July 29, 2025 • 37 mins
Betsy joins Ryan to discuss the uptick of escalated violence toward police in multiple states, as well as her thoughts on yesterday's shooting in New York.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
The Stephen Colbert thing. It's all very strange, it's very complicated.
But it was a bit of a surprise, wasn't it.
It was about ten years ago. We all used to
do that show that Stephen Colbert now does, and ten
years ago I quit and left, and then Stephen Colbert
comes along and pretty quickly established himself as a precise, crisp,
(00:24):
witty political satirist and often his target has been the
current administration. And based on that and just the overall
entertainment quota of the show, drew a great audience and
people became not addicted to, but always looking forward to
political satire from Stephen Colbert was very good at it,
(00:48):
and for ten years, I think became the face of
the network.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
I don't know about any or all of that, but
that's David Letterman.
Speaker 3 (00:58):
And at one time, I'm fifty years old, I was
a little guy, and I probably shouldn't have been watching it,
but you know, I was Gen X last key kid
TV generation. Late nights too, especially on the weekends, and
I remember staying up late to watch Late Night with
David Letterman, and that would follow the Tonight Show with
Johnny Carson, and they were.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
Two totally different worlds.
Speaker 3 (01:19):
Dave Letterman's the same age as my dad, and Johnny
Carson was from, of course, the older generation, just a
little bit younger, I think than World War Two generation,
and Letterman was very different. He was kind of zany.
He would do crazy things. He would criticize management at
NBC and when General Electric bought them. He's making fun
of light bulbs.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
It was fun. He was poking them in the eye.
Speaker 3 (01:43):
There's a lot of things to stand out about Dave
letterman show, both then and in the nineties when he
would go over to CBS.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
So I'm getting to the reason why on that in
just a moment.
Speaker 3 (01:53):
But he tapped into the zeitgeist of not only the
Boomer generation but then that which would follow, including years
truly by just doing something, taking chances and being different.
The top ten list, Larry bud Melman, stupid pet tricks.
These are all the things I'm rattling off about David Letterman.
What made his show unique? What made it funny for everybody? Now,
(02:15):
even if you did watch Stephen Colbert, and I imagine
many of you in this audience did not, But if
you did, what was any memorable moment that he ever
had on that show that stands out to you as
like a comic gem.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
The only thing I.
Speaker 3 (02:31):
Recall is what they've been kind of replaying over these
last couple of weeks, the vac's scene with the dancing
needles and the propaganda telling you to get the COVID shot.
I mean, that's all this show turned into for David
Letterman to miss label. In my view, Stephen Colbert is
the face of the franchise CBS. If that's the case,
that's pretty damn sad Colbert lost it. There's a reason
(02:53):
why the show got canceled, and Letterman gets into all
these theories about why, but he misses the pl and
that is Colbert alienated half of America. I wouldn't want
to watch that show anymore now. When Colbert did the
Colbert rapport where he imitated basically Bill O'Reilly as a
conservative talk show host, that was clever, That was smart.
(03:16):
The writing was crisp, it was it was a sharp show,
and I enjoyed it. I thought he was very good.
He has talent, but he just went to lowest comed
the nominator.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
I hate Trump.
Speaker 3 (03:27):
Trump derangement syndrome really ruined this man and his show
became old hat, and I've even talked to people that
are on the left again and I got sick of
watching him. It's the same thing over and over. It's predictable.
The last thing you want to be in comedy is predictable.
Jay Leno, on the other hand, the arch rival of
David Letterman through the late eighties, and there are books
(03:50):
and I think even a documentary movie about this.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
So Jay became kind of.
Speaker 3 (03:56):
The full time fill in host for Johnny. When I'm
make this joke about Dan Kaplis when he's in trial
that Dan Caplis is becoming Johnny Carson because he's only
doing one show a week sometimes if that. But Johnny
would do like one or two shows a week, and
then Leno would fill in on the rest. There used
to be another who would fill in as well, and
she was really the prototype of female comedians of her
(04:19):
generation and set the standard for everyone that would follow.
That's Joan Rivers. Joan Rivers was a comic genius and
the marvelous ms Masol is rumored to have been partially biographical,
perhaps about maybe Joan Rivers coming up in an era
and in a craft stand up comedy that was all men.
(04:40):
Joan Rivers deserves a lot of respect, and she had
tremendous gumption and was a very funny lady. The problem
was in the late eighties when the Fox Television network
came into being and we just launched. Then they had
The Simpsons and the Tracy Ullman Show. That was the
beginning of their programming. Fox came to Joan Rivers and
asked her if she wanted her own late night show. Well,
(05:03):
she was kind of the heir apparent to Johnny Carson
at that time. Now, Carson, I love, I worshiped the man.
I think he's phenomenal and he is the gold standard
by which all other talk show hosts are measured in
terms of comedy, timing, delivery, stand up interviewing. Johnny Carson
was the total package, and he was consistently good. He
was consistently great. But the behind the scenes stories about him,
(05:26):
he could be very dark. He could hold a grudge,
he had a temper, and he would cut people off
and that's what he did to Joan Rivers. He viewed
her as disloyal. She went and took that show and
she was never again going to be considered to take
over the Tonight Show, and she made a bet on
herself on Fox and it didn't work out. And who
(05:47):
knows what might have happened if she would have kind
of held back and said, Nope, I'm gonna be loyal
to Johnny, I'm gonna fill in on NBC. I'm gonna
wait my turn, and then it'll be the Joan Rivers
Show in the nineties. And I think that's what we
would have saw. But Jay Leno was smart, instactrategic about
how he ran his ballgame. And there have been a
lot of stories about Jay Leno too. I've met him.
(06:07):
I think he's great. I think Jay Leno is a
good guy. But he is competitive, is in his own way,
and he has a little bit of a passive aggressive streak.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
And there was a big debate.
Speaker 3 (06:18):
As to who would take Johnny Carson's show and fill
his shoes in nineteen ninety two. In May of that
year when he retired and Bette Midler sang him the
farewell song. Would it be Jay Leno, his most of
the time fill in, or would it be David Letterman,
who had been waiting his turn in that twelve thirty
Eastern time slot for a better part of a decade,
(06:40):
and Letterman got passed over and he was none too
happy about it, and Leno got the gig. Now, this
would reprise itself a little bit later on. I think
it was like the mid two thousands. You might remember this.
Conan O'Brien took over the Late Night show from David
Letterman when Letterman got chafed, and he moved over to
CBS and made his own thing and did very well.
(07:02):
Conan O'Brien thought he had kind of that air apparent
label to beat the Tonight Show host, and Jay Leno
was like, ah, you know, I'm walking off in the sunset.
And then it came out that, you know, maybe he
was being kind of pushed and forced out the door
a little bit by NBC executives that thought he had
gotten a little too old, a little too stale for
younger audiences, and they wanted to get Conan his shot.
(07:23):
So Jay kind of reluctantly, I'll be a good team player, okay,
you know, all right, and then then he leaves and
then he gets the itch again. Conan's got the Tonight's
Show spot. That didn't go well. His ratings were not good.
Then they tried to put Jay at like ten PM,
I think, and it just didn't fit and it did
not work. But Jay wanted back in, so they gave
(07:44):
him the show back, and they bumped Conan out and
Conan jumped to TBS. So Jay's kind of been this
catalyst for some strife, shall we say, behind the scenes,
going all the way back to the late eighties. But
what he did have right, Jay Leno, is his approach
to comedy. And he sat down with David Trulio, CEO
of the Reagan Foundation, talking about, you know, the politicization
(08:08):
that we've seen in Late Night and is it a good.
Speaker 2 (08:10):
Thing or not.
Speaker 4 (08:11):
There was an analysis done of your work on The
Tonight Show for the twenty two years and that your
jokes were roughly equally balanced between going after Republicans and
taking aim at Democrats.
Speaker 5 (08:21):
Well that's a strategy that well my fun to me
when I got hate letters some damns on you and
your Republican friends, Well, miss, and I hope you and
your Democratic buddies are happy all for the same joke.
Speaker 2 (08:31):
And I go, well, that's good. So that's how you
get a whole audience.
Speaker 5 (08:35):
Now, you you have to be content with half the
audience because you have to give your opinion.
Speaker 2 (08:40):
And he didn't want to do that.
Speaker 3 (08:41):
Now, Jay, he made lots of jokes about Bill Clinton
through the nineties, Monica Lewinski, all of the dalliances with women,
et cetera. It was a gold mine and he went
there and it was funny. But he made fun of
Republicans too, And like he said, he got hate mail
for both sides, and an analysis that David Triulio put
points out said that he got it about right about
fifty to fifty. You couldn't really tell where he stood.
(09:04):
Back to Letterman. Now, Letterman during the prime of his run,
as I recall and I watched Letterman faithfully, I was
a Dave Letterman guy.
Speaker 2 (09:12):
He was funny, he was.
Speaker 3 (09:13):
Topical, he was political, but I didn't notice that he
necessarily favored one side or the other. And Christian Toto
and I have talked about this at length, and I
think the person that ruined modern day comedy in a
large and tangible way was President Barack Obama because once
he took office, it was hands off. Can't criticize him.
(09:35):
He's the first black president, don't you know. And he's
above reproach and we're not gonna make jokes about him.
Speaker 2 (09:41):
Now this follows now into the Trump years.
