Tuesday, June 26, 2012

UFC Fighter Chael Sonnen on his planned book linking Politics to ProWrestling

For the last 6 years I've been covering the analogy that American Politics is not unlike Professional Wrestling. UFC Fighter and Promo king Chael Sonnen offers an interesting variation on the meme. He aims to discredit the credibility of the American Government for having been duped by Professional Wrestling.

VIDEO: UFC 148 - Chael "I Misunderstood Rules In 5 Round Fight w/ Silva"
CHAEL SONNEN: (1m 2s) I've been writing this book in my head for a decade. For a decade I had this idea I could explain everything you need to know about Government if I can get you to understand Professional Wrestling. You have to understand Professional Wrestling was sanctioned within 38 different States in this Country, which means it passed the Senate, it passed the House and was signed by Governors into law to oversee and regulate as a licensed referee watches a licensed athlete with a folding chair while he pretends to be unconscious with an earpiece in his right ear. 
These are the same guys that though Professional Wrestling was real. That's why they did it. These are the same guys that are in charge of Healthcare, your Social security, your Education, teaching the Children, the military. These same guys. So when Vince McMahon goes to trial in 1989 and has to admit under oath the whole thing is a play. This is the most embarrassing thing that's happened in American Politics. Very quickly, State by State did away with their Wrestling commissions because they were embarrassed they fell for it. Our best and brightest, our elected officials fell for it and passed laws. But not all of them...

If I can get you to understand that then I can get you to not just accept things like Bird Flu or Global Warming or the War in Iraq or Party lines. These are the same guys that fell for Professional Wrestling.
 
Unfortunately as Chael explains he was never able to properly organise his concept to make the book.
SONNEN: Now with that in mind, do you wanna hear the bad news for me? So I've been working on this for 10 years. The whole concept, get the whole thing written out. I got 20 some pages and that's it. I've got nothing . In my head I've got this whole, I've got book after book. I've got nothing!
Find previous Chael Sonnen Punditfight posts here:
Mark Levin interviews UFC middleweight contender Chael Sonnen
- Republican UFC Fighter Chael Sonnen withdraws from Oregon Senate Race 

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Shaun Micallef's MAD AS HELL, American Punditry done Australian style

Australian funnyman Shaun Micallef parodies American style pundits for his new ABC show, 'Shaun Micallef's MAD AS HELL'. Micallef's second foray into satirical news after 'Newstopia' in 2007

Shaun displays impressive improv chops reminiscent of Stephen Colbert whilst carving his own path, the program owning its Australianness and preserving Shaun's signature absurd style. The show's title comes from the movie 'Network' (1976). News Anchor, Howard Beale famously rouses his discontented audience with an impassioned "I'm Mad as Hell" speech. APF pundits Keith Olbermann and Glenn Beck have channeled Beale in recent years, Micallef similarly has modeled his comedic Anchorman after him.

All Pundit parodies will forever be judged on the gold standard that is Colbert and Micallef holds up capably as the following monologue shows. Stephen Colbert parodied the bravado and naked passion of punditry with lines like "I speak straight from the gut, okay? I give people the truth, unfiltered by rational argument" and "The 'truthiness' is, anyone can read the news to you. I promise to feel the news at you".

Read Micallef's own fresh take
MAD AS HELL Intro. Episode 4 
SHAUN MICALLEF: What's all the whooing there. Are you out of your minds? Your sounding very American. You know I don't like that. It's crazy, its the start of the show. Its completely uncalled for reaction in my view. I'm sorry about starting the show in this way. Gun's down, the gun's down. I'm sorry I've never pulled a gun on an audience in my life 
I'll be honest with you, I'm very angry this week and I'm not sure why. I feel a certain way about something but when I actually think about it I get just as angry but for a completely different reason and that makes me mad. So my anger this week is unfocused and double what it would be normally. So when how we feel and what we think are on the same road but are traveling in opposite directions you're on a collision course with blind fury and I don't like blind fury. It makes me furious! That's right I'm talking about...
Watch an excerpt of the show, featuring Sean's regular offsider Francis Greenslade.

VIDEO: Shaun Micallef's Mad As Hell - Positivity and Growth Rate