Conan Compares "Extremist" MSNBC To Ahmadinejad (VIDEO)

Conan O'Brien made light of two running themes in the nexus of media and politics this campaign season Tuesday night: John McCain's war against the press and MSNBC's perceived liberal bias. Calling his corporate cousin "extremist," NBC's late-night heir apparent joked:

"Yesterday the President of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, challenged John McCain to a debate. McCain says if he wanted to be attacked by an extremist in an unfair environment, he'd appear on MSNBC."

Watch:

Comments

[DefeatedAnOfficer]

Have we all forgotten one thing? Conan HIMSELF works for NBC. He's forever taking potshots at the network, ragging on it for being dead last in the ratings, spoofing their promos and claiming to have a chip in his head that forces his loyalty to all things NBC. It's part of his schtick, almost an extension of his self-deprecating humor to make fun of his own network.

Besides, by "extremists" Conan could have been referring to the increasingly pissy Joe Scarborough ;)

[Nopes]

Conio O'Brien was very friendly with O'Reilly on his show as I remember.
So...

[Clayton139]

I never watch this Conan guy and I won't if, he takes Jay Leno's place either. I Tivo (David Letterman, Craig Ferguson, FUN-N-NY) Jay Leno, and Jimmy Kimmel. Conan is just not FUN-ny to watch!

[kennedyosker]

I prefer my comedians to NOT wear their political affiliation on their sleeves. The greatness of comedy is the ability to mock anything. It's fantastic that Conan is willing to reach the demo that might be sick of the constant Bush bashing. With all due respect to our freedom of speech, it's just nice to have a break from the bashing machines. Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert are arguably among the most gifted comedians in recent years... I just sincerely wish they would branch out more. Stop doing the same schtick. Some of the best TDS episodes are the ones that feature Dennis Miller. You have two people that disagree on the war but managed to behave like giddy best friends. It was so charming. Everytime I'm annoyed with Stewart, I watch those clips.

[StephenJK]

Conan is right on the money if you consider KOs seroquel-less rants.

[kennedyosker]

Conan's a beautiful middle man. Of course that will make him unpopular. That's why I love him so much. He's an easygoing bundle of perfection. I went to a taping of his show and he's incredibly gracious. He greets his audience every night. He's a wonderful guy. He might be the hero of late night if people would bother to see. He opens his doors to everyone. He doesn't blatantly shun conservatives just because it's the happening thing to do right now. He stays in the moment. I don't understand what's wrong with being a nice guy? We're in this together. People on both sides serve us every single day. Most of the time we don't know that it was a conservative treating us at the hospital... or a liberal holding the door open for us. I hate that our media promotes this type of hatred.

[theknightb4]

Well said.

[kennedyosker]

CONAN is awesome. He's smart, insanely funny.. FOR ONCE we have a comedian that can hit both sides and still move on with his show. He's a class act. I'm gonna buy what he's selling forever. Long live CO'B ! He could get away with being a "hollywood" liberal (cause he's that great) but he clearly isn't. He's probably a Democrat but doesn't wear it on his sleeve. What's wrong with that? Real comedians make fun of EVERYTHING... they're supposed to be wired that way. Anybody that can't see how dumb BOTH political parties can be doesn't have a sense of humor. Which is fine, just admit it.

[bail me out]

the only extremism I see on TCV is on FOX and their fixed/faux news fair and balanced, my a*ss

[PollyTics]

I guess even Conan is having trouble trying to lampoon Obama. I guess this is a close as he can get to trying to lob one over the net.

Sad...

[BOin08]

The best humor hits closest to the bone. Nice job Conan . Look in the mirror MSNBC.....we see Amadineajad hosting Countdown everynight.

[chronic]

Are you on crack?

[BOin08]

dude named "chronic" asks if im on drugs....lol. I'm clean, bro and just a little tired of KO on MSNBC...he's boring, ill informed and bad tempered...all signs of mental instability. Rachel Maddow will have his time slot with 6 months. Mrk my words.

