Countdown Devotes Number One Story To Used Sarah Palin Jokes

Joe Coscarelli — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 13:59:29 +0000

Maybe Friday was an exceptionally slow news day. In fact, in a week of all Twilight, Oprah, and Going Rogue, real news did seem to cease. But does that really give Countdown — with Lawrence O’Donnell sitting in for Olbermann — license to forgo their headline story altogether in favor of a highlight reel replaying all of the Sarah Palin jokes from across television this week? Is no one on the Countdown writing staff funny?

“We take our passion for needling Sarah Palin quite seriously,” said O’Donnell.

And so in the number one story of the night, he introduced “Rogue Wave,” and proceeded to cycle through clips from the spot-on Stephen Colbert, newly unfunny Conan O’Brien, old foe David Letterman and… Craig Ferguson? That’s who we’re going to let roast Palin after a week down the book press rabbit hole? He makes Jimmy Kimmel look like Lenny Bruce.

But to chastise Countdown‘s joke selection is nitpicking; to wonder about their choice to run the segment at all is required. If the show’s talent and writers are on Palin-overload (valid) why not just skip Going Rogue altogether on Friday’s show? That’s too easy — we’ll just run old jokes instead! Judge for yourself in the clip below:

Mediaite » Stephen Colbert Sarah Palin

Countdown Devotes Number One Story To Used Sarah Palin Jokes