John Oliver is Amazeballs! (Andy Zaltzman is in his shed)

Hello Buglers!

Spoiler:

f*ck you Chris

FSeven wrote:

I don't think Oliver needed to spend 10+ minutes on the topic. Just an off hand remark about making sure this coming Valentine's Day that you purchased a nice bra, thong, and garter set from Victoria Secret made with the sweat of 25-cent-per-hour prison labor for your special lady or something of the sort. Mentions something not a lot of people know about, hopefully urges folks to satiate curiosity and do a little research and is brief enough that it can fit into the segment effortlessly.

Lead them to the rabbit hole. That's a good idea.

For me, it was Amazon and Johnny Cash that started the ball rolling.

sometimesdee wrote:
Yonder wrote:
sometimesdee wrote:

I think we still need to remember that this is supposed to be a comedy show. I think it's a testament to Oliver's having a soul that he didn't try to make fun of the free prison labor thing.

I think that saying it's "supposed to be a comedy show" does it a large disservice. I also think that they can and have mentioned important things without making fun of it. I don't think that free prison labor is any more off the table than prison rape, and I feel like his coverage of prison rape didn't make fun of it, or at least not of its victims. I have no reason to suspect his coverage on prison labor would have been any different.

Perhaps. Then again, as others have said, the issue of prison labor could warrant its own show. Maybe it will be.

I parsed that as meting its own series, and started tot hink about the disservice done by "serious" shows that don't show the harsher truths of the U.S. system.

H.P. Lovesauce wrote:
FSeven wrote:

I don't think Oliver needed to spend 10+ minutes on the topic. Just an off hand remark about making sure this coming Valentine's Day that you purchased a nice bra, thong, and garter set from Victoria Secret made with the sweat of 25-cent-per-hour prison labor for your special lady or something of the sort. Mentions something not a lot of people know about, hopefully urges folks to satiate curiosity and do a little research and is brief enough that it can fit into the segment effortlessly.

Lead them to the rabbit hole. That's a good idea.

For me, it was Amazon and Johnny Cash that started the ball rolling.


Cool Hand Luke
for me.

Thailand’s Military Government Thinks John Oliver Is a Threat to Its Monarchy

Comedian John Oliver has achieved cult status in the United States thanks to the epic “viral rants” he delivers on his late-night show Last Week Tonight — but Thailand’s military junta, the National Council of Peace and Order, is apparently not amused.

An official document seen by VICE News and marked “highly confidential” shows that the junta that seized power in May is paranoid about Oliver’s activities after he mocked the government and made fun of Thailand’s Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn during the June 22 episode of his HBO show.

plavonica wrote:

Other governments think Oliver is a genuine threat? Impressive!

The Bugle Podcast is filtered by the great firewall of china.

plavonica wrote:

Other governments think Oliver is a genuine threat? Impressive!

Not so much a threat as a guy who made fun of the crown prince who is... as Oliver pointed out... kind of a huge disappointment to most of the country.

Related to John Oliver's report on prisons, we now have another botched execution on our hands. Part of the reports jumped out at me and really pissed me off.

State officials and his victims' relatives disagreed, saying Wood snored and didn't appear to be in agony.

...

"I don't believe he was gasping for air; I don't believe he was suffering. It sounded to me like was snoring," said the relative, Jeanne Brown.

Yeah... if you're ignorant of dangerous health conditions such as agonal respiration, your opinion on whether someone was suffering or not during an execution is utterly worthless.

Then the next paragraph followed:

"You don't know what excruciating is. What's excruciating is seeing your dad laying there in a pool of blood, seeing your sister laying there in a pool of blood. This man deserved it. And I shouldn't really call him a man," she said.

Fine then. Admit your goal isn't a death penalty, but a torture penalty. And let's codify it so that we can be known as the "modern" nation that institutes the practice of sentencing criminals to torture. Then at least we'll be honest that we're not interested in justice, but straight-up vengeance.

Farscry wrote:

Then the next paragraph followed:

"You don't know what excruciating is. What's excruciating is seeing your dad laying there in a pool of blood, seeing your sister laying there in a pool of blood. This man deserved it. And I shouldn't really call him a man," she said.

Fine then. Admit your goal isn't a death penalty, but a torture penalty. And let's codify it so that we can be known as the "modern" nation that institutes the practice of sentencing criminals to torture. Then at least we'll be honest that we're not interested in justice, but straight-up vengeance.

I heard her on NPR this morning and I thought something similar. Her reasons were very much colored by hate and desire for revenge.

Farscry wrote:

Fine then. Admit your goal isn't a death penalty, but a torture penalty. And let's codify it so that we can be known as the "modern" nation that institutes the practice of sentencing criminals to torture. Then at least we'll be honest that we're not interested in justice, but straight-up vengeance.

Thank god the air is cleared. Stones are cheaper and we're familiar with the technology.

H.P. Lovesauce wrote:
Farscry wrote:

Fine then. Admit your goal isn't a death penalty, but a torture penalty. And let's codify it so that we can be known as the "modern" nation that institutes the practice of sentencing criminals to torture. Then at least we'll be honest that we're not interested in justice, but straight-up vengeance.

