Tuesday 28 September 2010

Jay Leno mocks "drunken moron" Brian Cowen



OK, I'm sure you lot saw this one already, but as I was on holidays I missed it.    It's American chatshow host Jay Leno, having an (alco)pop at our esteemed leader Brian Cowen. 

Now Leno is pretty famous in the US - his show currently averages about 3.8 million viewers, in fact.  And his ratings are down at the minute...

Before this edition of the Tonight programme aired, I imagine if you had conducted a vox pop on any American street, asking people who Ireland's prime minister was, they would have been as clueless as the  Alicia Silverstone character.  So fair play to Brian, he has raised Ireland's profile abroad no end in these difficult times.  Well done.

I wonder were there many US multinational CEOs watching?   I'm sure they were equally impressed.

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18 comments:

Anonymous said...

I don't know if I'm being thick & not getting it but do you mean as clueless as Alicia Silverstone?

Anonymous said...

biffo is obviously intent on validating the oirish reputation as monumental goshites ,wonderfull to see one of biffos marys is headed this way maybe jay leno can have her explain the bizzare irish economic joke shop which she and biffo are running and let us know the whereabouts of BIFFOS MENTOR the suicide teaschock last seen in lisdoonvarna in the company of a local FF beauty queen resembling mary harney who was wearing a new pair of wellies with the price tag on display berty shoo doo have klass- CHEERS FROM BEVERLY HILLS

The Gombeen Man said...

@ Anon. You're not. I meant Alicia - duly corrected!

@ BH. The man last heard of still struggling with his tax affairs? Give him a d-d-d-dig out, someone.

Anonymous said...

In order to deliver sarcasm as a form of wit, which is the lowest form of wit,one should get ones "script" with the correct information that is needed.
Please tell Jay (the gobshite) that Brian Cowen is the Taoiseach of Ireland. The term Prime Minister relates to our good buddies across the water:)

MaryK

anna said...

Statsminister is the local title for the function of prime minister in Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland. But if I’m listening to an English broadcast ( CNN/ RTE/ BBC)then I expect to hear Statministers referered to as a country's prime minister...as the term 'Statminister' wouldn't mean much to an English speaking audience.
If we had a visit from Jens Stoltenberg ( Norwegian SM) I would expect RTE to refer to him as ‘Norwegian Prime minister’.
Therefore Taoiseach wouldn’t mean much to a country of 300million+ whose official language is English.
But I always do find it amazing the way people here will swoop on a spurious detail rather than justifiably criticize their country- and even better if they can show how deeply this country’s shining worth had been damaged by making it out to be in some way ‘British.’ Get over it.
And yes Cowan IS incompetent if nothing else. What if any of the rest of us had an important job in the private sector, and stayed up half the night drinking even though we knew we had an important meeting the next morning? AND he was at a think tank of FF’s best to discuss the economy….
Sinus trouble? Often caused by alcohol…one alternative therapist told me it’s often caused by toxins in the body…I notice I’m choked after a few drinks which is why I don’t drink.
To the poster above I’d say : if you love your country you’ll criciticise it : Truly; bitterly; deeply and OFTEN

The Gombeen Man said...

Now. Let's see. Let me think of an appropriate form of address for BC and his FF fellow soldiers.

gammagoblin said...

It's ok, Mary Coughlan is going out to the US later in the week to prove to the Americans that all Irish politicians aren't morons...

MaryK: "The Taoiseach is the Irish prime minister." Taken directly from www.taoiseach.gov.ie/

Dakota said...

Shock horror a taoiseach/prime minister, (teashoook, teeshuck, theshock, etc....) that drinks the hard stuff. Ouh oh, talk about a storm in the proverbial beer glass/tea cup? IMO worse things happen.

As for Mr Leno, hes a funny guy, he tells gags, ba da bing ba da boom.

Ella said...