Speaker 3 (09:43):
Will Trump bad? Anything against him good? How many late
night depictions have you seen of Alexandria Ocassio Cortes And
you're going to answer close to zero? Why this is
gold for comedy everything that she says and does and
how she does it crack. It would be another one
not going to see it though. Why why would you
(10:03):
ignore literal comedy goal? It's because they've taken a side,
and unfortunately Dave Letterman has two and he says this
about why Colbert was let go.
Speaker 1 (10:16):
CBS and Paramount and other things are for sale, so
they're trying to sell it to b Allison. Yeah, the
Oracle Twins. They got some of Dad's money and they
want to buy this CBS Paramount holding. So because they
want to buy it, they don't. They don't want any trouble.
So now this is part of what I think. So
(10:38):
they call up the Dagoons at CBS and they say, look,
we know that your big powerhouse sixty minutes decided they
didn't care about freedom of the press, so they paid
off the current administration multiple millions of dollars just to
let us continue to do business. We're so sorry. Here's
a couple of million dollars, but we still want to
(10:59):
be in business us. So the new guys, the Ellison Twins,
they don't want to have to do that, so they
say to the CBS people, geez, you do. And what
about that kid, Stephen Colbert, he's always shooting his mouth
off about the administration. We don't want any trouble from
that guy.
Speaker 3 (11:14):
If sixty Minutes cared about journalism, freedom of the press,
freedom of speech, and they wanted to present a product
that was credible, believable, had integrity, they would not have
edited deceptively the Kamala Harris interview to make her look
better than she was, Dave. And then you go back
twenty years before that, and the fake news that began
(11:36):
with Dan Rather and the documents that he claimed to
have about George W. Bush and his military service that
were proven to be false. Sixty Minutes shot away its
credibility long ago, Dave.
Speaker 2 (11:49):
I don't know what decade you're living in, but it's
not the twenty twenties. Back to Leno.
Speaker 3 (11:55):
Now, Leno invokes one of Dan Kamplis's favorites here, and
he makes a good point.
Speaker 2 (12:01):
How did we get to this place?
Speaker 1 (12:02):
So?
Speaker 2 (12:02):
Or is there?
Speaker 4 (12:03):
Do you have advice for comedians today to sort of
bring it back to something?
Speaker 5 (12:08):
Rodney Dangerfield and I were friends.
Speaker 2 (12:11):
I knew Rodney forty is.
Speaker 5 (12:12):
I have no idea if he was a Democratic or Republican.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
We never discussed. We just discussed jokes.
Speaker 5 (12:19):
And to me, I like to think, can people come
to a comedy show to kind of get away from
the things, you know, the pressures of life wherever it
might be?
Speaker 2 (12:26):
How I love political.
Speaker 5 (12:27):
Humor, I don't get me wrong, but it's just what
happens was people wind up coising too much to one
side or the other, and.
Speaker 2 (12:35):
That's what happened.
Speaker 3 (12:36):
Jay's exactly right because in Dave Letterman's world, he's saying, well,
Colbert was too hard on the administration. Here's here's the rub, Dave.
I'd be with you one thousand percent. Trump shouldn't be,
you know, favoring one side or the other, trying to
shut down a comedian or a CBS shouldn't feel beholden
to administration for favorable treatment. The problem is, during the
(12:57):
four years of Joe Biden, how many jokes did Stephen
Colbert really make targeting the obviously senile buffoon in the
Oval office again ripe for comedy or did he kind
of back off and go easy on the old man
and find ways to make it about Trump or about
the Republicans. Well, it was the latter, because I'm telling
you this same scenario, it was Jay Leno instead of Colbert,
(13:20):
if it was Letterman instead of Colbert, they don't lose
their spot because they haven't pissed off half of America.
They haven't lost half of their potential ratings in the process.
They haven't yielded that ground, that fertile ground of all
of us on the right side of the political spectrum.
Speaker 2 (13:34):
We make up at least half of America.
Speaker 3 (13:36):
And what are we all watching if we do watch
a late night comedy show.
Speaker 2 (13:40):
Gutfeld.
Speaker 3 (13:42):
Gutfeld dominates that time slot. Now why he's got the
whole region to himself. Meanwhile, Colbert, Seth Myers, Jimmy Kimmel,
Jimmy Fallon, they're all eating out of the same pot.
They're all slicing out of the same half of the pie.
It's a mathematics game here. But Letterman doesn't believe that,
(14:05):
and he doesn't believe it was about money either.
Speaker 1 (14:07):
So the CBS people say, hey, boys, here's what I'm
gonna do. Not only are we going to get rid
of that guy, We're gonna get rid of the entire
franchise so you don't have to worry about another guy.
It's gone, buddy, we're gonna have the CSI in your pants.
You know, I'm making some of this up. So they
(14:28):
go to Steven and they say, oh, here, you're gonna
have to quit now because it's not that Trump stuff. No, No,
it's money. We're losing so much money. You understand.
Speaker 2 (14:38):
Here's what I know.
Speaker 1 (14:39):
If they were losing this kind of money, you're telling
me losing this kind of money happened yesterday, right, But
they were losing this kind of money a month ago.
I'll bet they were losing this kind of money six
weeks ago, or they have never been losing money. They
did not do the correct thing. They did not handle
(15:00):
Stephen Colbert, the face of that network, in the way
he deserves to have been handled.
Speaker 3 (15:06):
I don't know where he's getting this face of the
network type stuff, Kelly. I mean, Colbert is nowhere near
the top of that list, not at all. And the
Letterman's top ten. I don't know why he thinks that.
Speaker 6 (15:16):
And to your point, I wouldn't say that Jimmy Fallon
is the face of NBC or that Jimmy Kimmel is
the face of ABC.
Speaker 3 (15:23):
Yeah, not anymore. The networks have lost their pull, and
it's just again, it's a percentages game. A lot of
people have streaming services, cable TV, everything else that is
available as an option. So it's much harder to get
somebody to tune in to a live program if it's
not sports. You think about it, what other program do
you I gotta watch it live. I gotta watch it
(15:43):
right when it airs. It's a sporting event and that's
pretty much Yet. Jay Leno again on what makes something funny.
Speaker 4 (15:50):
Comedy can be used to unite or divide people. Do
you have any advice on how we can use it
for common ground.
Speaker 5 (15:57):
As it's a grave nitero. You know, funny is funny people, eve.
You know, it's funny when someone who is not h
when you make fun of their side and they laugh
at it. You know, I just find getting out. I
don't think anybody wants to hear a lecture, you know.
To me, it's just when ours with Rodney was always
(16:19):
in the Economy Awards. Get to the joke as quickly
as possible.
Speaker 2 (16:22):
And the thing is, if it's funny, if it's truly funny.
Speaker 3 (16:24):
I laugh hardest a lot of the time at jokes
about Donald Trump, or when Sean Ferish comes on this
show and he bombastically says, I helped Tamas Jefferson write
the Declaration of Independence. I was there, Like, that's something
Trump would say, and it's ridiculous, but it's funny because
it's kind of true.
Speaker 2 (16:42):
And Trump says these things.
Speaker 3 (16:44):
And Letterman again, he's just off the reservation here when
it comes to Colbert. Listen to this praise he heaps
upon the former late night host or soon to be
former Late.
Speaker 1 (16:52):
Ny hosts Now for Steven, I love this.
Speaker 2 (16:55):
He's a martyr.
Speaker 1 (16:56):
Good for him. And if you listen carefully, you can
hear them unfolding chairs at the Hall of Fame for
his induction.
Speaker 2 (17:04):
Oh come on.
Speaker 1 (17:04):
So I think the idea that they're hiding behind money
and they're giving him another ten months, well that's another
huge chunk of money they're going to lose, according to them.
I don't think it was money. I think it's something.
I think it was all to make sure the Ellison,
the Oracle Twin boys were solid spending dad's money.
Speaker 2 (17:23):
Now, don't you worry.
Speaker 1 (17:25):
We got this covered. Yeah, you're not going to be
a problem. I wouldn't worry about him. No, No, I
think it's sad. But what this indicates also is the
Ellison Twins, the Oracle Boys, they don't want any trouble
along the lines of freedom of the press or free
speech or freedom of expression. They don't want to get
their hands dirty. They don't want the government going after
(17:47):
them because you know, that concept of freedom of the
press and freedom is that's so old fashioned.
Speaker 2 (17:52):
It has nothing to do with that, It really doesn't.
Speaker 3 (17:55):
It has to do with think of the guest Colbert
would have on it was just a hit parade, a
platform for propaganda, Adam Schiff. How many times would that
clown on that show? Why if I'm sitting there, if
I'm just a neutral observer, kind of a load to
medium information voter, I'm not really that into politics. Why
is Adam Schiff on my television screen? Is he funny?
(18:16):
Is he charismatic?
Speaker 5 (18:17):
No?
Speaker 2 (18:18):
You know who is those two things? A Donald Trump?
Speaker 3 (18:20):
You know who used to go on, David Letterman, show
Donald Trump because he was rating's goal.
Speaker 2 (18:25):
Adam Schiff is ratings cancer. Nobody's going to tune in
for Adam Schiff. What are you doing?
Speaker 4 (18:32):
Man?
Speaker 2 (18:32):
And Chay Leno nails it right here.
Speaker 4 (18:34):
And it's worth noting that both you and Rodney Dangerfield
experienced and have been experiencing an enormous success.
