How whack is this?
I get a phone call from The Daily Show (yes, that Daily Show) — about an appearance for a show next week on Alan Greenspan’s retirement!
Who is this really? One of my buds pulling my chain? (That f&*%ing Cody!)
No, its Sarah from the Daily Show — email me at XXXX@XXXXXXX.com if you don’t believe me.
Holy Snikeys! This is awesome! I saw Jon Stewart doing stand up years ago! Is there a funnier religious joke than his Yom Kippur versus Lent riff? I even met him at some Manhattan fund raiser a dozen years ago. And I love the The Daily Show!
Hell, yes! I’d love to do the show!
Sara tells me they are doing a segment on Greenspan’s retirement, and wanted some Wall Streeters to comment on the Maestro. You know, nice retirement type things.
Sigh . . . Alas, I tell the producer the truth: While I think the Federal Reserve Chief is an impossible position, Greenspan has done a lousy job with it. The Stock Market bubble, the Housing Debt explosion, etc. He is like a doctor whose solution to any malady is to give the patient some candy. You feel good for the moment, but its rotting your teeth out of your head. While I cannot blame all of our economic woes on the Fed Chair, his 2 decades of easy money has made a bad situation worse. In short, he has created a mess.
Thanks anyway, she says, but we want someone a little more pro-Greenie. If you know of anyone, please let us know.
Oh, well — I’m sure I can think of someone !
(Thanks, Paul!)
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UPDATE: January 26, 2006 3:45pm
I immediately think of 3 names who can say nice things about Greenspan for the show: Larry Kudlow, James Cramer and Steve Liesman. I tag Larry and Jim’s assistants, and shoot an email to The Daily Show. They’d rather have a non-economist — so there goes Kudlow or Liesman.
They go with Mad Jim. He says the shoot is alot of fun (damn!)
The segment airs Tuesday at 11pm on Comedy Central.
So close . . .
Oh! Man! Bummer! I feel for you. I too love the daily show.
I could almost do that six degrees of separation thing.
But I already met Jon Stewart some years back before the daily show.
You would have been a riot!!!!!!
Need to play the Hollywood game and be 2-faced.
Tell them what they want to hear and then when you’re on the show tell them exactly what you think. That’s the way it works.
Don’t feel bad. The show jumped the shark a while back when Stewart’s best players mostly moved on to other projects. Now it’s like watching Seinfeld without Kramer or Elaine.
Hey Producer,
I couldn’t do that . . . As much as it pained me, I had to give them the straight dope — especially after this:
http://www.thestreet.com/_yahoo/rmoney/barryritholtz/10188266.html?cm_ven=YAHOO&cm_cat=PREMIUM&cm_ite=003190
BR,
It is nice to see someone else principled to a fault like me. I can never just make up that one thing and say it to get something. Other than sleeping at night and looking at myself in the mirror, I often wonder if my principles have cost me more than I have gained.
Congrats Barry.
I’ve been reading this blog for a long time and along with some of the macro econ blogs I follow it’s one of the most valuable resources I’ve found in the Blogosphere.
Sounds like the Daily Show agrees.
BTW, since you’re long on VIX are you also buying some puts on SPY?
Still pretty cheap if you haven’t already :-)
-Joe
You crack me up, BR. KLo is bullish on pretty much everything. Since the market has historically gone up about 2/3rds of the time, I suppose he’s usually right.
Oh! Man! Bummer! I feel for you. I too love the daily show.
And I love your blog.
You would have been a riot!!!!!!
A man of principal!
Speaking to friends and family, its running 2 to 1 that I should have lied to get on the show . . .
; (
Why did the booker want a pro-Greenspan Pundit?
Does Greenie’s cult extend THAT far??
I disagree about lying… you would have burned a bridge with the Daily Show. Someday, after the markets realize that debt needs to be repaid, and the pro-Greenspan / stocks-always-go-up euphoria fades, you could be a regular on the Daily Show. Lying now would have blown that opportunity.
Of course, I’m not in the entertainment industry, so take that for what it’s worth, but imho honesty is almost always best and this seems like no exception.