@BH so your not going to pop over to see Mary and the trade mission then?
@Anna, excellent, well said.
@Gammagoblin, "The Taoiseach is the Irish prime minister." Taken directly from www.taoiseach.gov.ie/ Thanks for pointing that out, seems it needs to be for the likes of Mary K
@GM, great first post after your hols, hope you had a good one.

Anonymous said...

I'm amazed that somebody as superficial as Jay Leno has any clue about any European politician. I am equally surprised to hear that he is popular in Ireland - no, he's not. That brand of American humour is simply not funny, and we're a little more discerning when it comes to genuine humour.

Marcus Aurelius said...

There's nothing on RTÉ about the Leno story. FF must still have clout there. If anyone should be regretting their actions, it should be Cowen and whoever elected him.

More on Leno taking the piss out of Cowen:
http://rulehibernia.com/2010/09/jay-leno-and-brian-cowen/

Anonymous said...

hello there ELLA i thought that you had emigrated its been so long, iam afraid i will not be seeing our holy mary as i have aweek long session with a team of therapists who are attempting to re adjust my brain which has been sooh addled by sarah palin and biffos angels CHEERIO- BH

Anonymous said...

interesting that the party faithful post anonymously.......

the crazymad writer said...

The Taoiseach had an off day, that’s all it was,
Simply an off day, now can we get on?
With saying the country – there a job to be done!
Forget his off day, now where has he gone?

Hey, Brian, where are you, he can’t have got far,
Surely that’s not him propping up the bar.
Brian, don’t drink it, it might do you more harm,
And me by association, oh, I wish you went home.

Brian number two, here, haven’t you heard?
The matter is closed, this is absurd,
Back in the old days, no one questioned our word,
We did what we wanted, and we never blundered,
Did we?
PS check out the Tippling Taoiseach on YouTube - it's awesome!!!

anna said...

‘We Irish are more discerning as regards comedy’- Well we have had 90 years of just ONE type of humour, see definition below:

(1)“Gallows humour is a type of humour that arises from stressful, traumatic, or life-threatening situations; often in circumstances such that death is perceived as impending and unavoidable. It is similar to black comedy but differs in that it is made by the person affected….”

(2) I favour the return of WIT, often used to great effect by Jonathan Swift etc
Definition of Wit :”Sanity; The senses; Intellectual ability; faculty of thinking, reasoning; The ability to think quickly; mental cleverness, especially under short time constraints; Intelligence; common sense; Spoken humour, especially when clever or quick; A person who tells funny anecdotes or jokes”
Note that Wit gets straight to the heart of a situation, instead of just laughing Hollowly- note emphasis on common sense and intelligence.

Humorous responses to Brian Cowan’s performance ( never mind the drinking, just the Sheer Incompetence of it all:
1) Traditional Irish gallows humour “ Ha, ha, ha! That’s our leader! What a fun loving criminal!!”
2) Witty response: There is NONE: incompetence is a sackable offence in most jobs
3)Buffoonery: Yes, here is the comic category where his many performances belong.

Advice I read on dressing for a job interview” Only dress like a clown if you’re going for a clown’s job.”
Advice to Irish politicians” and only ACT like a clown if your actual work place is a circus.”

Ella said...

hello there yourself Mr. BH, I have been too traumatised by my new economic circumstances to comment of late and find I might have to emigrate. Imagine I can only have the cleaner in twice a week, and I have to make do with the hair dresser once a week and horror of horrors I now find myself shopping in those cheap German grocery stores.

Anonymous said...

Best country ever but underneath the laughs is the painful reality that a few fatties sewed it up for themselves and left the rest of us with a country that it is almost impossible to build a life in . Im putting serious research into long term escape routes , i am impressed with sweden but it looks like a toughie to nail the language plus the pubs are shite from what i have seen and i have heard the swedes are quiet cold but either way the best lads in the world wil be flocking away from houses that cost 750 grand and orange skinned women .

Keir said...

No-one on earth outside of Ireland refers to a 'Taoiseach'. If Leno managed to even have pronounced this word correctly, who the hell would have understood what he was talking about?