Olbermann’s First Words Back On Air: “Oh, Hi! …So, What’s New?”

A camera lingers on a darkened, seemingly empty set. There are a few long seconds of tense silence. Then, from off-screen, we hear a familiar voice: “Oh, hi! …So, what’s new?”

That’s how Keith Olbermann opened his first show back after his four-day suspension from MSNBC. After thanking his audience for their support and reassuring them that he’d discuss all of “the issues of my little adventures later in the show”—that is, his network’s policy regarding campaign donations—he was ready to jump back into the saddle with a segment about President Obama in Indonesia.

Before the show really started, though, Olbermann made a reference to stories that speculated his suspension might have been an elaborate publicity stunt. According to Olbermann, such conspiracy theories are baseless… then again, he said, if he had known how much publicity he’d get from donating to Democrats without permission, “I would have done this years ago!”

Video of Olbermann’s opening is below. There’ll be much more to come, of course, as the show goes on.

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