Speaker 2 (18:40):
Right, So your approach worked in the marketplace. Well why
shoot for.
Speaker 5 (18:45):
Just half an audience all the time? You know, why
not try to get the whole? I mean, I like
to bring people into the big picture. I don't understand
why you would alienate one particular group, you know, or
I just don't do it at all. I'm not saying
you have to throw your support or whatever, but just
(19:05):
do what's funny.
Speaker 3 (19:06):
Just do what's funny. Leto from the Land of the
Sane to Letterman in the Land of the Insane.
Speaker 1 (19:11):
I think this one day, if not today, the people
at CBS who have manipulated and handled handled this are
going to be embarrassed because this is gutlass. I only
wish this is gonna.
Speaker 2 (19:24):
Happen to me.
Speaker 1 (19:25):
What this would have been so great for me? Yeah,
this would have been unbelievable.
Speaker 3 (19:31):
The whole point, though, Dave, is that everything has changed
since you left that desk, and for the worst.
Speaker 2 (19:37):
It's not funnier, it's not more unpredictable.
Speaker 3 (19:40):
It's old hat to use your phrase that you describe
with journalism and the freedom of speech. You did things,
and you played by your own set of rules and
we didn't know what was coming. That's what made David
Letterman entertaining. Again, think back, what's the most entertaining bit
segment interview anything that Stephen Colbert ever did?
Speaker 2 (20:00):
And if your mind's drawing a blank, welcome to the party.
Speaker 3 (20:03):
Pal a time out back with more for this than
Ryan showing life.
Speaker 2 (20:13):
It was his face visible.
Speaker 7 (20:14):
I mean, do they have any idea at this point
who he is.
Speaker 8 (20:19):
They do not know who he is. They know he
is a male, possibly white. He's wearing sunglasses, he appears
to have a mustache. And that picture has been distributed
to every police officer in New York City particularly, has
been sent to the phones of the search teams inside
(20:40):
that building, because whenever they encounter a group of people,
the first thing they have to figure out is is
that individual among these people hiding among victims or pretending
to be an office worker, because one thing you don't
want to have happen is to have this kind of
cordon where you're trying to evacuate people in groups as
you can get them to safe Carritor and have this
(21:01):
person slip out with them. So, yes, they have the
picture and they have distributed to everybody on the scene.
Speaker 9 (21:09):
All right, all right, John, stay with me. I know
you're obviously getting information here in real time as we're talking.
Shimon back with us on the phone on the scene
showing you're here to John's reporting that.
Speaker 2 (21:18):
They do know the fit. What he looks like.
Speaker 9 (21:20):
Male, possibly white, mustache, sunglasses in that building isolated to
they believe to various locations, including upper floors, is where
they're focused.
Speaker 3 (21:29):
What are you learning, shimone, possibly white but probably not
and then definitely black. That's CNN fake news for you.
And I'm so disappointed once again in John Miller. This
is the guy he's got that gravity task with his
reporting over so many years. Why he would just put
that out there when you had to know it was
(21:49):
false just by the picture that was on your screen
at that very moment. Kelly said she was laughing at
home watching that in real time. She just happened to
be tuned into CNN. Well, somebody that gets it right
is our next guest, retired police officer in her own right.
You can follow her on Exit Sergeant Sgt. Betsy Smith.
That's Betsy Brentnor Smith and he joins us. She joined
(22:10):
us now on Ryan Schuling Live. Betsy, thank you for
your time.
Speaker 7 (22:14):
Hey, thanks so much for having me. And let me
tell you a little secret about John Miller. He interviewed
me for the Brianna Taylor case, and even a year
and a half later, he still believed that Brianna Taylor
the shooting in Louva, Kentucky. He still believes she was
in her bed asleep when she was shot in a
no knock Warren all that well, after we knew all
(22:34):
the facts. He really is not a guy who cares
about the facts. He's just glad CNN gives him a job.
Speaker 2 (22:41):
What happened to him?
Speaker 3 (22:42):
And it's not just him, Betsy, as I know you'll
attest to, but there seems to be a degradation and
not just the quality, but in my opinion, the effort
level made by a lot of these panelists experts go
tos on CNN and MSNBC in particular, as we've gotten
more partisan in this so called mainstream news coverage that
even a guy like him comes down on that side,
(23:04):
like you said with the Breonna Taylor case.
Speaker 2 (23:06):
But she's not alone.
Speaker 7 (23:09):
No, you're absolutely right. Unfortunately, narrative has overtaken facts. And
it's really unfortunately because you know, like when you and
I were kids and teenagers, you know, you could turn
on the news and you could get actual facts and
there was not a particular political bend to it. And now,
(23:29):
especially on these stations like you know, CNN and MSNBC
and of course NPR and all that, narrative and politics
is far more important than facts. So that's why they
had to put out. Hopefully they weren't putting out to
the NYPD that they were looking for a white male,
because that would have been dead wrung right exactly.
Speaker 3 (23:51):
Betsy Branner Smith, our guest were happy to have her along.
Now we look nationwide and I've seen some of your
posts on X and I couldn't agree with them more, Betsy,
about violence and this kind of casual violence attitude toward
police officers nationwide, we hear Tim Walls the governor of
Minnesota compare ice officers to the Gestapo.
Speaker 2 (24:11):
This inflammatory rhetoric.
Speaker 3 (24:12):
We see perhaps the next mayor of New York City, Mamdani,
telling we need to defund the police, send social workers
out to crime scenes like this one. Talk him out
of it, you know, that sort of thing. The erosion
of that faith, that trust, that respect for our law
enforcement coming from the left, what effect does that have
real life scenarios, Betsy on things that play out like
(24:35):
what we saw yesterday.
Speaker 7 (24:37):
Well, you know, Mondani also has mocked police officer wellness,
you know, you know on acts he hates the police.
Now he's trying to walk that back, but you know
what we saw yesterday, and of course it makes national news.
But we've had nine police officers shot in the past
six days, six days in this country, three of them fatally,
(25:02):
not just in New York, but in Suffolk County, the
state of New York, Indianapolis, just today, Alabama, Ohio, where
we had three cops ambushed. Fifty police officers have died
in the line of duty already this year. And so
we have the NYPD. And remember this officer, Officer Islam,
was working on off duty but in uniform detail. Why
(25:26):
is he doing that? Because he's got three kids and
a wife to support, and the NYPD is so short
staff They're down thousands of officers, and nine out of
every ten police sermons is still very short staffed because
of exactly what you just said. We have this continued
vilification of law enforcement, and we're seeing law enforcement officers
(25:46):
mistaken for ICE agents around this country attacked and attacks
are up on ICE agents over eight hundred percent. But
this year alone, eighty thousand American police officers will be
assaulted in this country. Why would anyone want to be
a cop?
Speaker 3 (26:05):
Great question, Betsy brandn Or Smith, and we're thankful for
those that do.
Speaker 2 (26:08):
Follow her on exit, Sgt. Betsy Smith.
Speaker 3 (26:11):
One person that's in the middle of this, and I'm
curious to get your take on is a former police
officer in his own right, and that's Mayor Eric Adams
of New York City.
Speaker 2 (26:20):
Here was his account of what happened yesterday.
Speaker 7 (26:22):
Yes, we agree with you and send our condolences as well.
Tell us about the apparent suicide note that was in
the shooter's pocket.
Speaker 10 (26:32):
He alluded to having CTE from playing in the NFL.
He never played in the NFL. And he alluded to
the CTE being the reason of for his illness. It
appears as though he was going after the employees at
(26:54):
the NFL the building a three forty five house, the
NFL's cool Quol company there as well. But we're still
going through this suicide note to a zero in on
the exact reason, but at this time it appears as
though something that is attached to his belief he experienced
(27:15):
the tea from playing in the NFL.
Speaker 3 (27:17):
Betsy, it's my opinion that we have a mental health
crisis in this nation and it drives almost every one
of these shootings. It's somebody that's deranged. But the left
is going to content how do you get access to
this gun? And we need to limit that. And this
whole conversation kind of goes in circles with Mayor Eric
Adams in particular. Though this guy, who again former NYPD
himself invoked an injected race sometimes in comments that he
(27:41):
would make, but seems like he maybe has moderated his
views his approach when he's come kind of under the
spotlight when it comes to the Biden administration and how
he ran his ballgame in New York City, What do
you make of Eric Adams, the mayor, his response to this,
his place in this race for New York City mayor.
Speaker 7 (28:00):
I was really disappointed by his performance in the last
twenty four hours last night. He was so incredibly subdued.
And then in the press conference, who just played He
almost was slurring his words as though he was medicated
or just exhausted. I'm not saying he was medicated, but
there's no fire. There's no passion in talking about a
(28:20):
dead police officer, Officer Darrule Islam, who was killed in
the line of duty in his Eric Adams Police department.
There was absolutely no passion in talking about this young man,
or no passion talking about this incident. And last night,
if you caught this, in the initial press conference, he
(28:40):
started to talk about quote unquote gun violence and how
there's too many guns, and then he veered off that
I don't know if somebody because somebody standing behind him
poked him in the back, or Commissioner Tish gave him
the side eye. I don't know, but he started a
campaign speech. He's not as moderate as you think, and
I I think he's getting the hell beat out of
(29:01):
him as a mayoral candidate. This was his time to shine,
and he really disappointed all of us in law enforcement.
