On a return visit to Iowa State University four years after his initial campaign-time stop, Mo Rocca had gifts to bear.
Students brave enough to take stage in his interactive show at Memorial Union Dec. 4 brought home the definitive collection of Lionel Richie on CD, a karaoke album of Hilary Duff's greatest hits, Clay Aiken's "Measure of a Man" and a "Full House" DVD signed by Mo himself.
"I would have chucked the Josh Groban CD," Rocca said of a gift offered by Oprah on her TV show. "I just don't have room for it ~ all that other stuff is so great."
Amidst the laughs, Rocca took his fans through our current crop of presidential candidates, from the also-rans to the "never should have run-rans."
"...A fat Huckabee ~ no one can get a boner for that!" he said of the candidate known for dropping more than 100 pounds without surgery, then nabbing Chuck Norris as a celebrity endorser.
"I think it'll be interesting to see how (Hillary Clinton) handles gay illegal aliens driving themselves to their own weddings ~ I think that's going to be the next hot button issue."
Rocca pontificated that presidential debates aren't debates at all, but "quaint Q&A" sessions where candidates aren't allowed to engage one another. Instead, they're too scripted and controlled to truly enlighten voters. He suggested that news stations allow hopefuls to "tangle and brawl" without the constraint of time.
When asked if he would consider being Stephen Colbert's running mate, Rocca quipped, "Sure, why not? Because as vice president I'd have all the power."
"I have to say since Nancy Pelosi took over, the Speaker of the House has gone down a full cup size," he cracked.
Rocca, a gold mine of pop culture and world news knowledge (during his Q&A session, he spouts off capitols of any country in the world), is proof of what many have said for years: more and more Americans are getting their news from entertainment sources. It's likely few of his audience members realized they were learning as they were laughing.
"People take safe harbor in piffling ignorance," said Rocca of the fact that only celebrity tabloids have seen increased circulation numbers since 9-11.
Rocca continues to appear on “Wait, Wait…Don’t Tell Me!” and "Larry King Live" as well as cable TV's "Iron Chef America," "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" and CBS "Sunday Morning with Charles Osgood."
Yep, me & Mo, BFFs!
*****************************************************
Originally published 2003 by the West Central Tribune
By Natalie Thoreau
Mo Rocca gives a lot of credit to college students.
Not the kind they’re used to getting from professors ~ after all, they’re not even in the classroom.
The comedian, writer, satirist and political commentator ~ or all-around “media gadfly,” as VH-1 bills him on “I Love the ‘70s” ~ is currently on a college campus tour to promote his multitude of projects.
“I need to do other things, as well,” said Rocca, best known for his correspondent work on Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show,” during a Sept. 4 visit to Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa.
That’s an understatement: The Washington, D.C., native and Harvard grad has no fewer than nine projects going on right now. In addition to his college tour, Rocca is a regular contributor to NBC’s “Today” show, hosts Court TV’s “The Smoking Gun” quarterly television specials, is a frequent panelist on NPR’s “Wait, Wait…Don’t Tell Me!” radio quiz show, is often tapped to comment on news programs on CNN and Fox News, will be appearing in an upcoming episode of the sitcom “Ed,” occasionally hosts programs on CMT, can still be seen on "The Daily Show" and is writing a book ("All the Presidents Pets").
Doesn’t leave much time for Mrs. Rocca now, does it? Actually, the 34-year-old is single and in his free time enjoys visiting presidential gravesites and doing the splits.
The lanky, mop-topped funnyman led more than 2,500 ISU audience members ~ every seat in Stephens Auditorium was taken ~ through a nearly two-hour whirlwind of clips, videos and commentary during his program “Making It Up As I Go Along: Satire in an Absurd World.” Throughout the evening, Rocca showed his most outrageous moments and let attendees judge for themselves.
Rocca’s first discussion topic was the Supreme Court’s recent decision to strike down Texas’ sodomy law, and how dissenters said the action might lead to bestiality. His commentary was accompanied by a PowerPoint slide of a striped feline he referred to as his cat, Mittens.
After explaining that the two have decided to stay just friends, Rocca moved on to his next slide.
“I just find sea turtles so not hot,” he said as the audience roared. Laughter continued through the rest of the evening as Rocca talked about some of the things that “really creeped me out” this summer: North Korean president Kim Chong-il “going whacky-whack all day long” with his porn collection and reality TV shows asking questions such as “Who Wants to Marry My Dad?”
What’s next? wondered Rocca. “Who Wants to Pork My Mom?”
Other news updates included the deaths of Uday and Qusay Hussein (the accompanying slide picture showed Cheech and Chong because the real thing was “too bloody”) as well as Bob Hope (“Certainly everyone in comedy reveres him”).
