Donald Rumsfeld on Letterman

I wanted to post this interview for quite a while but it wasn't up anywhere. It's a terrific interview and a terrific return to the "old style" of Letterman political interviews.

I knew that Rumsfeld had been the oldest Secretary of Defense but I had no idea that he had been the youngest as well. And likewise that he had known, interacted with and served for so many U.S. Presidents. A fascinating interview and includes some great "mule" banter.

Segments like this one are one of the main reasons that Letterman is (has been) head and shoulders above every other talk show host. When bringing on political or polarizing figures, he isn't content to be apolitical and have them tell stories about how they love their cat (as other talk shows will do). Instead, he does the opposite - mixing the jokes with direct questions about the important matters of the day. At times like these the show ceases to be just a dumb comedy show and gains an edge of serious journalism.

And the BEST part of the serious political interview segments was that it was entirely detached and objective. When someone from the left was on, for instance, Letterman would ask fair but hard-hitting questions. When someone from the right was on, it was the same deal. Again, in the vein of journalism, the questions would be fair but tough regardless of the guest. This was probably most evident during the presidential campaign of 2000. The "Late Show" were able to book both presidential candidates and the reviews on both interviews were that Letterman had actually been harder-hitting than most interviews done by the "serious" journalists.

Unfortunately all of this is filed under the "old style" above because recently things have changed. Though THIS interview is recent and that shows Letterman is still capable of doing it, lately he's become much more politicized. He'll give guests from the left a free pass and say things to those on the right are treated with outright hostility. Recently in an interview with Rand Paul for instance, Letterman actually uttered the phrase, "You know, I think he’s wrong about some of these things. I just can’t tell you why.” It's a statement so dumb, I couldn't (and can't) believe it was said.

All the more reason to enjoy interviews like these because they're an endangered species.

Gentlemen, Start Your Engines?

Jason Sudekis tells the story of drinking too much at the NBA All-Star game:

Then, Amber Heard describes her experience announcing the official "Gentlemen, start your engines" at a NASCAR event and Jason Sudekis and Jimmy Fallon argue about the quality of Jimmy's version. They both agree that it's bad but is there more to it than that?

Classic Roots Choice #26

Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi was on the show the other night to promote the current season of "Jersey Shore". Her walk-on music? A segment of the Oompa Loompa song from "Willy Wonka...".

[Waaaaaa.]

That's classic.

Thank You Notes

It's Friday and that means "Thank You Notes". This particular edition gets some help from violinist Itzhak Perlman. And yes, I double checked that spelling.

Jordan Schlansky - Valentine's Day

Oooh, I almost forgot this one. Any time Conan visits with Jordan Schlansky, it's going on the blog. That's my promise to you the viewer and all future generations.

Conan talks to Jordan about Valentine's Day and relationships:

It's too short though. Spoiler: Conan drinks too much alco-hool. Also, I have to admit that I DO like it when the two bald priests are staring out the highway window from the bus.

Music Roundup

Thought I'd post a couple recent musical performances that caught my fancy (a bits).

First, this is an increasing trend and I'm not sure if that's a bad thing. There's nothing about this song that's amazing, nothing great, nothing, really, that I can pick out as "above average" and yet I just like it for some reason. It's just wonderfully atmospheric. Listening to it puts me in a specific brain state (a specific feeling of time and place) which is really cool.

Phantogram - Mouthful of Diamonds (note: I wanted to post their Late Night performance with Questlove on drums but that video expired).

This song also holds up after repeated listens. There are a lot of bands out there that are trying to be "retro". There's a whole slew of bands that are "synthy" and trying to recall the 80's style. But this song's on another level. This song successfully sounds exactly like it's FROM the 80's. Take any scene from 80's movie where the "gang" has to fix up an old barn and it's tons of hard work but all the difficulty is made easier by the use of the upbeat montage. Take that scene and play this song over it and it doesn't feel out of place at all. (Edit: Wait, no, it's not the fixing up the barn scene, it's the scene where the guy did something bad to drive the girl away and there's a montage of failed ploys to win her back.)

Chromeo - "Hot Mess"

Seriously, this song has more hooks than a fisherman on vacation.