LISTENING to a circumspect Don Imus interviewing Sen. John McCain, then Sen. John Kerry, last week on his MSNBC/WFAN simulcast, it struck us that Imus should treat some of these top-shelf folks to some of the lowbrow stuff that he finds highly suitable for his audience the rest of the time.
In other words, given that Imus is considered such a bold dude, why not ambush McCain or Tom Brokaw or Tim Russert – a few of his semi-regular guests – with what he and his charges regularly throw at his audience when big shots aren’t on the line?
Why not, for example, put “Imus In The Morning’s” Sid Rosenberg on the phone with Kerry or Brokaw and have Rosen-berg do his Imus show thing, like ask them about the texture of their pubic hair or whether they’re inclined to stalk children for the purpose of having sex? Why not do some of the homo-phobic stuff or racial gags so often heard on the show? Do some of those bits for, say, one of those Senators or Congressmen who are interviewed, from time to time, on “Imus in the Morning.”
You know, show the power brokers what kind of stuff that the Imus show features when big shots aren’t on the phone. Or would that be in bad taste?
Maybe Imus could play a few of those vulgar Imus promos that are inserted into WFAN’s Mets radiocasts on Saturday and Sun-day afternoons so that they can so purposefully ambush family audiences. Then he could ask McCain or Kerry what they think of them.
Better yet, seeing how Imus is so bold, he could ask those big shots if they’re aware that his show often goes for crude, crotch-grabbing laughs when he’s not interviewing the likes of them.
If these guys say they are aware, then, seeing how he’s so daring, he can ask them if their presence on his show is therefore predicated on cross-promotion or desperate, look-the-other-way self-promotion.
And if they say they didn’t know, then he should tell them that they know now. Then ask if them if they’d like to come back on the show.
Imus, after all, has claimed to despise two-faced phonies. But what about his own two faces? Why keep his show clean only for the people he wants to impress?
Heck, why not tell Brokaw or Russert how Madison Square Garden told WFAN to clean up Imus show promos if they were to continue to run on Knicks and Rangers broadcasts over WFAN.
Surely Imus will have no trouble exposing the big shots to such truths.
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One problem with the History Channel is that, as a history channel, it too often confuses than clarifies. Several of its many World War II documentaries have noted that the U.S. Sherman tank was sarcastically nicknamed “The Ronson” because its thin armor would cause it to quickly ignite upon being hit with enemy fire. During World War II, The Ron-son cigarette lighter was attached to an advertising slogan about how it “lights every time.” THC documentaries have included testimonies from armored division veterans who explained that the Sherman was called The Ronson because of its vulnerability to fire. But last week, in THC’s “The Color of War” series, a Sherman was shown serving as a flame-thrower in the Pacific. The narrator explained that this was why the Sherman was nicknamed The Ronson.
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Alan King, who died last week, was a tennis freak who will be particularly missed by CBS Sports staffers whom King regularly entertained and even fed during the U.S. Open. He made for the CBS crew, we’re told, great chili.