Thank god the air is cleared. Stones are cheaper and we're familiar with the technology.

But not as entertaining as other common and inexpensive methods.

I wonder how death penalty folks feel about bringing that one back.

Paleocon wrote:

But not as entertaining as other common and inexpensive methods.

I wonder how death penalty folks feel about bringing that one back.

Better than you'd imagine...

Oklahoma Representative Mike Christian is a lawmaker who pushed to have state Supreme Court justices impeached for briefly halting Tuesday's execution.

He says he doesn't care whether inmates are executed by injection, electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or "being fed to the lions."

OG_slinger wrote:
Paleocon wrote:

But not as entertaining as other common and inexpensive methods.

I wonder how death penalty folks feel about bringing that one back.

Better than you'd imagine...

Oklahoma Representative Mike Christian is a lawmaker who pushed to have state Supreme Court justices impeached for briefly halting Tuesday's execution.

He says he doesn't care whether inmates are executed by injection, electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or "being fed to the lions."

I suspect that he would have a little difficulty if we stipulated that the only way folks could be executed would be to be nailed to crosses whilst wearing crowns of torns though.

Paleocon wrote:

I suspect that he would have a little difficulty if we stipulated that the only way folks could be executed would be to be nailed to crosses whilst wearing crowns of torns though.

Only if the offender was a radical Jewish preacher. Which likely isn't going to be a common occurrence. Doubly so in Oklahoma.

OG_slinger wrote:
Paleocon wrote:

I suspect that he would have a little difficulty if we stipulated that the only way folks could be executed would be to be nailed to crosses whilst wearing crowns of torns though.

Only if the offender was a radical Jewish preacher. Which likely isn't going to be a common occurrence. Doubly so in Oklahoma.

Or this guy.

spider_j wrote:
boogle wrote:

...excellent podcast also starring Andy Zaltzman, The Bugle podcast...

A fellow Bugler!

Fixed for you

The Bugle podcast is terrific.

For all those who've missed out, here are a couple of my favourite clips from The Bugle

The Great Dog Pun Run

Fish Pun Run

The Badonkadonk Tank Email

Hulk Hogan comments on British Riots

Syria Update and al-Assad music selection

f*ck you, Chris!

One of GWJ's greatest feats is introducing me to this podcast. Been binging on these for the past week at work. Thanks!

I sometimes consider learning cricket just so I can understand more of Andy's jokes.

Gravey wrote:

I sometimes consider learning cricket just so I can understand more of Andy's jokes.

Trust me, as someone who *does* understand cricket, you're better off.

Jonman wrote:
Gravey wrote:

I sometimes consider learning cricket just so I can understand more of Andy's jokes.

Trust me, as someone who *does* understand cricket, you're better off.

I've started watching cricket on ESPN3.
It requires a very strict drug regimen to maintain interest.

You're watching it wrong. Test cricket is a social spectator sport. It's on while you do other things. Ideally drink and chat.

You should be adopting a prairie dog approach wherein one person is paying close attention to the score and the details of the game while everyone else does other things. As the original watcher gets drawn into conversation or ducks off for a beer or a pee, someone else takes over closely watching the action.

Maq wrote:

You're watching it wrong. Test cricket is a social spectator sport. It's on while you do other things. Ideally drink and chat.

You should be adopting a prairie dog approach wherein one person is paying close attention to the score and the details of the game while everyone else does other things. As the original watcher gets drawn into conversation or ducks off for a beer or a pee, someone else takes over closely watching the action.

That is the meerkat method.

boogle wrote:
Jonman wrote:
Gravey wrote:

I sometimes consider learning cricket just so I can understand more of Andy's jokes.

Trust me, as someone who *does* understand cricket, you're better off.

I've started watching cricket on ESPN3.
It requires a very strict drug regimen to maintain interest.

IMAGE(https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5223/5649454015_bfaa82c3b0.jpg)

Maq wrote:

You're watching it wrong. Test cricket is a social spectator sport. It's on while you do other things. Ideally drink and chat.

You should be adopting a prairie dog approach wherein one person is paying close attention to the score and the details of the game while everyone else does other things. As the original watcher gets drawn into conversation or ducks off for a beer or a pee, someone else takes over closely watching the action.

I'd say that's similar to how I watch baseball. After a few pitches, I generally have a good enough idea of the pitcher's timing, so I just pop my head up from something else long enough to watch the pitch and potential hit, then back to whatever I'm working on.

Works for both sports. For those who don't remember, Homer has given up the booze for a month.

Oh no, two weeks without Jon Oliver!

Yonder wrote:

Oh no, two weeks without Jon Oliver!

He learned it from the Daily Show...

JC wrote:
Yonder wrote:

Oh no, two weeks without Jon Oliver!

He learned it from the Daily Show...

Also dealing with the lack of that!

Yeah, I'm just ripping through my Hulu, Netflix and YouTube queue now.

A great time to work on the pile...