Imus Debuts on Fox Business; Talks TIME, Drinking With Beck
Fans of cowboy-hatted angry scarecrows doing radio shows on TV had reason to rejoice this morning, as Don Imus returned to the air on Fox Business Network, after having left MSNBC following his "nappy-headed hos" scandal. (In the meantime, his show was carried for a period on RFD-TV.)
I'm not among those fans, so I don't see myself tuning in often, but there was an interesting exchange in the middle of today's three-hour show, as Imus brought on his now-Fox-colleague—and his replacement as talk-TV poster child du jour—Glenn Beck.
Talking to Fox's Neil Cavuto the other day, Imus referred to Beck as a "nut" ("I love Glenn, but I'll tell you this: that doesn't end well"). That may have been rivalry talking or just canny self-promotion. But there are definite differences between the once and present bad boys of blab.
The essence of Don Imus' radio style and comedy, as I've written about him before, is busting his guests' chops and asserting his alpha-maledom. Beck has a different approach, which may be personal or generational or both: while he takes a lot of shots, his fallback is always self-deprecation, using a comically exaggerated loserdom to blunt his edge or deflect criticism. What do I know?, he'll say to conclude some tirade. I'm just some guy asking questions!
I'm not sure what somebody who made his brand as the swaggering cowboy I-Man makes of this sort of Beckian amoeba defense: whatever criticisms you throw at him, he'll simply absorb and add more of his own. The two hosts are even physically opposite, with Beck boy-faced and rounded where Imus is craggy and gaunt. As Beck said on Imus this morning, "This is like matter and antimatter in the same room."
Another classic line of Beck's self-deprecation is talking about his alcoholism, and this morning Imus brought up the subject. In this case, though, it wasn't to take Beck down a peg but as a way for Imus, a recovering alcoholic himself, to establish common ground. Imus asked Beck if he could remember the last time he took a drink:
"What were you drinking?"
"Jack Daniels," Beck answered.
"Oh, really?"
"Oh, yeah. What were you drinking?"
"Vodka."
"I was thinking about bringing [Imus] a bottle today."
Later the two talked about Beck's relationship with Rush Limbaugh, with Imus asking if Limbaugh (who like Imus and Beck, was also on the cover of TIME—in his case, twice) "hates" the successful newcomer. Beck laughed it off: "Do you hate me?" "No, but I'm not competing with you." "What do you mean? You're on radio, I'm on radio." "Yeah, but I have no mission here."
I'm not sure Glenn Beck was buying it. I'm not sure I do, either. It's undeniable Imus will boost Fox Business' ratings in the morning, because there was practically no bar to clear. But can the I-Man be the man again?
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1
Imus on FOX Business. I can not believe it. What kind of business info would he have that Neil Cavuto didn`t have?
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2
I loved the show and thought Imus was as funny as ever. and workhorse what kind of question is that? He is not trying to be like Neil Cavuto , that's not his job, I liked the way they talked about buisness news throughout the three hours, not boring . He's better off then over at that msnbc who has about 10 viewers the WHOLE DAY, their pathetic, who even watches them, they try and try and still cannot beat FOX NEWS , to bad, msnbc will never learn, people are tired of nothing but glowing coverage of obama, not one person over there will report when theres bad news or anything negative about obama, talk about state run news.
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2.1
Just like people are tired of the negative Coverage on FOX
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3
Mr.Poniewozik
I believe that you are just another bored pathetic liberal media sheep.Looks like you enjoy attacking the right wing media.Do you have any personal shortcomings ? Have you any past transgressions that you wish you could erase.Are you imperfect in any way? I know that I am.That makes me human.Both Imus and Beck are human.Why dont you use your time to counter the issues not the men. As for TIME,it could be better described as "WASTE of TIME" -
4
I guess if Mr. Poniewozik, who is working for Time who partners with CNN, dislikes the Imus/Fox Business combination...I need to watch it. Anything that is related to either NBC (MSNBC, CNBC, NBC, etc...) or CNN (thanks to Teddy Turner's past influence and willingness to shape the news) is quite suspect. It's sort of like the ACLU--whatever they are "for" our family is "against" and vice versa. Thanks Mr. P for pointing this show out--I'll make sure I catch some of it in the morning tomorrow.
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5
Only conservatives and the Fox News Channel would try and make a celebrity out of Glenn Beck. Who takes this guy seriously? The only credentials he has is an art history degree and stints on FM radio networks.
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6
cristanti -I find it even more humorous,that Fox News has NOTHING nice to say about Obama. I would rather watch a news channel that uplifts our American President rather than shoot him down for every little thing.Imus is an idiot ,bigot, loser & if Fox News wants to adopt that image , better them than any other news station
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7
This article is well written. I've grown tired of "bloggy" journalism and "bloggy" books. Barf. This is an opinion piece but not so over the top that you are in my face and I hate you. You let the snark come from within the characters and there are no sentence fragments with invented buzz words. "Gagalicious." I swear, journalism is turning into a pool of bitter, middle school, zit-faced hate-journals.
Thanks-
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8
Ya' wonder why this old idiot is on Fox Business channel ?
Do any of you ever take a look at Fox Business channel ratings ? They pretty much do not exist. Sort of like Imus' personality.
Oh. Imus is also on "Faux nEWS" because they were the only loons in town that supported this idiot through his "nappy headed hoes" disaster. Remember how Imus was initially dismissive of the criticism of this remark ? Guess not you well-informed sheep. Baaaaa. Baaaaa.
In case of you knuckleheads never listened to Imus on FAN. He often bashed Fox and in particular "Billo".
To boost rating further...What is next at "Faux" ? Three Stooges reruns ? Hey! Would be fitting for that viewship...
- poniewozik Worth the follow: @hhavrilesky to give $100 to Partners In Health 4 Haiti for every 1k followers she adds today. (Maximum total = $1k) - 3 hours ago
- poniewozik @cmonstah Let me guess: Couldn't remember what you looked like, no mirror nearby, so you Googled? - 5 hours ago
- poniewozik New post: NBC: There Was Never a Conan O'Brien. http://bit.ly/claLr2 - 6 hours ago
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