There's a phrase that Dave Barry uses to describe people who don't understand his columns are supposed to be funny. He calls them "humor impaired." I love that phrase, and use it often, and famous Jeopardy! champ Ken Jennings used it quite appropriately when responding on his blog to a recent article in The New York Post that accused him of bashing the show that made him a millionaire. Here's the thing: Jennings did no such thing. His post titled "Dear Jeopardy" was a hilariously scathing tongue-in-cheek indictment of the show that suggested Alex Trebek had actually been replaced by a robot called the "Trebektron 4000" and that the Clue Crew "look like they beamed in from some 1970s PBS show." He also suggests ideas for better categories, such as "Skanks from Reality TV Who Got Naked in Men's Magazines." It's funny, very vicious, and nothing more than a good-natured barb in the "Don Rickles" vein.
Now, the New York Post pulling quotes out of context to build a story that looks like Jennings suddenly felt compelled to insult the show that made him a minor celebrity isn't much of a surprise. For example, the article quotes his post as saying Jeopardy's categories feature "effete, left-coast crap nobody's heard of." What it leaves out is the entire sentence which reads, "Does every freaking category have to be some effete left-coast crap nobody's heard of, like 'Opera,' or, um, 'U.S. History' or whatever?"
Get it, Michael Starr of the New York Post? He says nobody's heard of the categories and then he lists two categories EVERYONE has heard of. Notice how he led you down a certain path and then at the last moment he veered off in an unexpected direction, resulting in an ironic twist that's not meant to be taken seriously? I have some graphs and charts if you need further explanation.
Oh yeah, and the AP picked up on the story, too. Was there some electrical storm that destroyed the humor gene of all print journalists recently?
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
7-25-2006 @ 7:50PM
elf said...
It seems that Starr also missed Jennings' suggestion that Jeopardy! also incorporate physical challenges into the game. If he couldn't determine from that point that the entire blog entry was intended to be humorous, then he doesn't deserve to work for a major newspaper, or in this case, a very minor one.
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7-25-2006 @ 9:31PM
Dorv said...
What an idiot this guy is.
That notwithstanding, I'm glad the story happened. I read through Jennings' blog, and I think he's hilarious.
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7-26-2006 @ 12:07AM
Mark Vox said...
That column was hilarious. If he could bang out something like that 2-3 times a week on various web topics, he'd have one of the most popular blogs on the net.
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7-26-2006 @ 7:42AM
LC said...
This is why I skip the gossip pages in newspapers. They are almost always taken out of context and in some cases completely made up.
It's like the National Enquirer business model. Make something up and a celebrity won't challenge it for fear of publicizing the story even more. Thank God, years ago, Carol Burnett and more recently Kate Hudson sued them and got apologies and retratctions.
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7-26-2006 @ 9:20AM
Joshua Stein said...
Wow, that is one funny Mormon.
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7-26-2006 @ 9:56AM
Eric Brannon said...
I doubt very much if Starr didn't understand that Jennings was attempting humor rather than bashing Jeopardy. Sensationalism is what gets attention these days, so it's now seen in "mainstream" publications as often as tabloids. Misrepresenting someone's character in this way damages their reputation permanantly, but journalists like Starr don't seem to mind. If Jennings isn't careful, he'll be labeled a racist next.
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7-26-2006 @ 11:02PM
Lyda Rose said...
For the record, I love satire (Dave Barry in particular) and I love the over-the-top send-ups that SNL does periodically about "Jeopardy". I could tell that Jennings was attempting to be humorous, but I'm sorry, it wasn't "hilariously scathing"- it was just lame. Not offensive, just sad. I think the money he made answering "effete, left-coast" topic questions has gone to his head and he has delusions of being master of all media. Besides, he's probably shot himself in the foot with his speaker's bureau.
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