Yesterday we posted a clip from this past Sunday's "Reliable Sources" showing host Howard Kurtz having a little fun with his fellow newscasters, showing them awkwardly repeating a particularly salacious bit of the Spitzer wiretaps, wherein call girl "Kristen" said that she knew how to "handle" requests for unsafe sexual acts by simply responding "Listen, dude, do you really want the sex?" We noted that Kurtz had taken "a page from the Daily Show" in his use of back-to-back clips to poke fun at the newspeople by showing the awkward line repeated over and over again. Well, turns out that idea was so good someone else had it five days earlier: Dan Abrams and his crew — including the same clips in the same order from the same reporters.

Kurtz showcased three corrspondents: FNC's Eric Shawn, CNN's Jason Carroll and ABC's Brian Ross, in that order. Earlier in the week on Abrams' regular "Beat The Press" segment, they featured the following: Two clips from Eric Shawn, Jason Carroll on CNN, John Roberts on CNN, and Brian Ross on ABC, in that order. The similarities are obvious, so we asked Kurtz if he or his staff had seen that segment, and if his staff typically made a point of watching Abrams' "Beat The Press" segments, since "Reliable Sources" had actually included a clip from another Abrams broadcast later in the show. Here is Kurtz's response:

I did not see that particular segment. We don't monitor every minute of the Abrams show, fine program though it is. But it's a technique, pioneered by the Daily Show, that we've used many, many times on "Reliable Sources." More than a year ago, I played a montage of anchors and pundits saying over and over that Barack Obama was a "rock star." In this case I was less interested in the repetition than in the absurdity of correspondents having to read the sexual parts of the affidavit, a throwback to the days of the Starr Report.

As I mentioned above, Kurtz actually featured Abrams at a separate point in the show, giving him a shout-out for admitting and correcting his own error on his show. I asked Kurtz how he had come to use that clip, and he said "I happened to catch that one and admired Dan for taking himself to task." He stressed that he and his staff do not monitor the show.

When asked for comment, Abrams responded:

I am a big fan of Howard and his show so I am glad to see that when it comes to "beating the press," we are sometimes using a similar club! It was a funny segment on both of our shows.

Hooray, friends! I guess the moral of the story, dude, is that everybody really wants the clips. Watch them yourself below:

From "Live with Dan Abrams" - March 11, 2007:

From "Reliable Sources" - March 16, 2007:

Related:
"Listen Dude, Do You Really Want The Sex?" Howie Kurtz Tears A Page From The Daily Show [ETP]