"Did you treat Kermit the Frog like this when he was on your show?" Triumph the Insult Comic Dog asked NPR's Terry Gross last Thursday on "Fresh Air."
After Gross suggested that his use of the word "bitch" was controversial, Triumph went off on an extended spoof of Fox News host Bill O'Reilly's infamously scripted "outburst" on the show. I can't get the audio to work at the NPR site, but hopefully you'll have better luck with that so you can hear Triumph yelling about "defamation" and how he can't believe "the taxpayers are paying for this liberal harassment."
"Gene Simmons warned me about you," Triumph said, a reference to Gross's famed interview with a crude, rude and belligerent Simmons.
My favorite thing about O'Reilly's rehearsed indignation on "Fresh Air" is that — despite his attempts to portray himself as a serious, dignified journalist — he will always in the history of public radio be remembered in the same breath as Gene Simmons.
The two men are, of course, very different. One man takes the stage with a freakishly patterned face, spits blood and makes millions offending the sensibilities of decent Americans. The other is the lead singer of KISS. (rimshot)
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