Jon Stewart Rips Olbermann and All MSNBCers That Can't Fill the 'Olbermann-shaped Hole' He's Left
Jon Stewart on Thursday marvelously lampooned Keith Olbermann and all his former colleagues that can't fill the "Olbermann-shaped hole" his departure has left at MSNBC.
The "Daily Show" host began the segment (video follows with partial transcript and commentary):
JON STEWART: You know, it’s been over a week since Keith Olbermann and MSNBC parted ways leaving an Olbermann-shaped hole in our national discourse. Who on their network will step into the breach we find out in our new segment, “Olbertunity Knocks.”
Stewart claimed the most obvious contender to fill this Olbermann-shaped hole was Rachel Maddow. However, after showing a clip of Maddow being too courteous to an opposite-thinking guest, The "Daily Show" host concluded that she doesn’t have the stuff.
Clips of Olbermann acting like a pompous, arrogant, condescending blowhard were aired to drive home the point, after which the camera returned to Stewart breathing heavily from an oxygen tank asking, “Anybody else going to step up?”
Chris Matthews video clips were then shown with the “Hardball” host repeatedly referring to Congresswoman Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) as a balloon head.
After the clips, a frustrated Stewart told his audience, “It’s good, but I think you may have to come up with more than one insult. And, not for nothing, judging by the size of your cranium, I would go with an insult you yourself do not suffer from. People who live in helium houses…”
Next it was on to Lawrence O’Donnell who after a brief clip was determined by Stewart to be a “slow talker.”
“Guys, Olbermann was a five-tool player: rage, ego, wit, scholarship, and most of all, BOMBAST! After you deliver a rant, I want to feel like you need two weeks off and a blood transfusion!”
For those unfamiliar with the unflattering term, bombast means "pretentious inflated speech or writing."
Stewart asked, “Is there no one on MSNBC that can shoulder this Olber-burden?” Enter clips of loud, insulting, fast-talking Ed Schultz, one of him claiming that Republicans “want to make money off your dead corpse.”
A shocked "Daily Show" host said, “Yes, only Ed Schultz can help rid America of necrophiliac pimps.”
Not completely impressed, Stewart asked to see more personal insults from Schultz, who complied by calling New Jersey governor Chris Christie a “cold-hearted fat slob…When he doesn’t like what he hears, he accuses the other side of shouting. It’s a typical, typical right-wing approach to the competition.”
This marvelously led the "Daily Show" host to quip, “Yes, if there’s one thing Mr. Schultz can’t stand it’s a heavy-set man shouting at you.”
As Mediaite’s Tommy Christopher noted Friday, Schultz wasn’t pleased with being lampooned this way, and tweeted to his followers:

Classy, huh?
Clearly not impressed with MSNBC’s stable of possible replacements, Stewart said the only way to fill the “Countdown” host's shoes was to start from scratch.
The "Daily Show" host then got up from his desk and walked into a room filled with kids dressed in suits wearing glasses all shouting Olbermannisms into the air with the chyron reading, “Olberclone Farm: Somewhere under the Hudson River.”
The camera zoomed in on one girl repeating over and over, “Have you no shame?” as Stewart laughed like a cartoon mad scientist.
Very nicely done.
For those thinking this was a tribute to Olbermann, he's certainly not taking it that way:

That makes two MSNBCers not pleased with Stewart for this.
No word from Maddow, Matthews, or O'Donnell yet.
Stay tuned.
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Comments
how refreshing to see a lefty
Submitted by TruthMonger on Fri, 02/04/2011 - 1:46pm.
how refreshing to see a lefty get the special treatment for a change
Congratulations Jimmy Carter!
Being a Nut Case is A Job Requirement @ MSNBC
Submitted by gruyere cheese on Fri, 02/04/2011 - 1:56pm.
Stewart was simply pointing out the obvious about the mentally derranged so called "talent" at MesSNBC.
How can the management at MesSNBC expect to be taken seriously when they put loons on talk shows back to back on a daily basis?
The clip is very funny though. I needed to laugh today and this clip did the job. I think I will watch it again!!
Long overdue, but hysterical
Submitted by lotr on Fri, 02/04/2011 - 2:02pm.
Long overdue, but hysterical all the same.
Olberman Shaped Hole
Submitted by boscokraft on Fri, 02/04/2011 - 2:15pm.
I have one located right between the cheeks of my ass
That IS
Submitted by theprofessor on Fri, 02/04/2011 - 10:14pm.
your olbermann.
This is rich!
Submitted by telecaster on Fri, 02/04/2011 - 2:24pm.
A clown demonstrating just how clownish Olbermann and Schultz are. How poetic.
Gotta love all the reinvention going on.
Submitted by Ashrak on Fri, 02/04/2011 - 2:49pm.
