thanks, Julian...made my night.

[WashingtonInsider]

Get real...the "DAILY" show...er..all I see are RERUNS!

[biologist]

credit where credit is due, Julian: Ed Helms nailed that segment

[SPD]

Wow. That's getting circulated for sure.

[stan]

it is funny that bush can disregard the bill of rights and admit he broke the law and democrats can not do anything about it...

[johnl]

I would appreciate it if someone could tell me where to get information on lobbyist registration data from the House. The Senate makes that information easy to find, but from the House all I can get is help on how to register, which isn't an issue for me. All I really want to know at this time is if a certain person has ever been a lobbyist.

Sorry for the not entirely on-topic nature of the question. Thanks in advance for any help.

[Yes, A Human Being]

There are human beings who actually find this shit funny?

It's so miserably un-funny that it's kind of uncomfortable to watch.

This is not a political statement (Republicans ARE tainted, and both major parties suck right now). It's a statement about comedy, or the lack thereof on "The Daily Show."

[Michael]

Mr. Show said it best:

"It's insane this guy's taint!"

ha.

Taint your wagon...

Tain't misbehavin'...

[Yes, Whatever]

Raise your hand if you knew that the word "taint" is anatomical joke-slang. Lessee... One... Ahh, 1.22... There we are...

Approximately 1.22% of the American population has heard the word "taint" used as anatomical slang by the 0.11% of the American population that would actually bother to use the word in that sense.

[Yes, Whatever]

In other words, I don't think that "wow, that's getting circulated for sure."

[Stevo Darkly]

Raise your hand if you knew that the word "taint" is anatomical joke-slang.

I knew! I knew! I read about it in Maxim once.

And it probably just makes me an overgrown fratboy, but I thought the Jon Stewart clip was funny.And Jon Stewart often annoys me.

PS: If you knew what a "taint" was, then you were one of the few people who got this line in that Saturday Night Live "Civil War" sketch featuring "Colonel Lingus." It went something like this:

SOUTHERN CHARACTER WHOSE NAME I FORGET: Cunnel Lingus! Just how far South do y'all plan to go?

COLONEL LINGUS: 'Tain't sure!

[madpad]

Approximately 1.22% of the American population has heard the word "taint" used as anatomical slang ...

I guess that's why no one in the audience was laughing...alot.

BTW, where did you get your figures? I know...you pulled them out of somewhere very close to your own taint.

[Xmas]

I guess that means you all missed the "shocking" joke near the end too.

Some of you need to read the Urban Dictionary every once and a while. I bet you don't know what the "Spiderman" is either.

[madpad]

THWIPP!

[Brett]

I'm willing to bet that nearly 50% of white boys under 35 are now familiar with the word "taint" and its meaning from one source or another. Agreed that it's an overgrown fratboy thing.

[Mr. Nice Guy]

The bit goes on way too long.

[Evan]

Mr. Nice Guy:

That's part of the beauty of it...a sort of sarcastic arrogance on the part of the show, that they would keep it going for so long. This is plainly obvious when Jon says, "I hate to belabor this, but..." They are painfully aware that they are playing this childish joke way out---which is purdy funny in itself.

And anyone who didn't laugh at least a little at Ed Helms in this segment is just not human.

[JD]

OK, I guess I'm a big dork because I didn't know about the meaning of "taint". I thought the bit was funny, though. But you know something? I think I found it more funny when I didn't know it was an accepted slang term. If you don't know, the bit seems like a Marx-Brothers-esque exercise in taking something way too far completely the wrong way. If you do know, it turns into "Huh huh, he said a funny word", like 7th graders sniggering at a teacher's name.

[vanya]

Taint is hardly just a fratboy word. It was well established among skate punks and hardcore punks in the 1980s. The immaturity of it is exactly the point - they are supposed to be "serious newsmen" and they..., hell if you need the joke explained to you it's not worth it.

[James]

This was on last week I think....

This however is amusing...

http://www.livescience.com/othernews/060124_political_decisions.html

[Jennifer]

The immaturity of it is exactly the point - they are supposed to be "serious newsmen"

Since when has The Daily Show portrayed itself as a serious news program, or claimed that the stand-up comedians on the staff are serious newsmen?

[Douglas Fletcher]

Excuse me for living, but as far as my brain goes taint nothing funny about Jon Stewart.

I first heard the term 'taint' from some Alabama cracker in Navy boot camp. I have a feeling he didn't get the joke out of any frathouse, in fact I have a feeling he might not have even known what a frathouse was.

[SPD]

In other words, I don't think that "wow, that's getting circulated for sure."

Yuh-huh...

http://www.google.com/search?q=%22daily+show%22+%22level+of++taint%22&btnG=Search&hl=en&lr=

[Rhywun]

Approximately 1.22% of the American population has heard the word "taint" used as anatomical slang by the 0.11% of the American population that would actually bother to use the word in that sense.

I learned it from the Howard Stern show. Since he had around 20M listeners at his peak, that's at least 6% of the population who know it. I'm guessing the number is much higher than that.

Since when has The Daily Show portrayed itself as a serious news program, or claimed that the stand-up comedians on the staff are serious newsmen?

Jennifer, you're being a mite pedantic today 🙂
They *pretend* to be serious newsmen. Get it?

[Clueless Linguist]

I first heard the term 'taint' from some Alabama cracker in Navy boot camp

And I first heard the word "Cracker" from my mother who's from Mississippi.

That word appears to be the white version of the "N Word". If you're Jesse Jackson using it, it's pejorative. If you're white (and from the south), it's not.

[bago]

Wow. That this is going over so many heads here is kind of a sad commentary, no? I thought libertarians were supposed to be more libertine than curmudgeon.

[Jennifer]

Rhywun--whoops. I need to drink more coffee; I thought Vanya was making a serious criticism.

Mea culpa.

[Rhywun]

That word appears to be the white version of the "N Word".

I was called "cracker" a LOT as a kid. In that time and place (inner city, late 70's) it was very, very common. But you just can't compare it to "nigger" in terms of the effect it has. And that's of course based on the history and the context in which the words were used.

[ralphie]

At age 60 I've used "taint" for about 45 years.I first heard it as a kid in a racially insensative joke and learned that it is actually called the PERINEUM when I was treated for prostate cancer.

[Ed]

I still don't know what it means.

[Mr. Glasscock]

If you do know, it turns into "Huh huh, he said a funny word", like 7th graders sniggering at a teacher's name.

I eventually had to leave the teaching profession entirely.

[Randolph Carter]

OT, but did anyone look at The Agitator's recent posts? There was one about a local SWAT team doing a drug raid during which they set the house to be searched on fire, and when the family's 10 month old Pit Bull puppy tried to escape, the officers marshalled it back in to the burning house with fire extinguishers and laughed.

How could this not be on front pages? How much crap will people accept to protect their young 'uns from plants and powders? damn.

[Rhywun]

the officers marshalled it back in to the burning house with fire extinguishers and laughed

If that story's accurate, I'm thoroughly sickened. I have a friend who's fond of saying that dogs are better than most people--sometimes I'm inclined to agree.