Timothy Bottoms, who played Texan Sonny Crawford 30 years ago in "The Last Picture Show" and again in 1990's "Texasville," has been cast as President Bush in Comedy Central's new show "That's My Bush!" the cable channel said Monday. The sitcom, from "South Park" creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone, will debut April 4. "That's My Bush!" will offer a glimpse inside the White House while spoofing situation comedies. Comedy Central spokesman Tony Fox said Bottoms was chosen for his acting skill and his physical resemblance to the President. His version of Bush won't be as over-the-top as Will Farrell's portrayal on "Saturday Night Live," though. "This is really a satire of the American sitcom," Fox said. "They're making George out to be this wonderful, likeable guy, as most sitcom stars are." Bottoms, 49, most recently has appeared in a recurring role on the ABC drama "Gideon's Crossing."
I hope someone will be real-media encoding these..I'm in Europe and by the time they get around to showing them here, Bush won't be president any more!
You lucky bastards - we're now into re-runs of season 1 here in Italy (Mecha-Streisand last week, what a trip hearing the Japanese lines done by Italians)! But, it's really "tits" hearing the boys say:
Without going too far off topic, odds are looking good.
If the Demogogue party quits whining about AlBore pulling a "Bob Dole" and blowing the election and if they fail to find an issue to stand on (as oppssed to their contsant attempts at fear mongering and race baiting), they might have a chance.
Farrell's portrayal is completely one-dimensional. It's OK for what it is, but geez, there's only so much you can do with the "ha, our president is a moron, get it, moron, get it, moron!" schtick before it starts to get old.
In other words, your own vision is one-dimensional, so you see no problem with any portrayal being equally simplistic. Even if Bush were a dunce (he's not), and there were nothing else about him worth parodying (there is), even Farrell's one-joke schtick could have more variety than it does. For an example of a much funnier, much less predictable "Bush is an idiot" joke than anything Farrell will ever come up with, see: http://www.theonion.com/onion3713/bush_regales_guests.html
That schtick lasted only as long as Clinton himself chose to drag it out. In any event, Darrell Hammond and Phil Hartman both did a Clinton that runs circles around Farrell's Bush act. So did Carvey's imitation of the first Bush, etc. In fact, I'm not sure any other SNL imitation of a President has been that lame and one-dimensional, with the possible exception of Chevy Chase's Ford.
Lest you go off on a totally irrelevant partisan discussion, let me point out that I'm not any more impressed by Farrell's Janet Reno impression. Like his Bush act, it was funny the first time, but also like his Bush act, it got very repetitive very quickly.
That would be three years and 9 months until Bush's next inauguration, which is all but guaranteed if the Gorons are still whining about him being an idiot, the 2000 election being "stolen," etc. during the 2004 campaign.
Close. I see Bush as a man who has, at every point in his life, stumbled and fallen upwards. He's referred to as an intelligent man but he only got into his impressive list of schools because he was born into the Bush family, it had nothing to do with qualifications. He's referred to as a great businessman, but if you analyze his business career, you find his ineptitude in so many areas seems to correlate to his personal advancement and Bush glory. And he doesn't even realize it.
The best quote I've ever heard about Bush is that he was born on third base bt he thinks he hit a triple.
Yeah, I see his as one dimesional. He's a barely literate fortunate son born into a very powerful family. He, if I may borrow some words from Paul Begala, presented the thinnest, weakest, least impressive record in public life of any major party nominee this century. He was a poor student who somehow got into the finest schools. He was a National Guardsman who somehow missed a year of service. He was a failed businessman who was somehow made rich. He was a minority investor how was somehow made managing partner of the Texas Rangers. He was a defeated politician who was somehow made governor. And now, with no clear majority of the vote, he was somehow elected president of the US. How could it have been any other way?
You don't know the half of it. If not for the incestuous 'legacy' policies of some Ivy League schools in the 60's, he never would have had a prayer. Didja know Dubya applied to the U of Texas Law School and was turned down? Right, UT based acceptance on merit, go figure.
Farrell parodies Bush. If Bush is one dimensional, so is the parody. When Bush confused all those African names during the debate, Farrell's spoof involved incredibly funny superfluous African politicos and their names' proper pronunciations.
I'll bet anything that tonight's show has a spy plane skit.
Yeah, The Onion is one of the better satire sites. This was funny, in that the 'article' plays on Bush's distinct lack of literary sense. The man, to say the least, is not what you would call well read. I mean when asked, during an appearance to promote literacy at an elementary school, what his favorite books were as a child, he could not name a single book. He stammered, then quickly changed the subject. Even his own people say he won't look at a document longer than 2 pages. No matter what it is, if it's 10 pages, he asks for a 2 page summary of it. Sick. This is the man running my country. Compare this to Bill Clinton, a voracious reader. Read anything he could get his hands on, whether budget proposals or Sci-Fi novels. I would be more open to Bush's thoughts on education (except for the incredibly horrific voucher idea) if I knew it meant something to him.