Seems to me that standing on principle is better than all the reinvention.......
Stewart got a dose of reality with his "sanity" gathering (which was actually vanity). He realized that he himself has been quite insane for a very long time. That is not to say he has changed his ways, just that he realizes that what he played over the last several years will see him cancelled going forward. He has made a shift to protect his own self interests. I imagine he is troubled by his own "evil" action of that kind.
Sorry Mr. Stewart, but Dennis Miller already occupies the spot you are looking to latch onto and attempting to jump there will only serve to show you guilty of the very opportunism you have so long decried. Mr. Stewart is acting just like his hero - Obama. Trying to be al things to all people just ends up making everyone mad at you in the end. An nobody respects you.
To Olberman - "Jumping ship" is what THAT was.
Thank you Jon Stewart..
Submitted by Gary Hall on Fri, 02/04/2011 - 3:02pm.
Now, I wonder if you have the stuff to go after Tavis Smiley?
Ayaan Hirsi's story is quite compelling.. in case you haven't run across this brave woman.Not a word of truth in any of Smiley's ugly and bigoted rant.
(;~/ gary
Gary
Submitted by Noel Sheppard on Fri, 02/04/2011 - 3:46pm.
Gary,
This is old. From last year. ns
Noel..
Submitted by Gary Hall on Fri, 02/04/2011 - 4:12pm.
Noel.. of course, I understood that it was a bit stale. Still, it never got addressed by the MSM - free ride these radical's get.
(;~> gary
At the end...there was one kid....
Submitted by shooter on Fri, 02/04/2011 - 3:15pm.
There was one kid who was just staring at the white board.
He was probably the best one of the group destined for Liberal greatness...because he realized if you have nothing to say, it's better to just not say anything at all.
_________________________________________
"An armed society is a polite society" -- Robert A. Heinlein
He's only been gone a week?!?
Submitted by inquiringmind on Fri, 02/04/2011 - 3:39pm.
He's only been gone a week?!? He seems more like a distant memory.
The reason no one has stepped up is the hole he left behind is that of a huge Arse.
I really don't understand
Submitted by bob loblaw on Fri, 02/04/2011 - 3:40pm.
I really don't understand how, one week Jon Stewart is ridicule and the next he is praised? I watch Jon Stewart all the time, and laugh when he makes fun of both sides. Jon Stewart is the best political host on tv period.
Olbermann & Schultz can dish
Submitted by Beukeboom on Fri, 02/04/2011 - 3:43pm.
Olbermann & Schultz can dish it out but can't take it. They both whine like babies.
@olbermann
Submitted by notinstl on Fri, 02/04/2011 - 4:10pm.
That, olby, was a mirror.
So, what would an Olbermann-shaped hole look like, exactly?
Submitted by Dave. on Fri, 02/04/2011 - 5:16pm.
And I'll have to hand it to Stewart, as this is actually funny.
For once.
-Dave
Vote for the American in November
Give ya a hint!!
Submitted by Ozconservative on Fri, 02/04/2011 - 8:59pm.
We all have one, and it's right between our butt cheeks!!!
WHAT?!?
Submitted by Tom1969ca on Fri, 02/04/2011 - 5:12pm.
"...after showing a clip of Maddow being too courteous to an opposite-thinking guest, The "Daily Show" host concluded that she doesn’t have the stuff."
What?!? Where in the blue hell did Stewart find a clip of Madcow being "courteous to an opposite-thinking guest"?!?
As for Sgt. Schultz and Edward R. MurrOlbermann ... if they were any more thin-skinned they could run for President! (As Democrats, anyway...)
as much as I'd like to laugh at this clip...
Submitted by Jnoble on Fri, 02/04/2011 - 7:56pm.
..Jon Stewart is one of the last people to be talking about the way others treat people with different views. He does nothing but belittle, snark, and condesend to the conservatives who foolishly come on his show. And when they make good points he can't refute, he changes the subject or just has that part edited out for air.
What does an Olbermann hole look like?
Submitted by Nightfly on Fri, 02/04/2011 - 6:06pm.
The Olbermann hole left behind looks like the one at the bottom of my toilet. Too bad that Olbermann got flushed.
Your subject line
Submitted by Boudin on Fri, 02/04/2011 - 6:13pm.
Almost made me sick
Man I can't stand Olbermann.
Submitted by balboa on Fri, 02/04/2011 - 7:44pm.
Man I can't stand Olbermann. When it couldn't be clearer what the joke was about, he needs clarification of some kind...? You're loud, egotistical, over the top, arrogant, and so on, Keith.
That was good stuff.
'Olbermann-shaped Hole' Is
Submitted by Cowboy on Fri, 02/04/2011 - 9:33pm.
'Olbermann-shaped Hole'
Is that the 'doughnut hole' everybody talks about?