The Dork. Bow tie free since 2006.
Not for nothing, bow ties are much derided. Tucker Carlson was famous for two things: wearing a bow tie, and getting spanked on-air by Jon Stewart, which he has never gotten over.
Right before the 2004 Presidential election, Stewart’s glorious grilling of how cable news shows like Carlson’s now defunct Crossfire are theater–not news analysis–that hurt the country, is arguably his finest moment to date. Stewart called Carlson’s bow tie little more than a prop:
PAUL BEGALA: We’re 30 minutes in a 24-hour day where we have each side on, as best we can get them, and have them fight it out.
JON STEWART: No, no, no, no, that would be great. To do a debate would be great. But that’s like saying pro wrestling is a show about athletic competition.(LAUGHTER)
TUCKER CARLSON: Jon, Jon, Jon, I’m sorry. I think you’re a good comedian. I think your lectures are boring.
STEWART: Yes.
CARLSON: Let me ask you a question on the news.
STEWART: How old are you?
CARLSON: Thirty-five.
STEWART: And you wear a bow tie.(LAUGHTER)
(APPLAUSE)CARLSON: Yes, I do. I do.
STEWART: So this is…
CARLSON: I know. I know. I know. You’re a…(CROSSTALK)
STEWART: So this is theater.
CARLSON: Now, let me just…(CROSSTALK)
CARLSON: Now, come on.
STEWART: Now, listen, I’m not suggesting that you’re not a smart guy, because those are not easy to tie.
CARLSON: They’re difficult.(LAUGHTER)
STEWART: But the thing is that this — you’re doing theater, when you should be doing debate, which would be great.
In 2006 Carlson made the decision to ditch the anachronistic neckwear:
Well, if you watched this show before you may have noticed that I look different tonight. I‘m not wearing a bow-tie. This is odd for me. I have worn a bow-tie on television every night for the past six years and for 15 years off air before that, since I was in 10th grade.
I like bow-ties, and I certainly spent a lot of time defending them.
But from now on I‘m going without: no ties at all.
I didn‘t lose a bet. It is not a political statement. I didn‘t ditch the bow-tie in protest or in solidarity with any oppressed group. It‘s not a ratings ploy but decided. I just decided I wanted to give my neck a break. A little change is good once in awhile, and I feel better already.
Carlson’s 2006 decision to part with neck wear he wore to make himself special as a teenager was overdue, but thank goodness he did it before David Sedaris came out with his 2008 book When You Are Engulfed in Flames. After wearing a bow tie all across the country and getting various reactions, he figured out the problem:
It’s a pretty sorry world when wearing a bow tie amounts to being “out there.” I’m just not sure which is worse, the people who consider it out there that someone’s wearing a bow tie, or the person who thinks he’s out there for wearing it. [....]
It was my friend Frank, a writer in San Francisco, who finally set me straight. When asked about my new look he put down his fork and stared at me for a few moments. “A bow tie announces to the world that you can no longer get an erection.”
And that is exactly what a bow tie says. Not that you’re powerless, but that you’re impotent. People offer to take you home not because you’re sexy but because you’re sex-less, a neutered cat in need of a good stiff cuddle.
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Joaquin Phoenix is a poser
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East Village Park and Williamsburg Bridge photos
100 People I Photographed for the Creative Commons
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Cordoba House / Ground Zero mosque protest photos
The void in my blogging (and some photos)
Rihanna video with Eminem about Chris Brown?
This is a great post. I love the Stewart/Carlson incident, and I never get tired of reading about it. And adding what Sedaris said to it makes it even more special. Well done.