Speaker 3 (29:09):
I believe, Betsy, we've seen this kind of bifurcation between
the two parties. It's been fascinating, not in a good way,
but the interesting way to watch as we've seen police
unions which years ago, those would have been leaning heavily
toward Democratic type candidates that would have the backs of
police in urban areas where Democrats tend to win as
(29:29):
mayors and members of city council, but now no matter
where they are nationwide. In the last election, for instance,
every single police union endorsed Donald Trump. None of them
endorsed Joe Biden or Kamala Harris. And while you don't
want to focus on the politics at a time like this,
it does matter because what leads us to police being
in the line of fire is the level of respect
(29:51):
or lack thereof, that the general population has. We have
those barking from the corners of the left that become
more mainstream, like mcdonne's saying, defund the police, you know,
we can't trust them. It undermines the confidence that we
should have in law enforcement, and that should be bipartisan.
Speaker 2 (30:07):
I would say.
Speaker 7 (30:09):
Absolutely this policing should not be a political issue. And
you're absolutely right. I was a Chicago area union cop
in the eighties, nineties, and two thousands, and most cops
were Democrats because Joe Biden, Senator Joe Biden was like
the most pro police guy in the Senate. The police
unions loved him. But after Donald Trump was elected, really
(30:33):
after the death of Michael Brown and Ferguson, police unions
and police officers start to see that you're voting against
your own best interests and you're voting against your profession
if you're voting Democrat. And you saw the Democrat Party
slowly reject police unions and overly embrace the teachers' unions.
(30:55):
And that's why we have most of them endorsing Donald Trump,
because Donald Trump gives a damn about cops.
Speaker 3 (31:03):
Well, remember the fallen NYPD officer Ditteral Islam, and he
leaves behind a wife who was pregnant, had two other kids,
they had three on the way. Just a tremendous tragedy
in that regard, and it just reminds us of what
they go through, what they do and putting their lives
on the line to protect.
Speaker 2 (31:20):
All of us.
Speaker 3 (31:21):
And we cannot say it enough how much we back
the blue on this program. We know that our guest
does as well. Betsy brantn Or Smith. Always great catching up.
Thank you so much for your time and your perspective today.
Speaker 7 (31:31):
Thanks so much for having me. I really appreciate your support.
Speaker 2 (31:34):
Absolutely. You can follow her on X once again. An sgt.
That's short for chargent.
Speaker 3 (31:40):
Betsy Smith a time out back with your text to
wrap things up at five seven seven three nine on
Ryan Shuling.
Speaker 2 (31:45):
Live and now he's deaf. No he's not deaf, but
he did listen a lot there.
Speaker 3 (31:54):
Came back a little bit that was Zach messed on
me a little bit, the z man on the other
side of the glass. Also, Kelly Cocher your tax five
seven seven three nine, anything that you heard on today's
program and you'd like to respond to, or maybe you're
gonna go rogue and bring up a topic of your own.
I'll do that too, Patty says Ryan, I love you,
love your show. That said I give zero apps about Colbert.
(32:17):
A few minutes later, Ryan, see what you did there
won me over with a great assessment of Colbert and
why he's out Patty. See Patty went from Petty to Peppy.
We appreciate Peppy Patty, Peppermint Patty.
Speaker 2 (32:31):
I don't know, Ryan.
Speaker 3 (32:32):
The ratings tell the truth on Colbert, that's true. And
I'm gonna give you one examples to why I believe
that the current muddled mess that we have in Late
Night could be remedied immediately if a network was smart enough,
wise enough, and bold enough to make the right choice.
Speaker 2 (32:50):
Could be two. I'll give you two.
Speaker 3 (32:52):
The current crop though, with Colbert on his way out,
Jimmy Kimmel whatever he cries, and you know, Norm MacDonald
said it the best. You know, you guys know, he's
one of my all time favorites. If not number one,
are you telling jokes to get laughs or to get applause?
And if you're telling jokes to get applause, then you're
there for the wrong reasons and you need to get
off the stage if you take yourself too seriously. That
(33:15):
is the number one rule not to violate in comedy.
Nobody wants a condescending I can't say that word on
the radio, jerk, you know, talking down to them in
a comedy club setting, not unless it's that's their thing,
like insult comics. I get that, but that's not what
we're talking about here. We're talking about what Jay Leno said, lectures.
(33:38):
I'm not signing up for a lecture series. If I
wanted that, I'd go see Jordan Peterson. And he doesn't
make me laugh. Okay, he makes you think I want
a comedian to make me laugh, made me feel better
about things when my life's not going so good, then
that's where comedy works. South comes in cheap plug. But
can tell you this.
Speaker 2 (33:57):
You take Coleberry, take Kimmel.
Speaker 3 (33:59):
Fallon I once had hope for but then you know
he gave into the woke mob and that was sad.
After he must up President Trump's hair, he should have
just stood on it. No, I'm gonna be funny and
maybe that'll be messing up Donald Trump's hair. And then
maybe Donald Trump goes back on the show. And guess
what ratings bonanza? Could you imagine if any of those
late night shows and Philon might be the only one
that could still pull it off had Trump on, And
(34:21):
you know.
Speaker 2 (34:21):
What, I'll go on with you. Jimmy kind of mean
to me last time, but uh, it's ratings gold and
they hate it.
Speaker 3 (34:28):
But why do you think they kissed his butt for
about ten years when he was the host of the
Apprentice and hosted Saturday Night Live twice because they knew
it was good for ratings, and.
Speaker 2 (34:38):
Seth Myers was one of those.
Speaker 3 (34:39):
Seth Myers wrote the Fried Chicken sketch that Donald Trump
appeared in a gold suit, and they took it out
of the DVD.
Speaker 2 (34:47):
They took it out.
Speaker 3 (34:47):
Of the DVD of that season's SNL because they had
so much regret and remorse for making Donald Trump appear
to be human and funny, which he's both in spades.
So Seth Myers whatever, and and then who's left out
of those Myers? Colbert Kimmel fallon, buh. How about Dave
Chappelle hosting a late night show once again? I'm not
(35:09):
sure that he would even do it, but they should
at least ask the question and have present him with
a blank check and have him right in the amount.
Dave Chappelle would dominate ratings, The Late Show would be back.
Late night television talk shows would be back with a
vengeance with one guy. That's it, Dave Chappelle or I
(35:30):
would even like to see maybe a Jim Gaffigan. I
think he could do that kind of role, that kind
of hosting, that stand up, the interviewing. He'd be funny,
he'd be interesting. You know, he's family friendly in a
lot of ways. But you go edgy with one and
you go kind of, you know, comfort food with the
other one, and he makes a lot of jokes about
comfort food. Does Jim Gaffigan give me that late night lineup?
(35:51):
Give me Gaffigan first, and Chappelle in the later night slot.
I'm winning the ratings period. Two guys, off the top
of my head, right there, Ryan, you are so correct
about comedy and why you couldn't make fun of Barack
Obama and how that spoiled comedy. You need to listen
to Quinn Dale. You will like in Quinn Dale. I
will make a note of that texture and thank you.
And this goes back. Yeah, Dave Letterman kept saying this
(36:11):
stream Colbert was the face of the network CBS.
Speaker 2 (36:14):
No, No, it wasn't.
Speaker 3 (36:15):
This person says personally, I think Drew Carey is the
face of the CBS network.
Speaker 2 (36:20):
Is that more true than Colbert Kelly? In your mind?
Speaker 6 (36:24):
I would say that's good. Drew Carrey is actually really
really good on the prices.
Speaker 3 (36:28):
Right, and those are big shoes to fill. Bob Barker,
the price is wrong, bitch happy Gilmore too. Your quick review.
Speaker 6 (36:37):
I had mixed feelings about it.
Speaker 2 (36:40):
Mostly I liked it.
Speaker 6 (36:42):
Definitely not as good as the first, but they nailed
it with some of the cameos of the pros one
in particular Scotti Scheffler being thrown.
Speaker 2 (36:51):
Into jail for and careful with the spoilers. Basically careful
with the spoilers.
Speaker 1 (36:55):
Okay, I'm not going to.
Speaker 2 (36:56):
See Scotti Scheffler. Sure. Yeah. John Day's great in it.
John Dale great.
Speaker 3 (37:00):
John Daily was made to play that role in I
think in more movies. The guy's got talent, good act.
Speaker 6 (37:06):
He's not really good comedic timing too, and his delivery
is good for a pro golfer.
Speaker 3 (37:12):
Yeah, I would say the callbacks and the cameos, the
two right there. It was good for nostalgia, kind of
gave you that warm feeling.
Speaker 2 (37:18):
Oh yeah, he's gonna be all right, you know. And
Adam Sandler I could have done with a little bit
more of him. It was interesting too. They wanted to
keep it pg.
Speaker 3 (37:25):
Thirteen, so if you noticed, he was about to swear
a few times and they cut him off into me
that was funnier than if they had let him just
kind of ramble off with I'll roll off these profanities.
Speaker 2 (37:36):
So would I recommend it?
Speaker 3 (37:38):
To Kelly E's point, yes, I don't think you're gonna
love it, but you'll like it.
Speaker 2 (37:42):
And is it worth watching? Yes?
Speaker 3 (37:44):
Is it worth rewatching time and again like the first one?
Probably not that dele it for me from here for now,
Brian Schuling, live back with you tomorrow
The Stephen Colbert thing. It's all very strange, it's very complicated.