Rocca then read an old interview with Arnold Schwarzenegger, now a candidate for the governor of California, in which the bodybuilder talked at length about male anatomy.
“We need to live in a cock-blind society,” Rocca concluded.
He also showed the audience clips of Democratic presidential nominees, noting how each one would be unique to the position: for instance, Joseph Lieberman would be the first Jewish president.
“If he doesn’t make it as a president, he could definitely join a boy band,” Rocca said of young-looking John Edwards.
Dick Gephardt would be the first albino commander-in-chief and Al Sharpton would be the first “certifiably insane” pres, he added.
Throughout the show, Rocca delighted the audience with his trademark sardonic sense of humor blended with a news junkie mentality. As on “The Daily Show,” he filtered political comments through comedy and used every opportunity to find a funny way to get his point across ~ some people might not get that they’re jokes, he admitted, but it’s never worth it to be preachy.
Rocca observed he is a “fake legal expert” on “The Smoking Gun” and a “fake news reporter” on “The Daily Show.” Part of the reasoning behind those titles is not taking oneself too seriously, he explained.
A bonus is that Rocca “loves the blurring of reality and fantasy.” His delivery and gravitas are dead-on impressions of TV news magazine hosts, but his topics are either small stories approached in a big story way or “taking the wrong side” of an issue.
He showed several examples during his show, such as going undercover at an Okoboji, Iowa, cheerleading camp; arguing the appropriateness of lingerie Barbie on a cable news channel; questioning a college’s decision to assign a book about the Qur’an to all incoming students and the authenticity of news reporters’ claims about where they’re stationed.
Laughs erupted, especially during the sillier moments. While undercover as cheerleader “Bo” Rocca, he donned a mustache, adopted a Valley Girl speaking delivery and giggled while talking with the girls during a toenail painting party.
Aghast and exasperated expressions of Rocca’s interviewees and interviewers ~ who apparently weren’t onto his shtick ~ elicited more laughter from audience members who clearly got the jokes.
In a clip from one of his recent appearance on Fox News, Rocca explained how he was parodying news pundits who say what they think viewers want to hear ~ instead of what they believe ~ effectively creating an “echo chamber.”
Since joining “The Daily Show” in 1998, Rocca has been working against that trend. People, the press and peers have noticed: the cast won Peabody and Emmy awards for their coverage of the “Indecision 2000” elections, and statistics are often cited about young people getting most of their news from comedy and late-night shows.
However, Rocca disputes that assessment. Most people receive news “though osmosis” now, he has said, and “The Daily Show” viewers wouldn’t get the jokes unless they were already aware of current events.
The Iowa State crowd proved this with a variety of queries during a question-and-answer session at the end of Rocca’s presentation. Some were related to politics; one was, “If Mr. Goodwrench were a tool, what kind of tool would he be?” (a reference to fellow “Daily Show” correspondent Stephen Colbert’s commercials). Rocca picked monkey wrench because of his interest in simians.
Another student asked about the terror alert color system being at level orange.
“Why do you think I’m in Iowa right now?” Rocca deadpanned.
Despite his obvious ability to crack wise at the drop of a pointed question, Rocca claims comedy is not his strong suit. The self-described news junkie didn’t come from a stand-up comedian or comedy troupe background; instead, Rocca used his English literature degree to get into magazine and screen writing before Comedy Central hired him.
While telling the audience about his job history, Rocca got one of his most enthusiastic responses when “Wishbone,” a now-defunct PBS show about a Jack Russell Terrier re-enacting classic novels, came on the screen.
Rocca’s uncanny ability to keep a straight face through ridiculous moments paved his way to “The Daily Show” and subsequent gigs. In five-plus years, Rocca’s façade has cracked only twice ~ and only one of those was visible. Again speaking modestly, he attributed the deadpan delivery to long shooting schedules and compressed editing.
The only time Rocca laughed at the PowerPoint presentation was during a clip featuring Colbert. During his impersonation of Geraldo Rivera, who was accused of embellishing about his whereabouts during the war by a rival network’s anchor, Colbert coined a new term: poopalanche. Chuckling, Rocca said he hoped to one day see the word entered into the Oxford dictionary.
As his workload continues to increase, Rocca’s fan base grows incrementally. The variety of projects has led to a diverse following, and Rocca claims he can tell which venue his fans know him from.
For example, if it’s a mom with a stroller, she’s probably seen him on the “Today” show. Many college students like to ask him about “I Love the ‘80s,” a stream-of-consciousness show that uses celebrities such as Rocca to wax nostalgic about each year of the decade.
The gig gives him the chance deliver hysterical one-liners and sing TV theme songs most people have forgotten ~ and the opportunity to demonstrate a comedic style that flourishes when Rocca is allowed to free-form.
“Right now part of what’s fun is being disconnected,” he explained.