I also like http://www.modernhumorist.com/mh/0101/bush/
So it was merely a sign of the times circa the week any particular sex related Clinton parody occurred. Same as with Farrell and Bush.
If you're going to compare the comedic talents of Phil Hartman and Dana Carvey with Will Farrell, you're not getting any argument from me. I'm not defending Farrell, I think he bears a bit of a physical resemblance to the president and I think he has the accent down, but he does not have the benefit of all of Bush Sr's catch phrases. Carvey had so much to choose from. Stay the course, not gonna do it, wouldn't be prudent, not at this juncture, yada yada. Junior has no such catch phrases yet.
Anyway, Farrell's talent level asside, I'm saying the skits as written are still extremely relevent.
Maybe your sriticism then is with the writers and not with the actor?
Yeah, backlash over whining will overcome what he does to this country in four years. I'm sure.
The same could be said of Al Gore. And if you're willing to play fast & loose with the "family" word, of *anyone* in politics. If we could get over the idea that we have a citizen gov't (we don't, at least not at the federal level), and realize that it's all just a popularity contest among the aristocracy it makes a little more sense. Someone once said to me that the English royalty were the highest paid welfare recipients in the world. The same thing could be said for those who hold power here, we just make'em jump through hoops and fill out a crossword puzzle for it. And the puzzle ain't even that hard.
The same could be said of anyone born into means, but in Bush's case the signs are far more pronounced. And the Gore family has nowhere near the economic and political influence the Bush family has, or had before the most recent election.
Are you familiar with Bush's business dealings? I was going to post a detailed account for Jeff once he responded but it seems as though I may have scared him off. I'll consider it anyway, it may be somewhat of an eye opener to people who aren't familiar with his business history and think that just because he made money, it must have been a good one.
And it infuriates me even more. That something as important as the election of the most powerful person in the free world is essentially an overgrown election for high school class president. I promise longer lunches, less homework and shitloads of other things I have no power to grant, but it sounds good and you all cheer every time you hear something you like so, what the hell, right? Tax refunds for everyone! Just vote for me!! (even though Bush's *own people* say there's *no way* his plans for tax breaks and the privatization of SS are economically viable, they just sounded so good to the students in the cafeteria/auditorium that they voted for him.)
I agree with this person. In this day and age, kings, queens and princes are just faces to put on money. They do nothing except exist as figureheads and for this (and only this) they're treated, well, like kings.
Sorry, no matter how bad things get, the US President is still an elected official. I could never be comfortable living in a country where the rulers are chosen based on the lone qualification that the were born into a particular family.
But then with Junior in the Oval Office, I can see how the lines have blurred tremendously. I may be living in just such a country.
Substitute "social class" for "family" in that sentence, because the US has.
You're fooling yourself if you don't realize you are. And that it's normal, and not all too different than if say England required their king/queen to endure a popularity contest. When Thomas Jefferson wrote that "all men are created equal" he did not mean that the guy who shoveled shit out from under his horses was deserving of the same respect he was. He was stating that birthright *alone* does not make someone automatically capable and deserving of a position of power.
What we've done here in modern times is force the aristocracy to put on a dog & pony show, with prime contenders from opposing sides of the political spectrum so as to delude us into thinking we have a choice.
"I'll tip my hat to the new constitution Take a bow for the new revolution Smile and grin at the change all around Pick up my guitar and play Just like yesterday Then I'll get on my knees and pray We don't get fooled again"
Huh? Every Yale grad's kid doesn't get in to Yale. Neither does the kid of every Yale grad who is serving as an obscure Congressman, for that matter. Now I suppose that if Yale had any way of knowing in advance which obscure Congressmen were going to go on to become President a few decades later, that might change things.
The other annoying part is that everything you write about Bush is equally true about Gore, if not more so. Sons of prominent Senators tend to get more favors than sons of obscure Congressmen do.
So? Applying to an elite law school and not getting in is par for the course. OTOH, getting in to a lower-ranked school, and then flunking/dropping out, is well below par, and I'm not talking in golfing terms.
Correction: Farrell parodies Farrell's own narrow-minded notions about Bush. That his narrow-minded views parallel yours accounts for the fact that you find his parodies amusing rather than silly and monotonous.
that the
But more importantly, what they did with it was creative, a word that does not appear to be in Farrell's vocabulary.
[irrelevant partisan ramblings deleted]
Perhaps, but it seems to stick to Farrell's own characters. As I mentioned, Darrell Hammond's Clinton *and* Gore impressions were both superb, and his tenure coincides with Farrell's.