But it was a bit of a surprise, wasn't it.
It was about ten years ago. We all used to
do that show that Stephen Colbert now does, and ten
years ago I quit and left, and then Stephen Colbert
comes along and pretty quickly established himself as a precise, crisp,
(00:24):
witty political satirist and often his target has been the
current administration. And based on that and just the overall
entertainment quota of the show, drew a great audience and
people became not addicted to, but always looking forward to
political satire from Stephen Colbert was very good at it,
(00:48):
and for ten years, I think became the face of
the network.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
I don't know about any or all of that, but
that's David Letterman.
Speaker 3 (00:58):
And at one time, I'm fifty years old, I was
a little guy, and I probably shouldn't have been watching it,
but you know, I was Gen X last key kid
TV generation. Late nights too, especially on the weekends, and
I remember staying up late to watch Late Night with
David Letterman, and that would follow the Tonight Show with
Johnny Carson, and they were.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
Two totally different worlds.
Speaker 3 (01:19):
Dave Letterman's the same age as my dad, and Johnny
Carson was from, of course, the older generation, just a
little bit younger, I think than World War Two generation,
and Letterman was very different. He was kind of zany.
He would do crazy things. He would criticize management at
NBC and when General Electric bought them. He's making fun
of light bulbs.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
It was fun. He was poking them in the eye.
Speaker 3 (01:43):
There's a lot of things to stand out about Dave
letterman show, both then and in the nineties when he
would go over to CBS.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
So I'm getting to the reason why on that in
just a moment.
Speaker 3 (01:53):
But he tapped into the zeitgeist of not only the
Boomer generation but then that which would follow, including years
truly by just doing something, taking chances and being different.
The top ten list, Larry bud Melman, stupid pet tricks.
These are all the things I'm rattling off about David Letterman.
What made his show unique? What made it funny for everybody? Now,
(02:15):
even if you did watch Stephen Colbert, and I imagine
many of you in this audience did not, But if
you did, what was any memorable moment that he ever
had on that show that stands out to you as
like a comic gem.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
The only thing I.
Speaker 3 (02:31):
Recall is what they've been kind of replaying over these
last couple of weeks, the vac's scene with the dancing
needles and the propaganda telling you to get the COVID shot.
I mean, that's all this show turned into for David
Letterman to miss label. In my view, Stephen Colbert is
the face of the franchise CBS. If that's the case,
that's pretty damn sad Colbert lost it. There's a reason
(02:53):
why the show got canceled, and Letterman gets into all
these theories about why, but he misses the pl and
that is Colbert alienated half of America. I wouldn't want
to watch that show anymore now. When Colbert did the
Colbert rapport where he imitated basically Bill O'Reilly as a
conservative talk show host, that was clever, That was smart.
(03:16):
The writing was crisp, it was it was a sharp show,
and I enjoyed it. I thought he was very good.
He has talent, but he just went to lowest comed
the nominator.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
I hate Trump.
Speaker 3 (03:27):
Trump derangement syndrome really ruined this man and his show
became old hat, and I've even talked to people that
are on the left again and I got sick of
watching him. It's the same thing over and over. It's predictable.
The last thing you want to be in comedy is predictable.
Jay Leno, on the other hand, the arch rival of
David Letterman through the late eighties, and there are books
(03:50):
and I think even a documentary movie about this.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
So Jay became kind of.
Speaker 3 (03:56):
The full time fill in host for Johnny. When I'm
make this joke about Dan Kaplis when he's in trial
that Dan Caplis is becoming Johnny Carson because he's only
doing one show a week sometimes if that. But Johnny
would do like one or two shows a week, and
then Leno would fill in on the rest. There used
to be another who would fill in as well, and
she was really the prototype of female comedians of her
(04:19):
generation and set the standard for everyone that would follow.
That's Joan Rivers. Joan Rivers was a comic genius and
the marvelous ms Masol is rumored to have been partially biographical,
perhaps about maybe Joan Rivers coming up in an era
and in a craft stand up comedy that was all men.
(04:40):
Joan Rivers deserves a lot of respect, and she had
tremendous gumption and was a very funny lady. The problem
was in the late eighties when the Fox Television network
came into being and we just launched. Then they had
The Simpsons and the Tracy Ullman Show. That was the
beginning of their programming. Fox came to Joan Rivers and
asked her if she wanted her own late night show. Well,
(05:03):
she was kind of the heir apparent to Johnny Carson
at that time. Now, Carson, I love, I worshiped the man.
I think he's phenomenal and he is the gold standard
by which all other talk show hosts are measured in
terms of comedy, timing, delivery, stand up interviewing. Johnny Carson
was the total package, and he was consistently good. He
was consistently great. But the behind the scenes stories about him,
(05:26):
he could be very dark. He could hold a grudge,
he had a temper, and he would cut people off
and that's what he did to Joan Rivers. He viewed
her as disloyal. She went and took that show and
she was never again going to be considered to take
over the Tonight Show, and she made a bet on
herself on Fox and it didn't work out. And who
(05:47):
knows what might have happened if she would have kind
of held back and said, Nope, I'm gonna be loyal
to Johnny, I'm gonna fill in on NBC. I'm gonna
wait my turn, and then it'll be the Joan Rivers
Show in the nineties. And I think that's what we
would have saw. But Jay Leno was smart, instactrategic about
how he ran his ballgame. And there have been a
lot of stories about Jay Leno too. I've met him.
(06:07):
I think he's great. I think Jay Leno is a
good guy. But he is competitive, is in his own way,
and he has a little bit of a passive aggressive streak.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
And there was a big debate.
Speaker 3 (06:18):
As to who would take Johnny Carson's show and fill
his shoes in nineteen ninety two. In May of that
year when he retired and Bette Midler sang him the
farewell song. Would it be Jay Leno, his most of
the time fill in, or would it be David Letterman,
who had been waiting his turn in that twelve thirty
Eastern time slot for a better part of a decade,
(06:40):
and Letterman got passed over and he was none too
happy about it, and Leno got the gig. Now, this
would reprise itself a little bit later on. I think
it was like the mid two thousands. You might remember this.
Conan O'Brien took over the Late Night show from David
Letterman when Letterman got chafed, and he moved over to
CBS and made his own thing and did very well.
(07:02):
Conan O'Brien thought he had kind of that air apparent
label to beat the Tonight Show host, and Jay Leno
was like, ah, you know, I'm walking off in the sunset.
And then it came out that, you know, maybe he
was being kind of pushed and forced out the door
a little bit by NBC executives that thought he had
gotten a little too old, a little too stale for
younger audiences, and they wanted to get Conan his shot.
(07:23):
So Jay kind of reluctantly, I'll be a good team player, okay,
you know, all right, and then then he leaves and
then he gets the itch again. Conan's got the Tonight's
Show spot. That didn't go well. His ratings were not good.
Then they tried to put Jay at like ten PM,
I think, and it just didn't fit and it did
not work. But Jay wanted back in, so they gave
(07:44):
him the show back, and they bumped Conan out and
Conan jumped to TBS. So Jay's kind of been this
catalyst for some strife, shall we say, behind the scenes,
going all the way back to the late eighties. But
what he did have right, Jay Leno, is his approach
to comedy. And he sat down with David Trulio, CEO
of the Reagan Foundation, talking about, you know, the politicization
(08:08):
that we've seen in Late Night and is it a good.
Speaker 2 (08:10):
Thing or not.
Speaker 4 (08:11):
There was an analysis done of your work on The
Tonight Show for the twenty two years and that your
jokes were roughly equally balanced between going after Republicans and
taking aim at Democrats.
Speaker 5 (08:21):
Well that's a strategy that well my fun to me
when I got hate letters some damns on you and
your Republican friends, Well, miss, and I hope you and
your Democratic buddies are happy all for the same joke.
Speaker 2 (08:31):
And I go, well, that's good. So that's how you
get a whole audience.
Speaker 5 (08:35):
Now, you you have to be content with half the
audience because you have to give your opinion.
Speaker 2 (08:40):
And he didn't want to do that.
Speaker 3 (08:41):
Now, Jay, he made lots of jokes about Bill Clinton
through the nineties, Monica Lewinski, all of the dalliances with women,
et cetera. It was a gold mine and he went
there and it was funny. But he made fun of
Republicans too, And like he said, he got hate mail
for both sides, and an analysis that David Triulio put
points out said that he got it about right about
fifty to fifty. You couldn't really tell where he stood.
(09:04):
Back to Letterman. Now, Letterman during the prime of his run,
as I recall and I watched Letterman faithfully, I was
a Dave Letterman guy.
Speaker 2 (09:12):
He was funny, he was.
Speaker 3 (09:13):
Topical, he was political, but I didn't notice that he
necessarily favored one side or the other. And Christian Toto
and I have talked about this at length, and I
think the person that ruined modern day comedy in a
large and tangible way was President Barack Obama because once
he took office, it was hands off. Can't criticize him.
(09:35):
He's the first black president, don't you know. And he's
above reproach and we're not gonna make jokes about him.
Speaker 2 (09:41):
Now this follows now into the Trump years.
Speaker 3 (09:43):
Will Trump bad? Anything against him good? How many late
night depictions have you seen of Alexandria Ocassio Cortes And
you're going to answer close to zero? Why this is
gold for comedy everything that she says and does and
how she does it crack. It would be another one
not going to see it though. Why why would you
(10:03):
ignore literal comedy goal? It's because they've taken a side,
and unfortunately Dave Letterman has two and he says this
about why Colbert was let go.
