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Politics

Kumar Goes To The White House

Brian Doherty | 4.7.2009 4:08 PM

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Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle star Kal Penn gets appointed associate director of White House Office of Public Liaison. I'm sure he's perfectly qualified for the job--I mean, what are the qualifications for the job?--but, hey, doesn't Obama know any Indian-Americans who aren't TV stars?

Warning for TiVoers--House spoilers in the story link.

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Brian Doherty is a senior editor at Reason and author of Ron Paul's Revolution: The Man and the Movement He Inspired (Broadside Books).

PoliticsCultureTelevisionBarack Obama
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  1. SpongePaul   16 years ago

    they should have killed off taub. 13's facial expressions and acting were SUBERB! and shes a hot princess to boot, lol

  2. Taktix?   16 years ago

    they should have killed off taub. 13's facial expressions and acting were SUBERB! and shes a hot princess to boot, lol

    You fucker!

  3. SpongePaul   16 years ago

    BTW how is he qualified for that postion, being an actor. I can see if he went to university and has a major in something other than the arts, but really an actor.

  4. SpongePaul   16 years ago

    sorry taktix... i did not mean to be a spoiler for ya

  5. Taktix?   16 years ago

    I can see if he went to university and has a major in something other than the arts, but really an actor.

    The term "great communicator" comes to mind. But seriously, fuck Obama for ruining my newly discovered favorite show.

    (I avoid Network TV as a general rule, but started watching House after I heard about the Tritter arch)

  6. Doc Brown   16 years ago

    BTW how is he qualified for that postion, being an actor

    "Tell me this, Future Boy... who's President of the United States in 1985?"

    "Ronald Reagan."

    "Ronald Reagan? The *actor*??? Then who's Vice President, Jerry Lewis?"

    🙂

  7. John C Jackson   16 years ago

    Being a shitty actor in shitty movies and shows > stealing taxpayer money in some bullshit "public servant" job that shouldn't exist.

  8. SpongePaul   16 years ago

    A Back to the future reference, EXCELLENT!

  9. Dello   16 years ago

    House spoiler:

    House can't figure out disease, takes drugs, saves patient in the end (or doesn't).

  10. Warren   16 years ago

    Dello
    You forgot , belittles patients family,

    That's my favorite part, next to the drugs.

  11. lunchstealer   16 years ago

    Spoiler Alert.

    They all get killed by German machinegun fire when Captain Blackadder finally runs out of ways to avoid getting the order to go over the top.

  12. That Donkey Benjamin   16 years ago

    This is what I really struggle to understand. There are so many people who will readily drop nice, well-paid and stimulating private sector jobs to be at the beck and call of moronic civil servants and fickle voters. Esteemed law professors and economics professors literally jumping at Obama's whistle. What for?

    Is it just the comfort of knowing you have power over your fellow man?

    I know all the usual human vices, e.g. greed, lust, sloth, being personally familiar with them from time to time. But I've never ever desired power. Am I just different, or would others here follow the call to govern if they could substantially shape policy in the direction they desired?

  13. HormoneCow   16 years ago

    BTW how is he qualified for that postion, being an actor. I can see if he went to university and has a major in something other than the arts, but really an actor.

    I'm not saying he is qualified, but according to wikipedia:

    "In spring 2008, Penn served as visiting lecturer in Asian American Studies at the University of Pennsylvania. He taught a course titled "Images of Asian Americans in the Media".

    Penn is currently working on a graduate certificate in international security from Stanford University."

    Apparently he does have some academic credentials.

  14. FatDrunkAndStupid   16 years ago

    The producers have been promising the return of Cameron and Chase to the series in S6, so one of the newbies had to go to make room. Katie Jacobs has a lesbian woman crush on 13 so she wasn't going anywhere. So it was either Taub or Kutner. I think they made the right choice. Kutner's character had potential in S4, but they really didn't develop him well since then. I'd rather they had ditched 13, but once you get past her he was the next most dramatically logical character to target.

  15. Alan Vanneman   16 years ago

    Brian, you idiot, read the fine print. Kal Penn was appointed associate director of WHITE CASTLE Office of Public Liaison. There's a big difference!

  16. Brandybuck   16 years ago

    The Obama administration has finally jumped the shark.

  17. Solana   16 years ago

    Last night's episode of House was phenomenal.

  18. Taktix?   16 years ago

    "In spring 2008, Penn served as visiting lecturer in Asian American Studies at the University of Pennsylvania. He taught a course titled "Images of Asian Americans in the Media".

    Penn is currently working on a graduate certificate in international security from Stanford University."

    Apparently he does have some academic credentials.

    Big deal. All Indian dudes have like 20 degrees. Why is he special?

  19. SpongePaul   16 years ago

    "In spring 2008, Penn served as visiting lecturer in Asian American Studies at the University of Pennsylvania. He taught a course titled "Images of Asian Americans in the Media".

    Penn is currently working on a graduate certificate in international security from Stanford University."
    ---------------------------------------
    I stand corrected.

  20. SpongePaul   16 years ago

    Hopefully he gets into obama ear to legalize, i mena he appointed KUMAR to the white house. I know its just a charecter, but come on. when you here kal penn you think harold and kumar, then house, then whatever else he has been in

  21. Pro Libertate   16 years ago

    House is the only network drama I've liked in a long, long time.

    And I mean a long time.

