VH-1 comedian Don Jamieson on Tuesday took some humorous swipes at Keith Olbermann.
Appearing on HLN's "Joy Behar" show, Jamieson commented that Al Gore's Current TV was "harder to find than Osama bin Laden," and moments later asked, "You’re going to go from TV to the Internet? What is [Keith Olbermann] sleeping his way to the bottom?" (video follows with transcript and commentary):
JOY BEHAR, HOST: OK, attention, liberals. Keith Olbermann has landed a new gig. He’s going to Al Gore’s Current TV as its chief news officer and will be hosting a nightly primetime show starting in the spring. Will it be a good show, or will it be the worst show in the world?
With me now to talk about this and other stories in the news are actress Sheryl Lee Ralph, Don Jamieson, comedian and co-host of "That Metal Show" on VH-1 Classic, and Rachel Sklar, editor-at-large for Mediaite.com.
Sheryl, is this a good home for Olbermann?
SHERYL LEE RALPH, ACTRESS: It’s an absolute great show for Olbermann because I like, you know, Current TV because it’s got that stuff that’s really current and so good, you’ll never see it on TV. So finally, somebody’s going to be able to really pinpoint on Current TV.
BEHAR: Do you mean to tell me you know where Current TV is?
(LAUGHTER)
RALPH: I know where Current TV is!
BEHAR: Is it near Reelz TV?
(CROSSTALK)
(LAUGHTER)
(CROSSTALK)
RALPH: ... good. He’s going to be great on it. They need him. Current TV needs Olbermann!
BEHAR: What do you think? What do you guys think?
RACHEL SKLAR, EDITOR-AT-LARGE, MEDIAITE.COM: They need something. I mean, and this is a great move for Olbermann, too. He gets to say that, you know, Current is starting from, you know, not the position of being the highest-rated...
BEHAR: That’s right.
SKLAR: ... network on cable. So he’s going to be able to say, I built up a network again because he’s going to bring people in.
RALPH: Right. Right.
SKLAR: And Olbermann is most comfortable as an underdog. He really is.
(CROSSTALK)
JAMIESON: You’re going to go from TV to the Internet? What is he sleeping his way to the bottom?
(LAUGHTER)
JAMIESON: I heard Bill O’Reilly’s going to do a podcast from his grandmother’s basement.
RALPH: Yes, right.
SKLAR: Isn’t that where Limbaugh does it from?
RALPH: Well, he’s going to make them top dog. I really think Olbermann is going to be great for Current.
BEHAR: Yes, but you know, they got -- they got rid of him over at MSNBC -- rather nastily, I thought. They don’t like his personality. Comcast came in. They didn’t like him backstage. That’s what I heard. Comcast came in, and it’s possible that that had something to do with his demise over there. And Comcast owns, what is it, 10 percent of Current TV.
SKLAR: I don’t think that was -- I mean, Olbermann has been brewing discontent over there for quite a while. If you remember, at the conventions in 2008, there was the on-air squabbling with Chris Matthews. And you know, he does -- you know, rumor has it that he would do things, like, he would -- You can’t talk to me, like, Slip a note under my door if you want to talk to me. There was a lot of, like...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh! He’s a diva.
(CROSSTALK)
RALPH: You go, Mr. Olbermann! Join the diva clan. Don’t talk to me. Here’s the note. Did you read it? OK. Fine. Now you can talk to me. OK. Forget about it now.
Now, I know Rush Limbaugh is advising Fox News to ignore Olbermann now that he's partnered with Gore, but a comedian making fun of the two of them is just too tough to resist.