Speaker 1 (10:16):
CBS and Paramount and other things are for sale, so
they're trying to sell it to b Allison. Yeah, the
Oracle Twins. They got some of Dad's money and they
want to buy this CBS Paramount holding. So because they
want to buy it, they don't. They don't want any trouble.
So now this is part of what I think. So
(10:38):
they call up the Dagoons at CBS and they say, look,
we know that your big powerhouse sixty minutes decided they
didn't care about freedom of the press, so they paid
off the current administration multiple millions of dollars just to
let us continue to do business. We're so sorry. Here's
a couple of million dollars, but we still want to
(10:59):
be in business us. So the new guys, the Ellison Twins,
they don't want to have to do that, so they
say to the CBS people, geez, you do. And what
about that kid, Stephen Colbert, he's always shooting his mouth
off about the administration. We don't want any trouble from
that guy.
Speaker 3 (11:14):
If sixty Minutes cared about journalism, freedom of the press,
freedom of speech, and they wanted to present a product
that was credible, believable, had integrity, they would not have
edited deceptively the Kamala Harris interview to make her look
better than she was, Dave. And then you go back
twenty years before that, and the fake news that began
(11:36):
with Dan Rather and the documents that he claimed to
have about George W. Bush and his military service that
were proven to be false. Sixty Minutes shot away its
credibility long ago, Dave.
Speaker 2 (11:49):
I don't know what decade you're living in, but it's
not the twenty twenties. Back to Leno.
Speaker 3 (11:55):
Now, Leno invokes one of Dan Kamplis's favorites here, and
he makes a good point.
Speaker 2 (12:01):
How did we get to this place?
Speaker 1 (12:02):
So?
Speaker 2 (12:02):
Or is there?
Speaker 4 (12:03):
Do you have advice for comedians today to sort of
bring it back to something?
Speaker 5 (12:08):
Rodney Dangerfield and I were friends.
Speaker 2 (12:11):
I knew Rodney forty is.
Speaker 5 (12:12):
I have no idea if he was a Democratic or Republican.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
We never discussed. We just discussed jokes.
Speaker 5 (12:19):
And to me, I like to think, can people come
to a comedy show to kind of get away from
the things, you know, the pressures of life wherever it
might be?
Speaker 2 (12:26):
How I love political.
Speaker 5 (12:27):
Humor, I don't get me wrong, but it's just what
happens was people wind up coising too much to one
side or the other, and.
Speaker 2 (12:35):
That's what happened.
Speaker 3 (12:36):
Jay's exactly right because in Dave Letterman's world, he's saying, well,
Colbert was too hard on the administration. Here's here's the rub, Dave.
I'd be with you one thousand percent. Trump shouldn't be,
you know, favoring one side or the other, trying to
shut down a comedian or a CBS shouldn't feel beholden
to administration for favorable treatment. The problem is, during the
(12:57):
four years of Joe Biden, how many jokes did Stephen
Colbert really make targeting the obviously senile buffoon in the
Oval office again ripe for comedy or did he kind
of back off and go easy on the old man
and find ways to make it about Trump or about
the Republicans. Well, it was the latter, because I'm telling
you this same scenario, it was Jay Leno instead of Colbert,
(13:20):
if it was Letterman instead of Colbert, they don't lose
their spot because they haven't pissed off half of America.
They haven't lost half of their potential ratings in the process.
They haven't yielded that ground, that fertile ground of all
of us on the right side of the political spectrum.
Speaker 2 (13:34):
We make up at least half of America.
Speaker 3 (13:36):
And what are we all watching if we do watch
a late night comedy show.
Speaker 2 (13:40):
Gutfeld.
Speaker 3 (13:42):
Gutfeld dominates that time slot. Now why he's got the
whole region to himself. Meanwhile, Colbert, Seth Myers, Jimmy Kimmel,
Jimmy Fallon, they're all eating out of the same pot.
They're all slicing out of the same half of the pie.
It's a mathematics game here. But Letterman doesn't believe that,
(14:05):
and he doesn't believe it was about money either.
Speaker 1 (14:07):
So the CBS people say, hey, boys, here's what I'm
gonna do. Not only are we going to get rid
of that guy, We're gonna get rid of the entire
franchise so you don't have to worry about another guy.
It's gone, buddy, we're gonna have the CSI in your pants.
You know, I'm making some of this up. So they
(14:28):
go to Steven and they say, oh, here, you're gonna
have to quit now because it's not that Trump stuff. No, No,
it's money. We're losing so much money. You understand.
Speaker 2 (14:38):
Here's what I know.
Speaker 1 (14:39):
If they were losing this kind of money, you're telling
me losing this kind of money happened yesterday, right, But
they were losing this kind of money a month ago.
I'll bet they were losing this kind of money six
weeks ago, or they have never been losing money. They
did not do the correct thing. They did not handle
(15:00):
Stephen Colbert, the face of that network, in the way
he deserves to have been handled.
Speaker 3 (15:06):
I don't know where he's getting this face of the
network type stuff, Kelly. I mean, Colbert is nowhere near
the top of that list, not at all. And the
Letterman's top ten. I don't know why he thinks that.
Speaker 6 (15:16):
And to your point, I wouldn't say that Jimmy Fallon
is the face of NBC or that Jimmy Kimmel is
the face of ABC.
Speaker 3 (15:23):
Yeah, not anymore. The networks have lost their pull, and
it's just again, it's a percentages game. A lot of
people have streaming services, cable TV, everything else that is
available as an option. So it's much harder to get
somebody to tune in to a live program if it's
not sports. You think about it, what other program do
you I gotta watch it live. I gotta watch it
(15:43):
right when it airs. It's a sporting event and that's
pretty much Yet. Jay Leno again on what makes something funny.
Speaker 4 (15:50):
Comedy can be used to unite or divide people. Do
you have any advice on how we can use it
for common ground.
Speaker 5 (15:57):
As it's a grave nitero. You know, funny is funny people, eve.
You know, it's funny when someone who is not h
when you make fun of their side and they laugh
at it. You know, I just find getting out. I
don't think anybody wants to hear a lecture, you know.
To me, it's just when ours with Rodney was always
(16:19):
in the Economy Awards. Get to the joke as quickly
as possible.
Speaker 2 (16:22):
And the thing is, if it's funny, if it's truly funny.
Speaker 3 (16:24):
I laugh hardest a lot of the time at jokes
about Donald Trump, or when Sean Ferish comes on this
show and he bombastically says, I helped Tamas Jefferson write
the Declaration of Independence. I was there, Like, that's something
Trump would say, and it's ridiculous, but it's funny because
it's kind of true.
Speaker 2 (16:42):
And Trump says these things.
Speaker 3 (16:44):
And Letterman again, he's just off the reservation here when
it comes to Colbert. Listen to this praise he heaps
upon the former late night host or soon to be
former Late.
Speaker 1 (16:52):
Ny hosts Now for Steven, I love this.
Speaker 2 (16:55):
He's a martyr.
Speaker 1 (16:56):
Good for him. And if you listen carefully, you can
hear them unfolding chairs at the Hall of Fame for
his induction.
Speaker 2 (17:04):
Oh come on.
Speaker 1 (17:04):
So I think the idea that they're hiding behind money
and they're giving him another ten months, well that's another
huge chunk of money they're going to lose, according to them.
I don't think it was money. I think it's something.
I think it was all to make sure the Ellison,
the Oracle Twin boys were solid spending dad's money.
Speaker 2 (17:23):
Now, don't you worry.
Speaker 1 (17:25):
We got this covered. Yeah, you're not going to be
a problem. I wouldn't worry about him. No, No, I
think it's sad. But what this indicates also is the
Ellison Twins, the Oracle Boys, they don't want any trouble
along the lines of freedom of the press or free
speech or freedom of expression. They don't want to get
their hands dirty. They don't want the government going after
(17:47):
them because you know, that concept of freedom of the
press and freedom is that's so old fashioned.
Speaker 2 (17:52):
It has nothing to do with that, It really doesn't.
Speaker 3 (17:55):
It has to do with think of the guest Colbert
would have on it was just a hit parade, a
platform for propaganda, Adam Schiff. How many times would that
clown on that show? Why if I'm sitting there, if
I'm just a neutral observer, kind of a load to
medium information voter, I'm not really that into politics. Why
is Adam Schiff on my television screen? Is he funny?
(18:16):
Is he charismatic?
Speaker 5 (18:17):
No?
Speaker 2 (18:18):
You know who is those two things? A Donald Trump?
Speaker 3 (18:20):
You know who used to go on, David Letterman, show
Donald Trump because he was rating's goal.
Speaker 2 (18:25):
Adam Schiff is ratings cancer. Nobody's going to tune in
for Adam Schiff. What are you doing?
Speaker 4 (18:32):
Man?
Speaker 2 (18:32):
And Chay Leno nails it right here.
Speaker 4 (18:34):
And it's worth noting that both you and Rodney Dangerfield
experienced and have been experiencing an enormous success.
Speaker 2 (18:40):
Right, So your approach worked in the marketplace. Well why
shoot for.
