Glenn Beck’s last show airs tonight on Fox News. A new mashup reminds us why this is a sad, sad moment for comedy.
Everyone’s favorite (self-described) rodeo clown Glenn Beck will depart Fox News today, after two-and-a-half years. To honor Beck’s work, lefty outfit Media Matters has compiled a mashup of his most outré moments, alongside a healthy helping of verbal ticks, cheesy props and demonic giggling.
(LIST: Top 10 Glenn Beck Moments)
The video takes us back to some of Beck’s favorite shticks, including his incessant invocation of 20th century bugbears (communists, Archduke Ferdinand moment, Nazi socialists… geddit?)
Then, of course, we shouldn’t forget Beck’s frenzied blackboard scribblings – a jumble of complex equations and phrases like: “solve spy case.” “This isn’t a conspiracy theory!” he assures us, repeatedly. There’s more. Beck has a metaphorical mind, given to seeing the obscure connections that elude mere mortals. To make his points clear for the masses, he uses live frogs and dead fish. He barks like a dog, and baahs like a sheep.
Beck will now take his comedic chops elsewhere. So sit back and enjoy what Beck himself called “the worst television show in the history of television.” We’ll leave that up to you to decide.
(MORE: Glenn Beck: The Mormon Radical?)