Irony needs raw material, and that ore is usually mined from the pages of The New York Post, which has been braying brazen headlines ("Headless Body in Topless Bar!") since its founder, Alexander Hamilton, was caught at Scores, tucking the very first American dollar into the G-string of Aaron Burr’s favorite stripper. But just because they spend all day furnishing the rest of us with jokes doesn’t mean they can always recognize one themselves. Thus Michael Starr’s boldly stupid takedown of former Jeopardy megachamp Ken Jennings (pictured), who recently blogged a clearly ironic takedown of Jeopardy. (Sample smear: Jenning claims Alex Trebek died years ago and was replaced with a robot. In a correction, he states that Trebek is, in fact, a cyborg and "does still contain some organic parts, many harvested from patriotic Canadian schoolchildren.")
Apparently, it was this sort of grim, humorless realism that prompted Starr to lash out at Jennings for biting the hand that fed him. (Is it something about the name "Starr" that compels a man to lob accusations?) Jenning, sighing audibly even in text, set the record straight this morning and explained that no, he does not actually think Mr. Trebek is a robot, he does not think Jeopardy needs a makeover, and he harbors no ill feelings whatsoever toward the show. He seems shocked that anyone could possibly mistake Swift-ian wit for sputtering bile. Then again, this is the Internet, where bile and irony commingle like the Captain and Tennille, and even the most innocuous blog entry is cause for pandemonium. This, to paraphrase Jennings, is the other reason Al Gore invented the Internet: as a hysteria relief system.
Jennings also thinks our recent Gore cover made the former veep look like Satan. (Full disclosure: It did give my mother palpitations.)
But you were just joking, right, Ken? Right? Ken? Don’t make me start willfully misinterpreting your dry, refined sense of humor, bucko. Because I will.
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FINALLY! I can’t believe how stupid people have been about this. I knew it got really bad when my mother told me that if I ever get on Jeopardy! I should be sure not to emulate Ken Jennings.
Knowing my mother, next week she’ll e-mail me a cookie recipe from Neiman-Marcus…again…
The New York Post sends Linda Stasi down the rabbit hole after Michael Starr: http://tinyurl.com/fb85e
I don’t know Stasi’s work, so I can’t say if she is similarly clueless or merely doing her corporate duty.
Irony or not, Ken Jennings is a social retard.
Ken Jennings subscribes to EW?
I am in great company.
(figure that out, what is it sarcastic or what?)
I’ll take ‘your five minutes of fame are over Ken’
Listen everyone, Ken started talking smack about Jeopardy and Trebek because he wanted to get back in the public limelight. He’s got a book coming out soon, and he wants to make sure people buy it. It just goes to show that he is a sell-out, financially and morally.
Maybe he’ll use some of the extra dough for some plastic surgery. That Mormon boy’s so ugly he can only find one wife.
Scott Brown, I love you for your Burr reference.
Your cover didn’t make Gore look like Satan; it made him look like a was figure at Madame Tussuad’s
Seriously, I can’t believe that anyone thought he was serious–much less a writer from the NY Times, what a complete moron that guy is. Ken is a very smart guy that happens to have a great sense of humor. I would hardly call him a sell out, and Bradalisa (whoever you are)–your prejudiced, ugly comments sound like the rantings of a unhappy person–I fell sorry for you.
Yo Chris J., let me drop some knowledge on you.
1. the guy who wrote the article is from The New York Post, not The New York Times.
2. i am anything but prejudiced. i read the full blog entry before coming to any judgments. obviously, sense of humor is very subjective. u may think he’s funny… i think he hides behind his sarcasm. his blog wasn’t meant to be serious…but i don’t think it was perfectly innocous either. it was meant to say that he didn’t like certain aspects of the show. that is biting the hand that fed him. i saw every game of his on jeopardy. Once he started getting press, he changed from a knowledgeable but modest nerd to mr. arrogant. by the end, even trebek looked like he want to smack him and send him back to utah.
3. not a sell out? Don’t you remember those commercials for Allstate and Nextel? I’m so certain he was pimping car insurance and cell phones because he believed in the products (now, that’s proper use of sarcasm, Chris J.). he played the morality card repeatedly, and then he went for the big money. hey, but he can do what he wants, just like i can call him out for being the way he is. it ain’t gonna change nothing, but it sure is fun nontheless.
So Ken won alot of money….so what!!! If and when a book comes out that he wrote, I would never buy it. Anyone that talks bad about Alex Trebek ain’t worth wasting time on. And what would he write about…fastest button pusher….how to get my Howdy Dowdy look…..
First of all, that journalist is a moron for taking Ken’s statements that seriously. Secondly, anyone who harbors negative feelings towards Ken [mainly Bradalisa] really needs to take a chill pill. Come on…if you’re one of the longest running Jeopardy contestants, you’d be a bit arrogant too (and in a generation of retards missing the $100 question on Millionaire, it means something). I’d like to see how you could handle it. At the very least, it’s better than being known as a spoiled b!tch; which seems to be polluting the airwaves these days (i.e. Paris Hilton and the Super Sweet 16 girls). If Jennings inspired some kids that it’s cool to read and to be smart, then more power to them.
And what’s the deal about calling Jennings a sell out? It’s only a few commercials. Jeez…
I put him under the same limelight as the American Idol winners, because technically, isn’t AI a game show as well? The AI winners market themselves to death, even though for the most part, their music sucks. Jennings isn’t trying to squeeze his 15 minutes of fame to death like some reality TV contestants, so lay off. If you don’t want to read his book, fine, but chill out.
So Ken used him fame to make some money off commercials–big deal! All celebrities do that, I would hardly call him a sellout, and how does becoming a pitchman for insurance and cell phones make a person lose their morality??? Some of you posters really need to get a grip here.
Now if he left his wife and hooked up with someone 15-20 years younger and moved to Hollywood, then yes, you could call him a sellout. But from all reports I’ve heard, Ken still lives in Utah, is still married, and still goes to church–that sure doesn’t sound like a sellout to me.
Tv A child
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