Being a journalist is a vital role in today’s society. Journalists and reporters bring current news and important information to Americans using all different kinds of mass media. Sorting through all the television reports, newspapers, and radio broadcasts can be difficult, and sometimes downright depressing. There is hope though, or at least a way to bring some joy back into our downtrodden lives. That hope comes in the form of hardworking people such as Mo Rocca, senior political correspondent for “The Daily Show with John Stewart.” The world of “fake journalism” is our salvation!
Last Thursday evening, The Rensselaer Union Speaker’s Forum brought Rocca, a popular Comedy Central icon, to RPI to present his lecture, “Making It Up As I Go Along: Satire in an Absurd World.”
According to Rocca, the forum wanted him to bring a sense of “fun and excitement” by having him as a speaker. So, having recently celebrated his birthday Rocca said, “I can’t think of anything more fun and exciting than a piñata.” He proceeded to bring out a pig-shaped piñata, blindfold himself, and beat it to shreds on the floor. The papier-mâché porker was filled with bubble gum, toothbrushes, and pork rinds. Now that’s fun and exciting!
After tossing the goodies into the audience, Rocca commented that he thinks the State of the Union address is something that could use a little fun and excitement. As for how to accomplish this, he suggested finding sponsors to create Super Bowl-esque commercials.
Thus Rocca commenced his discussion with the story of how he became a “fake journalist,” complete with slideshow. Surprisingly enough, it all began with a trip to San Francisco where Rocca saw Alcatraz and thought “people in prison are different, and I want to be different.” From there Rocca recounted living in Japan, where he studied Kabuki and worked as a waiter on roller skates. A move to New York then found Rocca touring in a Southeast Asian production of Grease as “Doody.”
Beginning his career in television, Rocca became a writer and producer for the PBS children’s series “Wishbone.” “It’s very practical, and gave me the chance to read the classic books I should have read in college.” In large contrast to PBS and other work on children’s programming, Rocca became the consulting editor at Perfect 10, an adult magazine specializing in only models that are… au naturel, to put it awkwardly. This began what Rocca refers to as doing “pre-school by day and porn by night,” which resulted in the perfect juxtaposition to influence his later career on Comedy Central.
Through all this though, it was Rocca’s fascination with presidential history that landed him on “The Daily Show.” During the Clinton impeachment trials, Rocca visited the hometowns of Clinton and Andrew Johnson, the only other president to be impeached. Rocca then took an interest in on-location news reports, and ended up on Comedy Central. Specializing in field pieces, Rocca finds obscure stories and bizarre people out of the studio. Mostly coverage consists of stories that no one would report on or tackling big national events in a unique way to make tongue in cheek mockery of the “mainstream media.”
Once Rocca had finished his well-orchestrated slide show and explanation of his rise to the top, he started sharing some of his favorite pieces from the show. The first field piece he presented was about a professor at the University of North Carolina who assigned his students to read a book about the Koran. Taking the stance that the professor, part of the “Al-umni,” is leading the college students in support of the enemy.
The second piece Rocca showed was an undercover report that he did to find out the truth about cheerleading, which he accused of being a vicious blood sport. Spending time with young teenagers at a cheerleading camp he discovered that many were abusing “over the counter stimulants” such as Mountain Dew, and were serious glitter addicts. Rocca stated after the report that he enjoyed working with teenagers the most because they were very comfortable with acting normal in front of the cameras.
Rocca continued with unseen clips from the “Indecision 2000,” one of The Daily Show’s most popular news coverages to date focusing on the 2000 Presidential Elections. Commenting on each segment Rocca noted that it was somewhat difficult to get politicians to slip up, and catching them off guard was a rarity.
The last two pieces Rocca showed were by far the most interesting. First presenting the audience with a clip from an actual broadcast of “The O’Reilly Factor,” Rocca was debating with Wendy Wright, member of the activist organization Concerned Women for America. The topic was the morality of the new lingere Barbie doll. Wright called it pedophilic and Rocca seriously said “would you prefer your little girl pretend to be a whore or that she actually be one?”
The last report was taped live at the adult film awards banquet, and included things I’m probably not even allowed to talk about here. Needless to say you could almost here the testosterone in the room pumping—yet another reason to get more girls at RPI.
Concluding his lecture, Rocca entertained questions from the audience, ranging from things about his job to advice on getting “ladies.” I really enjoyed this lecture, my first sponsored by the Rensselaer Union Speakers Forum, and I think Mo Rocca was an excellent choice to bring a little fun and excitement to RPI. Fake journalism really is an important part of our society, and like Rocca said, “hopefully hilarity ensues.”
