Beck and O'Reilly Strike Back At Stephen King: We Should Go Visit Him

Glenn Beck and Bill O'Reilly on Thursday had some fun at author Stephen King's expense.

As NewsBusters reported Monday, King in an Entertainment Weekly column called Beck "crazy" and a "nutcase."

When O'Reilly asked his guest if he knew who King was, Beck marvelously responded, "He's the guy that usually when I release my books at the same time, he's No. 2."

After the "O'Reilly Factor" host read the EW quote to Beck, the fun really started (video follows with transcript and commentary, relevant section at 4:08):  

O'REILLY: All right. Do you know who this guy, Stephen King, is?

BECK: Who?

O'REILLY: Stephen King. Do you know him, the author?

BECK: Oh, yes. He's the guy that usually when I release my books at the same time, he's No. 2.

O'REILLY: OK. So you think he's jealous of you. He lives up in Maine, this guy. He writes about spooky things.

BECK: Yes. Actually...

O'REILLY: A little like you.

BECK: I am a huge fan.

O'REILLY: "The Overton Window," very, very frightening. So maybe he's jealous. But this is what he...

BECK: Biggest selling fiction of the -- of the year.

O'REILLY: Of the year. Your book. Not Stephen King. You.

BECK: Huh?

O'REILLY: Here's what King writes in Entertainment Weekly.

BECK: Yes.

O'REILLY: Let me quote it to you: "I sort of dig on Glenn Beck. He reminds me of certain people you encounter in big cities. You know, the ones wearing robes, sandals and signs but claiming the world is going to end because American men are eating too much red meat and American women are wearing their pants too tight. He's crazy, but like those urban nut cakes, he actually seems to believe what he is saying." Stephen King.

BECK: I think he meant that in a good way.

O'REILLY: Yes.

BECK: No, look, here's the thing. So what he's saying is you're a nut cake. But I'm a sincere nut cake.

O'REILLY: That's true.

BECK: I'm sincerely crazy.

O'REILLY: Uh-huh.

BECK: I appreciate that, Stephen. Stephen King is the guy who called me Satan's younger brother. And if I'm not mistaken, called Bill O'Reilly Satan's mentally challenged older brother.

O'REILLY: You would come off better.

BECK: I'm the younger brother.

O'REILLY: Right.

BECK: He got that right.

O'REILLY: I'm old and mentally challenged.

BECK: Not too much. Not too much.

O'REILLY: Here's my question: should you and I take the Bold Fresh Tour up to Maine.

BECK: Yes. I would love that.

O'REILLY: OK.

BECK: Could we?

O'REILLY: And rent a place near King's place and then, after the show, lead the whole crew over to his house for coffee.

BECK: We could gather arms and -- I mean, lock arms, not gather arms. That would be crazy. Lock arms and sing "Kumbaya." And then he can come out and tell us spooky stories.

O'REILLY: You know...

BECK: I'll wear a sandwich sign.

O'REILLY: I used to think that I was the most misunderstood person.

BECK: Right.

O'REILLY: But now, I know that I'm not.

BECK: Yes, no. It's Stephen King.

O'REILLY: Right. There you go.

Glenn Beck, everybody.

Nice.

For the record, despite writing some fabulous books in his time, King is a nutcase.

Readers are reminded that in April 2006, the horror author made a truly disgusting comment to a bunch of high school students at the Library of Congress:

I don't want to sound like an ad, a public service ad on TV, but the fact is if you can read, you can walk into a job later on. If you don't, then you've got, the Army, Iraq, I don't know, something like that. It's, it's not as bright. So, that's my little commercial for that.

When NewsBusters called him out for this, he actually posted the following instructions to his fans at his website:

I live in a national guard town, and I support our troops, but I don't support either the war or educational policies that limit the options of young men and women to any one career-military or otherwise. If you agree, find Sheppard on the internet, and send him an email:

"Hi, Noel-Stephen King says to shut up and I agree." 

Needless to say, I got a LOT of e-mail messages in the days that followed.

Talk about nutcases!