  22. crimethink   16 years ago

    I haven't watched House since the ridiculous "mystery woman on the bus" finale of last season. This isn't making me regret that move. Adding and then killing off new characters is a classic symptom of a show in its death throes.

    The producers have been promising the return of Cameron and Chase to the series in S6,

    I didn't think they were ever gone, were they? Another ploy to get attention. Somebody needs to put that show in radiation therapy so the staph infection can finally kill it off.

  23. Solana   16 years ago

    Sorry, C, the show is fantastic. And Kumar's been around for two seasons. So I'm not really sure what you're talking about.

    Anyway, "Adding and then killing off new characters is a classic symptom of a show in its death throes," is pretty much destroyed by LOST. I mean, DESTROYED.

  24. Bodonkuhhhdonk   16 years ago

    This is what I really struggle to understand. There are so many people who will readily drop nice, well-paid and stimulating private sector jobs to be at the beck and call of moronic civil servants and fickle voters. Esteemed law professors and economics professors literally jumping at Obama's whistle. What for?

    Well I would imagine you get to a point where you have enough money, and you want to make a 'difference,' or 'mark,' on the world. Plus, afterwards, you go back to the private sector and make bank based on name recognition. In the case of Kal Penn, it's probably because Obama is totally cool.

  25. Pro Libertate   16 years ago

    House has zapped (at least temporarily) regular characters several times, and starting early on. And added new ones.

    Frankly, it's all about Hugh Laurie. If he stays "on", the show works. Now if I were president, I'd name him Surgeon General, just for laughs.

  26. Episiarch   16 years ago

    House was good for a while but the show is essentially a police procedural except that he's a doctor and the criminals are diseases. It's on its way to becoming Law and Order, MD. I can see the trends already. Or it will become St. Elsewhere.

  27. crimethink   16 years ago

    "Adding and then killing off new characters is a classic symptom of a show in its death throes," is pretty much destroyed by LOST.

    Lost has been in its death throes for years now. Just because a show is still on TV doesn't mean it's still good (the Simpsons has been crap for like 10 years now).

  28. SpongePaul   16 years ago

    actually House has not lost any of the original main charecters. they are all still there and all still work in the hospital. The new team is the gimmick. he still works mostly with his origional 3 and usues the new team when they are not around. the new charecters could all die off and the show would still be the same. they have not killed off an original charecter, yet.

  29. Pro Libertate   16 years ago

    I'm holding out for the "very special episode" of House, featuring Stephen Fry, Rowan Atkinson, Tony Robinson, and Tim McInnerny.

  30. SpongePaul   16 years ago

    and camerons hotter than 13, but thats just my opinion, and it really is just splitting hairs at thier level of hotness

  31. Charles   16 years ago

    and camerons hotter than 13, but thats just my opinion, and it really is just splitting hairs at thier level of hotness

    Cuddy is easily the hottest woman on that show. You are wrong if you disagree.

  32. mitch   16 years ago

    I know all the usual human vices, e.g. greed, lust, sloth, being personally familiar with them from time to time. But I've never ever desired power.

    Power makes all the vices you list easier to practice; women are attracted to powerful men, for example.

  33. Frankin Harris   16 years ago

    I'm holding out for the "very special episode" of House, featuring Stephen Fry, Rowan Atkinson, Tony Robinson, and Tim McInnerny.

    Oh, sod off, Baldrick.

  34. Dormouse   16 years ago

    I'm holding out for the "very special episode" of House, featuring Stephen Fry, Rowan Atkinson, Tony Robinson, and Tim McInnerny.

    I have a cunning plan...

    In all seriousness, House is a great character and a decent show, but I wish it would end. Hugh Laurie is a great actor and comedian, and he is wasted on that show.

  35. NLE   16 years ago

    I'm holding out for the "very special episode" of House, featuring Stephen Fry, Rowan Atkinson, Tony Robinson, and Tim McInnerny.

    I thought by now someone would stick up for Miranda Richardson.

  36. Kevin   16 years ago

    That's retarded

  37. JW   16 years ago

    Kutner, you're an idiot.

  38. JW   16 years ago

    Cuddy is easily the hottest woman on that show. You are wrong if you disagree.

    One of the reasons I love House is that all of the female leads are stunning, each in their own right. Jennifer Morrison is beautiful, no other word for her, and I'd kill legions for a crack at Olivia Wilde.

    I've saved Lisa Edelstein's stripper pole dance on my Tivo for, um, posterity. That's 40 years on that amazing bod, boys.

  39. SxCx   16 years ago

    Killing yourself before you work in government...?

  40. Pro Libertate   16 years ago

    NLE,

    No slight intended. Miranda Richardson would be great, too.

  41. hagbard   16 years ago

    Just another episode of Bizarro World.

  42. Kumar   16 years ago

    "Hey Rolde. Guess where we are going."

    *cough, cough, cough

    "The White House. I wonder how long my johnson will look in the Lincoln Bedroom mirror."

  43. R C Dean   16 years ago

    I wondered why they killed off Kutner. It seemed very abrupt, with no premise at all. If anything, he was the best-adjusted of the minions.

  44. Oat Willie   16 years ago

    I wonder if he'll be drug tested for this important position.

  45. graduate certificate   15 years ago

    Thanks for sharing this.

  46. Sell House Quickly   14 years ago

    "Kal Penn gets appointed associate director of White House Office of Public Liaison." Congratulations Kal, I am sure that you will do a great job and work hard to fulfill your duties.

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