Speaker 5 (18:45):
Just half an audience all the time? You know, why
not try to get the whole? I mean, I like
to bring people into the big picture. I don't understand
why you would alienate one particular group, you know, or
I just don't do it at all. I'm not saying
you have to throw your support or whatever, but just
(19:05):
do what's funny.
Speaker 3 (19:06):
Just do what's funny. Leto from the Land of the
Sane to Letterman in the Land of the Insane.
Speaker 1 (19:11):
I think this one day, if not today, the people
at CBS who have manipulated and handled handled this are
going to be embarrassed because this is gutlass. I only
wish this is gonna.
Speaker 2 (19:24):
Happen to me.
Speaker 1 (19:25):
What this would have been so great for me? Yeah,
this would have been unbelievable.
Speaker 3 (19:31):
The whole point, though, Dave, is that everything has changed
since you left that desk, and for the worst.
Speaker 2 (19:37):
It's not funnier, it's not more unpredictable.
Speaker 3 (19:40):
It's old hat to use your phrase that you describe
with journalism and the freedom of speech. You did things,
and you played by your own set of rules and
we didn't know what was coming. That's what made David
Letterman entertaining. Again, think back, what's the most entertaining bit
segment interview anything that Stephen Colbert ever did?
Speaker 2 (20:00):
And if your mind's drawing a blank, welcome to the party.
Speaker 3 (20:03):
Pal a time out back with more for this than
Ryan showing life.
Speaker 2 (20:13):
It was his face visible.
Speaker 7 (20:14):
I mean, do they have any idea at this point
who he is.
Speaker 8 (20:19):
They do not know who he is. They know he
is a male, possibly white. He's wearing sunglasses, he appears
to have a mustache. And that picture has been distributed
to every police officer in New York City particularly, has
been sent to the phones of the search teams inside
(20:40):
that building, because whenever they encounter a group of people,
the first thing they have to figure out is is
that individual among these people hiding among victims or pretending
to be an office worker, because one thing you don't
want to have happen is to have this kind of
cordon where you're trying to evacuate people in groups as
you can get them to safe Carritor and have this
(21:01):
person slip out with them. So, yes, they have the
picture and they have distributed to everybody on the scene.
Speaker 9 (21:09):
All right, all right, John, stay with me. I know
you're obviously getting information here in real time as we're talking.
Shimon back with us on the phone on the scene
showing you're here to John's reporting that.
Speaker 2 (21:18):
They do know the fit. What he looks like.
Speaker 9 (21:20):
Male, possibly white, mustache, sunglasses in that building isolated to
they believe to various locations, including upper floors, is where
they're focused.
Speaker 3 (21:29):
What are you learning, shimone, possibly white but probably not
and then definitely black. That's CNN fake news for you.
And I'm so disappointed once again in John Miller. This
is the guy he's got that gravity task with his
reporting over so many years. Why he would just put
that out there when you had to know it was
(21:49):
false just by the picture that was on your screen
at that very moment. Kelly said she was laughing at
home watching that in real time. She just happened to
be tuned into CNN. Well, somebody that gets it right
is our next guest, retired police officer in her own right.
You can follow her on Exit Sergeant Sgt. Betsy Smith.
That's Betsy Brentnor Smith and he joins us. She joined
(22:10):
us now on Ryan Schuling Live. Betsy, thank you for
your time.
Speaker 7 (22:14):
Hey, thanks so much for having me. And let me
tell you a little secret about John Miller. He interviewed
me for the Brianna Taylor case, and even a year
and a half later, he still believed that Brianna Taylor
the shooting in Louva, Kentucky. He still believes she was
in her bed asleep when she was shot in a
no knock Warren all that well, after we knew all
(22:34):
the facts. He really is not a guy who cares
about the facts. He's just glad CNN gives him a job.
Speaker 2 (22:41):
What happened to him?
Speaker 3 (22:42):
And it's not just him, Betsy, as I know you'll
attest to, but there seems to be a degradation and
not just the quality, but in my opinion, the effort
level made by a lot of these panelists experts go
tos on CNN and MSNBC in particular, as we've gotten
more partisan in this so called mainstream news coverage that
even a guy like him comes down on that side,
(23:04):
like you said with the Breonna Taylor case.
Speaker 2 (23:06):
But she's not alone.
Speaker 7 (23:09):
No, you're absolutely right. Unfortunately, narrative has overtaken facts. And
it's really unfortunately because you know, like when you and
I were kids and teenagers, you know, you could turn
on the news and you could get actual facts and
there was not a particular political bend to it. And now,
(23:29):
especially on these stations like you know, CNN and MSNBC
and of course NPR and all that, narrative and politics
is far more important than facts. So that's why they
had to put out. Hopefully they weren't putting out to
the NYPD that they were looking for a white male,
because that would have been dead wrung right exactly.
Speaker 3 (23:51):
Betsy Branner Smith, our guest were happy to have her along.
Now we look nationwide and I've seen some of your
posts on X and I couldn't agree with them more, Betsy,
about violence and this kind of casual violence attitude toward
police officers nationwide, we hear Tim Walls the governor of
Minnesota compare ice officers to the Gestapo.
Speaker 2 (24:11):
This inflammatory rhetoric.
Speaker 3 (24:12):
We see perhaps the next mayor of New York City, Mamdani,
telling we need to defund the police, send social workers
out to crime scenes like this one. Talk him out
of it, you know, that sort of thing. The erosion
of that faith, that trust, that respect for our law
enforcement coming from the left, what effect does that have
real life scenarios, Betsy on things that play out like
(24:35):
what we saw yesterday.
Speaker 7 (24:37):
Well, you know, Mondani also has mocked police officer wellness,
you know, you know on acts he hates the police.
Now he's trying to walk that back, but you know
what we saw yesterday, and of course it makes national news.
But we've had nine police officers shot in the past
six days, six days in this country, three of them fatally,
(25:02):
not just in New York, but in Suffolk County, the
state of New York, Indianapolis, just today, Alabama, Ohio, where
we had three cops ambushed. Fifty police officers have died
in the line of duty already this year. And so
we have the NYPD. And remember this officer, Officer Islam,
was working on off duty but in uniform detail. Why
(25:26):
is he doing that? Because he's got three kids and
a wife to support, and the NYPD is so short
staff They're down thousands of officers, and nine out of
every ten police sermons is still very short staffed because
of exactly what you just said. We have this continued
vilification of law enforcement, and we're seeing law enforcement officers
(25:46):
mistaken for ICE agents around this country attacked and attacks
are up on ICE agents over eight hundred percent. But
this year alone, eighty thousand American police officers will be
assaulted in this country. Why would anyone want to be
a cop?
Speaker 3 (26:05):
Great question, Betsy brandn Or Smith, and we're thankful for
those that do.
Speaker 2 (26:08):
Follow her on exit, Sgt. Betsy Smith.
Speaker 3 (26:11):
One person that's in the middle of this, and I'm
curious to get your take on is a former police
officer in his own right, and that's Mayor Eric Adams
of New York City.
Speaker 2 (26:20):
Here was his account of what happened yesterday.
Speaker 7 (26:22):
Yes, we agree with you and send our condolences as well.
Tell us about the apparent suicide note that was in
the shooter's pocket.
Speaker 10 (26:32):
He alluded to having CTE from playing in the NFL.
He never played in the NFL. And he alluded to
the CTE being the reason of for his illness. It
appears as though he was going after the employees at
(26:54):
the NFL the building a three forty five house, the
NFL's cool Quol company there as well. But we're still
going through this suicide note to a zero in on
the exact reason, but at this time it appears as
though something that is attached to his belief he experienced
(27:15):
the tea from playing in the NFL.
Speaker 3 (27:17):
Betsy, it's my opinion that we have a mental health
crisis in this nation and it drives almost every one
of these shootings. It's somebody that's deranged. But the left
is going to content how do you get access to
this gun? And we need to limit that. And this
whole conversation kind of goes in circles with Mayor Eric
Adams in particular. Though this guy, who again former NYPD
himself invoked an injected race sometimes in comments that he
(27:41):
would make, but seems like he maybe has moderated his
views his approach when he's come kind of under the
spotlight when it comes to the Biden administration and how
he ran his ballgame in New York City, What do
you make of Eric Adams, the mayor, his response to this,
his place in this race for New York City mayor.
Speaker 7 (28:00):
I was really disappointed by his performance in the last
twenty four hours last night. He was so incredibly subdued.
And then in the press conference, who just played He
almost was slurring his words as though he was medicated
or just exhausted. I'm not saying he was medicated, but
there's no fire. There's no passion in talking about a
(28:20):
dead police officer, Officer Darrule Islam, who was killed in
the line of duty in his Eric Adams Police department.
There was absolutely no passion in talking about this young man,
or no passion talking about this incident. And last night,
if you caught this, in the initial press conference, he
(28:40):
started to talk about quote unquote gun violence and how
there's too many guns, and then he veered off that
I don't know if somebody because somebody standing behind him
poked him in the back, or Commissioner Tish gave him
the side eye. I don't know, but he started a
campaign speech. He's not as moderate as you think, and
I I think he's getting the hell beat out of
(29:01):
him as a mayoral candidate. This was his time to shine,
and he really disappointed all of us in law enforcement.
