Who do you think are the most recent American “freaks”?

According to his new book, American Freak Show, Willie Geist found a lot of them: Tiger Woods, Sarah Palin, Levi Johnston, Blago, Lindsay Lohan and many more.

After a couple month hiatus, Mediaite Office Hours is back today! We’ll be coming to you from Livestream.com at 3pmET – with FNC’s Greta Van Susteren, MSNBC’s Willie Geist and Time magazine’s James Poniewozik. There’s certainly a lot to talk about.

Today marked the one-year anniversary of Way Too Early – the half-hour pre-Morning Joe MSNBC show hosted by Willie Geist.

At the time we called it a “faster, looser” version of the three-hour program hosted by Joe Scarborough – and with high profile shout-outs and some self-deprecation, Geist continued that theme.

Morning Joe had some fun this morning with the heated argument yesterday on Fox News between Megyn Kelly and Kirsten Powers during Willie Geist‘s “News You Can’t Use” segment.

The hosts joked about the “fight” – but their expressions of surprise about on-air disagreement is ironic given MSNBC’s history.

Joe Scarborough would like to clear something up. Yesterday he did NOT say that he “thought that John Boehner did not work hard enough, or that he went out and partied.” Later clarifying that since Capitol Hill is very small, people know what people do, and “John Boehner is known as a guy that likes to golf, likes to have a good time and is not known as a hard worker.” Aha! Somewhere I am sure that the office of John Boehner doesn’t love the clarification.

After being off the air for 6 weeks, Donny Deutsch returned to MSNBC this week, both as guest host of Morning Joe and as panel guest. Yesterday he reminded viewers of his catch-as-catch-can style while discussing the imperfect game imbroglio. Deutsch lauded the behavior of the young pitcher denied a perfect came by a blown call and used some interesting language not normally heard on morning news programming. As Willie Geist said, Donny is back!

After Monday’s conflict over a Gaza-bound flotilla, the effects on the cable news world of having what is possibly the single most emotionally charged issue in international politics– the Israeli-Palestinian conflict– front and center in the news cycle, are pretty clear. Earlier today on MSNBC, Willie Geist had former New York mayor Ed Koch and author Jeremy Scahill on to talk about the flotilla incident, and the heated exchange inevitably growing from Israel’s right to self defense to its right to exist at all.

Yesterday, John McCain took the media on a revisionist time travel trip to reminding everyone of what a maverick he is by telling Newsweek, “I don’t consider myself a maverick.” This comment was, shockingly, taken with a grain of salt to anyone who lived the 2008 presidential election. How many raised pundit eyebrows can you count in the following video?

As reported by Robert Quigley over at Geekosystem, a pretty substantial change was reported as coming to a classic language-driven board game: the legalization of proper nouns in Scrabble. Robert was able to track down a Mattel rep to discuss the change (he’s a little shaken up about it), and he found some good news to assure purists that the traditional game is not being altered. The change seems only to apply to a more “family-oriented variant” of the game.

Example number 214 of why we love Morning Joe: Willie Geist reported on this morning’s program of Miley Cyrus slamming co-host Mika Brzezinski‘s condemnation of the teen-starlet’s “pole dance” last summer. Not only was Joe Scarborough sitting back and watching Mika’s stunned reaction in amusement, but so too was Mika’s father Zbigniew Brzezinski, the former cabinet member under President Carter. Good times! Video after the jump.

There’s been some recent debate surrounding Mediaite founder Dan Abrams and his past and current relationship with NBC News. Well any question should be laid to rest today, after Abrams appeared on MSNBC’s Morning Joe and NBC’s Today Show, providing analysis on a number of topics, including Glenn Beck‘s interview with Eric Massa, the Letterman extortion case and more (including a couple of name checks for dear old Mediaite.)

It’s time for a new episode of Mediaite Office Hours, from Livestream.com’s studio at 3pmET (and featuring an all-female hosting team). Joining us today will be MSNBC’s Willie Geist, CNET’s Caroline McCarthy and more.

Anyone who works in media these days — especially online — knows that it can be an all-consuming lifestyle, caught up in the immediacy of the 24-7 news cycle and very much given to being swept up by the wildly fluctuating highs and lows of the moment. That’s why it’s so nice to step back [...]

The set of Morning Joe became particularly tense this morning when host Joe Scarborough and author Max Blumenthal got into a remarkably strained back-and-forth over, you guessed it, right-wing versus left-wing criticisms of Administration’s past and present. Blumenthal was on to promote his new book Republican Gomorrah, a title that might have tipped producers off on just how the segment might turn out.

First on Mediaite: Carlos Watson, anchor of MSNBC’s 11 a.m. weekday show, “Live with Carlos Watson,” has been given the axe. MSNBC spokesperson Alana Russo confirmed that yes, Watson’s hour had been canceled; he will, however, remain a contributor with MSNBC.

Why was he canceled? Is anyone else getting the axe? Who will take over the slot?

It’s a big day here at Mediaite – the launch of the new and improved Mediaite Office Hours. We’ll be live from Livestream.com’s studio at 3pmET (new time as well), with guests including CNN anchor John Roberts and New York Times reporter Brian Stelter. And of course…you!

“The man joining us here — the new lead Gay Manelist on Sunday Night Football — he takes over the telestrator from the legendary John Madden.” — Willie Geist on MSNBC’s Morning Joe introducing Cris Collinsworth, the newest, er, addition to Sunday Night Football.

It’s that time of the week again – Mediaite Office Hours! We’ve lined up another great show for you.

Guests include host of the new MSNBC Way Too Early, Willie Geist and Politico reporter (and fellow former mediabistro’er) Patrick Gavin. And of course…you! Here’s how this works:

Willie Geist had Maureen Dowd call in to his new show Way Too Early With Willie Geist as his “Wake Up Call” to discuss her column in today’s New York Times comparing Sarah Palin to — who else? — Hillary Clinton. Turns out MoDo has a Palin shaped hole in her heart.

A new, earlier cable news show debuted today on MSNBC, as Willie Geist, of Morning Joe, checked in a half-hour early for his 5:30amET Way Too Early.

With a hip-hop soundtrack not typically seen on cable news, the show moves along at an atypically speedy pace. Then again, Geist is not a typical cable news host.

Al Roker is about to get even more TV time – beginning Monday, he co-hosts “Wake Up With Al” on The Weather Channel. The program, airing weekdays for an hour at 6amET, is co-hosted by The Weather Channel’s Stephanie Abrams.

So besides his three hours on Today, his MSNBC-produced shows, his work on The Food Network and more, you now get more Al in the morning.