'Right-Wing' Colbert Returns, Jon Stewart Surprises

No backing down on Trump, plus ten hot cartoons and new/old Patti Smith demo and Steve Earle vs. the FCC.

My latest film, “The Atomic Bowl: Football at Ground Zero—and Nuclear Peril Today” has been airing over PBS stations this past month and streaming for free (key links to watch now and more here). A companion book is now available, and you can read more or order here. The New Yorker magazine this week has a piece about me and my new PBS film, which you can read here. And subscribing to this newsletter is still somehow FREE.

The comedian and TV host W. Kamau Bell last night declared that he didn’t expect Stephen Colbert and Jimmy Kimmel to be the “canaries in the coal time” in the arrival of fascism vs. free speech in America but since that seems to be case everyone now had to join in resisting. Meanwhile, Colbert presented his first post-Kimmel suspension program, mocking Trump from the start with this Disney (which is partly behind the crackdown) parody:

Then there was his monologue:

And finally, to our great enjoyment, the long-awaited return of his old right-wing blowhard “Colbert Report” character (and glasses), doing his old “Word” of the night routine:

And over at Comedy Central, Jon Stewart, in a rare Thursday night appearance, took on the role of a Trump toady merely trying to stay on the air by not offending “our dear leader.”

Surprised I have not seen anyone post this classic from about 20 years back, my man Steve Earle with the rocking “F**k the FCC.” Cause he’s '“living in the motherf**king USA.” This was back when I interviewed him about his media habits. You may remember Steve getting in trouble for writing about the conversion of a white middle-class American to a radical Muslim from the point of a view of that young man.

Just released today: original piano demo from Patti Smith for her “Gloria, In Excelsis Deo” from next month’s 50th anniversary package for her debut “Horses” album.

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