[HHarvey]

I'm a democrat and who cares? It's all freakin' funny. This whole presidential campaign is like a total SNL comedy sketch. Conan made a little joke, I got it, it was a chuckle. And for the person who called liberals "whiners"... trust me I heard plenty of whining from you republicans on the blogs over the Palin sketch so let's no throw stones at glass houses okay?

[Skippy3000]

Conan is speaking truth to power.

Apparently some people can't handle the truth.

[chronic]

That koolaid you drink is to sweet!

[JDJase]

The fact that you people are freaking out over a joke, and can't handle being made fun of (just as he makes fun of EVERYONE, regardless of political views) really embarasses me, and makes me ashamed to have folks like you representing liberals. It's people like you where the right has gotten the "whiny liberal" tagline

[Donnybroke]

JD, ya hit the nail on the head!

I thought the Tina Fey takeoff on Palin was funny.

Liberals hve become humorless and hve replaced their humor with a deep seated hatred for anything/anyone they disagree with, which is a disturbing development.

Just read the comments posted here.

[neocon666]

"Liberals hve become humorless and hve replaced their humor with a deep seated hatred for anything/anyone they disagree with..."
Why don't you just say "liberals are starting to act like republicans"?

[yorkie]

CONAN'S SNIDE REMARKS,,POOR FORM,,,NBC RUNS MSNBC AND OLBERMAN'S AND MADDOW;S SHOWS ROCK AND THEIR RATINGS ARE BESTING CNN SHOWS!!!! and SOON WILL OUT FOX FIXED NEWS!!!!! CONAN IS a bit too kooky to make it in earlier time slot when TONIGHT SHOW runs ,,,,HE WON'T LAST LONG UNLESS MAJOR FORMAT ETC ARE PUT IN PLACE,,,,I HOPE HE KEEPS THE SHOW IN NEW YORK,,, ---WHERE SHOW HAD TOUCH OF CLASS, NY FLAVOR,,,ETC.... I SAY OLBERMAN WOULD BE GOOD TONIGHT HOST OR STEWART,, CONAN IS QUALITY WRITER FOR CERTAIN GENRES BUT NOT AS GOOD AS STEWART/COLBERT ETC......I'M TIRED OF THE YELLING ,KOOKY TYPE OF COMICS ON TV,.,,BOTH CONAN AND LENO ARE POOR INTERVIEWERS ,,,AND A GOOD TONIGHT SHOW SHOULD HAVE HUMOR BUT ALSO WITH GOOD SHARE OF REAL CONVERSATIONS!!! CARSON AND BEST HOST WAS JACK PAAR WERE GREAT AT THIS BALANCE.....WE HAVE SUCH POOR ATTENTION SPANS AND TOO MUCH BS,GLITZ,LIGHTS FLASHING, AND BAD MUSIC ON THESE SHOWS,, OF LENO ,,,ALTHOUGH BAND ON CONAN IS GREAT,,,

[Agent420]

Unreadable with all caps. Grow up and stop being silly.

[Eolianharp]

Irony, people. It's called irony. Conan was being ironic. Irony is a literary or rhetorical device, in which there is an incongruity or discordance between what one says or does, and what one means or what is generally understood (Wikipedia). Conan is a Harvard educated liberal, former writer for Saturday Night Live. And he disses MSNBC--a network accused of being too liberal? Incongruous? Maybe a little ironic? Oh, never mind.

[emncaity]

Maybe you didn't notice, but NBC and MSNBC have been making moves to appease those who've been screaming about how "liberal" they are (which itself is completely ridiculous). For Conan to just begin talking about "extremists" at MSBNC, whether in the guise of a joke or not, is a little bit too coincidental. (He made a similar comment about MSNBC a few nights ago.)

Said it before: Any country that tabs MSBNC as "liberal" isn't just right, it's fascist-right. MSNBC is barely centrist, if that.

[sussy55]

Funny, but yesterday I heard the opposite from McCain)))
Why he did not constant. Maybe I not understood?
Here's the video: http://tubedirect.net/index.php?q=McCain-speeches-about-Ahmadinejad)))

[BillORights1776]

Watch it, Conan...step to far and McCain will do you like he did Letterman.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mr9S0DaTjvw