Speaker 3 (29:09):
I believe, Betsy, we've seen this kind of bifurcation between
the two parties. It's been fascinating, not in a good way,
but the interesting way to watch as we've seen police
unions which years ago, those would have been leaning heavily
toward Democratic type candidates that would have the backs of
police in urban areas where Democrats tend to win as
(29:29):
mayors and members of city council, but now no matter
where they are nationwide. In the last election, for instance,
every single police union endorsed Donald Trump. None of them
endorsed Joe Biden or Kamala Harris. And while you don't
want to focus on the politics at a time like this,
it does matter because what leads us to police being
in the line of fire is the level of respect
(29:51):
or lack thereof, that the general population has. We have
those barking from the corners of the left that become
more mainstream, like mcdonne's saying, defund the police, you know,
we can't trust them. It undermines the confidence that we
should have in law enforcement, and that should be bipartisan.
Speaker 2 (30:07):
I would say.
Speaker 7 (30:09):
Absolutely this policing should not be a political issue. And
you're absolutely right. I was a Chicago area union cop
in the eighties, nineties, and two thousands, and most cops
were Democrats because Joe Biden, Senator Joe Biden was like
the most pro police guy in the Senate. The police
unions loved him. But after Donald Trump was elected, really
(30:33):
after the death of Michael Brown and Ferguson, police unions
and police officers start to see that you're voting against
your own best interests and you're voting against your profession
if you're voting Democrat. And you saw the Democrat Party
slowly reject police unions and overly embrace the teachers' unions.
(30:55):
And that's why we have most of them endorsing Donald Trump,
because Donald Trump gives a damn about cops.
Speaker 3 (31:03):
Well, remember the fallen NYPD officer Ditteral Islam, and he
leaves behind a wife who was pregnant, had two other kids,
they had three on the way. Just a tremendous tragedy
in that regard, and it just reminds us of what
they go through, what they do and putting their lives
on the line to protect.
Speaker 2 (31:20):
All of us.
Speaker 3 (31:21):
And we cannot say it enough how much we back
the blue on this program. We know that our guest
does as well. Betsy brantn Or Smith. Always great catching up.
Thank you so much for your time and your perspective today.
Speaker 7 (31:31):
Thanks so much for having me. I really appreciate your support.
Speaker 2 (31:34):
Absolutely. You can follow her on X once again. An sgt.
That's short for chargent.
Speaker 3 (31:40):
Betsy Smith a time out back with your text to
wrap things up at five seven seven three nine on
Ryan Shuling.
Speaker 2 (31:45):
Live and now he's deaf. No he's not deaf, but
he did listen a lot there.
Speaker 3 (31:54):
Came back a little bit that was Zach messed on
me a little bit, the z man on the other
side of the glass. Also, Kelly Cocher your tax five
seven seven three nine, anything that you heard on today's
program and you'd like to respond to, or maybe you're
gonna go rogue and bring up a topic of your own.
I'll do that too, Patty says Ryan, I love you,
love your show. That said I give zero apps about Colbert.
(32:17):
A few minutes later, Ryan, see what you did there
won me over with a great assessment of Colbert and
why he's out Patty. See Patty went from Petty to Peppy.
We appreciate Peppy Patty, Peppermint Patty.
Speaker 2 (32:31):
I don't know, Ryan.
Speaker 3 (32:32):
The ratings tell the truth on Colbert, that's true. And
I'm gonna give you one examples to why I believe
that the current muddled mess that we have in Late
Night could be remedied immediately if a network was smart enough,
wise enough, and bold enough to make the right choice.
Speaker 2 (32:50):
Could be two. I'll give you two.
Speaker 3 (32:52):
The current crop though, with Colbert on his way out,
Jimmy Kimmel whatever he cries, and you know, Norm MacDonald
said it the best. You know, you guys know, he's
one of my all time favorites. If not number one,
are you telling jokes to get laughs or to get applause?
And if you're telling jokes to get applause, then you're
there for the wrong reasons and you need to get
off the stage if you take yourself too seriously. That
(33:15):
is the number one rule not to violate in comedy.
Nobody wants a condescending I can't say that word on
the radio, jerk, you know, talking down to them in
a comedy club setting, not unless it's that's their thing,
like insult comics. I get that, but that's not what
we're talking about here. We're talking about what Jay Leno said, lectures.
(33:38):
I'm not signing up for a lecture series. If I
wanted that, I'd go see Jordan Peterson. And he doesn't
make me laugh. Okay, he makes you think I want
a comedian to make me laugh, made me feel better
about things when my life's not going so good, then
that's where comedy works. South comes in cheap plug. But
can tell you this.
Speaker 2 (33:57):
You take Coleberry, take Kimmel.
Speaker 3 (33:59):
Fallon I once had hope for but then you know
he gave into the woke mob and that was sad.
After he must up President Trump's hair, he should have
just stood on it. No, I'm gonna be funny and
maybe that'll be messing up Donald Trump's hair. And then
maybe Donald Trump goes back on the show. And guess
what ratings bonanza? Could you imagine if any of those
late night shows and Philon might be the only one
that could still pull it off had Trump on, And
(34:21):
you know.
Speaker 2 (34:21):
What, I'll go on with you. Jimmy kind of mean
to me last time, but uh, it's ratings gold and
they hate it.
Speaker 3 (34:28):
But why do you think they kissed his butt for
about ten years when he was the host of the
Apprentice and hosted Saturday Night Live twice because they knew
it was good for ratings, and.
Speaker 2 (34:38):
Seth Myers was one of those.
Speaker 3 (34:39):
Seth Myers wrote the Fried Chicken sketch that Donald Trump
appeared in a gold suit, and they took it out
of the DVD.
Speaker 2 (34:47):
They took it out.
Speaker 3 (34:47):
Of the DVD of that season's SNL because they had
so much regret and remorse for making Donald Trump appear
to be human and funny, which he's both in spades.
So Seth Myers whatever, and and then who's left out
of those Myers? Colbert Kimmel fallon, buh. How about Dave
Chappelle hosting a late night show once again? I'm not
(35:09):
sure that he would even do it, but they should
at least ask the question and have present him with
a blank check and have him right in the amount.
Dave Chappelle would dominate ratings, The Late Show would be back.
Late night television talk shows would be back with a
vengeance with one guy. That's it, Dave Chappelle or I
(35:30):
would even like to see maybe a Jim Gaffigan. I
think he could do that kind of role, that kind
of hosting, that stand up, the interviewing. He'd be funny,
he'd be interesting. You know, he's family friendly in a
lot of ways. But you go edgy with one and
you go kind of, you know, comfort food with the
other one, and he makes a lot of jokes about
comfort food. Does Jim Gaffigan give me that late night lineup?
(35:51):
Give me Gaffigan first, and Chappelle in the later night slot.
I'm winning the ratings period. Two guys, off the top
of my head, right there, Ryan, you are so correct
about comedy and why you couldn't make fun of Barack
Obama and how that spoiled comedy. You need to listen
to Quinn Dale. You will like in Quinn Dale. I
will make a note of that texture and thank you.
And this goes back. Yeah, Dave Letterman kept saying this
(36:11):
stream Colbert was the face of the network CBS.
Speaker 2 (36:14):
No, No, it wasn't.
Speaker 3 (36:15):
This person says personally, I think Drew Carey is the
face of the CBS network.
Speaker 2 (36:20):
Is that more true than Colbert Kelly? In your mind?
Speaker 6 (36:24):
I would say that's good. Drew Carrey is actually really
really good on the prices.
Speaker 3 (36:28):
Right, and those are big shoes to fill. Bob Barker,
the price is wrong, bitch happy Gilmore too. Your quick review.
Speaker 6 (36:37):
I had mixed feelings about it.
Speaker 2 (36:40):
Mostly I liked it.
Speaker 6 (36:42):
Definitely not as good as the first, but they nailed
it with some of the cameos of the pros one
in particular Scotti Scheffler being thrown.
Speaker 2 (36:51):
Into jail for and careful with the spoilers. Basically careful
with the spoilers.
Speaker 1 (36:55):
Okay, I'm not going to.
Speaker 2 (36:56):
See Scotti Scheffler. Sure. Yeah. John Day's great in it.
John Dale great.
Speaker 3 (37:00):
John Daily was made to play that role in I
think in more movies. The guy's got talent, good act.
Speaker 6 (37:06):
He's not really good comedic timing too, and his delivery
is good for a pro golfer.
Speaker 3 (37:12):
Yeah, I would say the callbacks and the cameos, the
two right there. It was good for nostalgia, kind of
gave you that warm feeling.
Speaker 2 (37:18):
Oh yeah, he's gonna be all right, you know. And
Adam Sandler I could have done with a little bit
more of him. It was interesting too. They wanted to
keep it pg.
Speaker 3 (37:25):
Thirteen, so if you noticed, he was about to swear
a few times and they cut him off into me
that was funnier than if they had let him just
kind of ramble off with I'll roll off these profanities.
Speaker 2 (37:36):
So would I recommend it?
Speaker 3 (37:38):
To Kelly E's point, yes, I don't think you're gonna
love it, but you'll like it.
Speaker 2 (37:42):
And is it worth watching? Yes?
Speaker 3 (37:44):
Is it worth rewatching time and again like the first one?
Probably not that dele it for me from here for now,
Brian Schuling, live back with you tomorrow
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The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.
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Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Special Summer Offer: Exclusively on Apple Podcasts, try our Dateline Premium subscription completely free for one month! With Dateline Premium, you get every episode ad-free plus exclusive bonus content.