funny youtube clips

[infinite monkey]

Jon mentioned my hometown this week. Biff had stopped for a burger.

No one in my hometown seems to have noticed. Of course, it is a conservative utopia.

[DanaC]

Is that the bit where people shouted at him to go home?

[infinite monkey]

Yes!

I'm surprised the guy didn't get shot! The yeller, not Biff.

[DanaC]

I liked the bit with the car alarm :p

Romney you're a racist! Romney you're a racist!

[DanaC]

What I like about the Daily Show is this: most of the news that comes from the US seems divided into two camps, one which is wholly critical of the left and one which is wholly apologetic for it.

Jon Stewart is unashamedly partisan in his views. He is left leaning liberal. But that doesn't stop him from tearing into the left politicians, or the left leaning news.

I don't trust the criticisms that come from Fox News. Too many of them have been shown to be wilful misunderstanding, or outright fabrications. Likewise I don't trust the analysis of the left leaning news. They seem to take it as their role to balance out the right leaning news, and so are reluctant to stick the boot in when Obama does something shitty.

[BigV]

Originally Posted by DanaC

What I like about the Daily Show is this: most of the news that comes from the US seems divided into two camps, one which is wholly critical of the left and one which is wholly apologetic for it.

Jon Stewart is unashamedly partisan in his views. He is left leaning liberal. But that doesn't stop him from tearing into the left politicians, or the left leaning news.

I don't trust the criticisms that come from Fox News. Too many of them have been shown to be wilful misunderstanding, or outright fabrications. Likewise I don't trust the analysis of the left leaning news. They seem to take it as their role to balance out the right leaning news, and so are reluctant to stick the boot in when Obama does something shitty.

Dan, this is a very astute observation on your part. I find it helpful to also keep in mind the motivations, especially the financial motivations, (as much as I can understand them) of the sources of such criticisms, reporting, analyses, etc.

Originally Posted by Deep Throat

Follow the money.

This is timeless and universally sound advice regarding all things political.

[DanaC]

Speaking of following the money...

Youse guys over there probably aren't aware of the great big legal tax avoidance scandal that erupted this week and ended up centring around none other than our loveable scamp of an entertainer, Jimmy Carr.

In a nutshell: investigative journalism blows open the existence of several high value tax avoidance schemes, in which people end up paying around 1% tax on massive incomes. All completely legal, and very shady. Of several figures named initially, Jimmy Carr's was the headline news.

His initial response to a heckler who surprised him about it at a gig was that he pays what he has to and not a penny more. Not an unreasonable stance given that this is the basis on which the British tax system in fact works.

Next thing is a bunch of politicians decide to weigh in on the issue, and the Prime Minister ends up on TV lambasting Carr for being immoral. Not illegal you understand, but immoral. Next day when Gary Barlow (a supporter of the Conservative party) was also named and various folk began suggesting that he be stripped of his newly awarded honour (OBE) the PM declined to be drawn on individual cases.
His suggestion that this all makes Carr a hypocrite because he once made a joke in a political satire show about large banks avoiding tax...is well and good, until you take account of the massive fortune Cameron's own father made managing off shore tax haven schemes:p Some might say this is a rather silly can of worms for the PM to open, given how many of his close allies, friends, party colleagues and relatives are likely to be involved in the same schemes. Watch this space to see where this one goes.

Anyway, Carr having thought about it (and his future career no doubt) decided to take it on the chin. he apologised. Explained without justifying (his financial advisor asked him if he wanted to pay less tax he knew a way that was completely legal, did he want to do it?) and described his decision to do so as a 'terrible error of judgement' pulled out of the (entirely legal) scheme and promised to conduct his financial affairs more responsibly in future.

So....why am I talking about this in the funny vids thread? Because this week's 8 Out of 10 Cats, hosted by Carr was fucking hysterical. His colleagues on the show obviously made the most of it. Carr handled it well. This is no half-baked mea culpa that throws the emphasis of the blame elsewhere. He has been dishing it out for years. It's nice to know he can take it too.



Hope this plays outside UK. I daresay a non ch4 one will upload soon.

[DanaC]

Here's the first segment of pisstaking for those who dont want to watch the whole show

[Gravdigr]

[BigV]

Does not play in my country,

However, I *did* hear this story and I applaud his decision to do what I consider the right thing. As a side note, that it is *legal* to do what he did, presumably for everyone, rich and poor, but that only rich people have enough money to do that, tells me that the LAWS are broken. The laws that permit such behavior. We have laws like that here, and they're broken here too. Being able to take part in a society without paying for what it takes to run such a society is wrong; Mr Carr is doing the right thing.

[Clodfobble]

The second video (post #593) should play, BigV, that's the one I watched.

[DanaC]

Here ya go V: the complete episode is now up in watchable form:

[DanaC]

Originally Posted by BigV

Does not play in my country,

However, I *did* hear this story and I applaud his decision to do what I consider the right thing. As a side note, that it is *legal* to do what he did, presumably for everyone, rich and poor, but that only rich people have enough money to do that, tells me that the LAWS are broken. The laws that permit such behavior. We have laws like that here, and they're broken here too. Being able to take part in a society without paying for what it takes to run such a society is wrong; Mr Carr is doing the right thing.

What I like is that, he could quite reasonably have put all the blame on his accountant's advice. he could quite easily have defended himself on the grounds that others are doing the same thing and yet he has been picked on for naming and shaming (like the MPs all did when they got caught with their noses so deep in the trough it'd be months before they saw sunlight again).

Instead he went the other way. His accountant didn't advise him to do this, rather he offered it as a way of legally minimizing tax and Jimmy took it. A decision he characterises as a 'really poor judgement call'.

I've seen other stars go through similar. Often comedians funnily enough. People who get caught out on tax evasion and then have to ride out the storm, or people like Angus Deayton getting caught with coke and prossies. There's usually a mix of contrition and poor me about the response.

I dont think I've ever seen anyone do such a good job of damage limitation in a situation like this. It's a fucking master class in how to do it.



He has now come out fighting a bit with regards to Cameron sticking his oar in. I think the public response has made it clear that it is perceived as unfair and a pot calling the kettle black. Worse because Carr has no part in setting the tax rules and has never held himself up to be moral or even particularly political. If it'd have been Brigstocke this would be a very different affair.

So, yeah. he had a bit of a pop at Cameron during his Stockport gig this week, whilst still absolutely not shifting the blame anywhere but himself. Clever.

[Sundae]

Originally Posted by DanaC

So, yeah. he had a bit of a pop at Cameron during his Stockport gig this week, whilst still absolutely not shifting the blame anywhere but himself. Clever.

Cambridge educated son of a self-made millionaire?
Yes, he's clever.

(that's not a dig, I admire him too)

[classicman]

O. M. G.