Daily BrewLate-night comedians hone in on Toronto Mayor Rob Ford crack allegations
If Toronto Mayor Rob Ford's latest scandal – the one about him allegedly being videotaped smoking from a crack pipe – has any upside, perhaps it will be a boost in tourism.
The city is receiving a lot of attention from our neighbours to the south, with many U.S. late-night talk shows picking up the story and laughing about us. It. Sorry, laughing about it.
Political comedian Jon Stewart is no different, launching into Ford's history of gaffes as part of a Tuesday night segment on bad mayors on the Daily Show, before burrowing into the crack allegations.
Stewart started the segment by pointing out several of Ford's recent "foibles," such as the time he tripped and fell while hamming it up with a football and the other time he walked face first into a television camera.
He then pulled out the big guns, playing a clip of Ford's 2008 tirade about Orientals working "like dogs" and "slowly taking over" (but in a good way).
[ Related: Rob Ford faces more calls to address crack allegations ]
"After repeated instances of this type of behaviour, you gotta wonder: Is this dude on crack? Well, funny story,” Stewart begins.
The latest chapter in the city's glowing history is then explained to the audience, from the Toronto Star and Gawker allegations that they were show the video in question right down to Deputy Mayor Doug Holyday's assertion that videos can be doctored.
(The story doesn't include video of Ford denying the incident, because no such video currently exists.)
"Maybe he's cleaning up the city, by smoking all the crack in it. You are next, prostitution rings," Stewart jokes.
Correspondents Samantha Bee and Jason Jones, both Canadian, then weigh in on the scandal. Bee helpfully explains that smoking crack is a delightful Canadian tradition, while Jones spends the segment pretending to be "whacked out."
At one point, Jones lights and smokes out of what appears to be a crack pipe and declares, "It's 6 a.m. somewhere."
Other late-night comedians are also having fun at our expense. ABC's Jimmy Kimmel interviews a Ford look-alike who says, "These people are pathological liars, eh."
[ More Brew: Embattled Toronto Mayor Rob Ford lobs attack at Ontario premier as casino plan collapses ]
And over on NBC's The Tonight Show, Jay Leno and his chin waggle about how there is not much else to do in Toronto, and makes allusions to former Washington mayor Marion Barry, who spent time in prison after being caught smoking crack.
Wonderful. Ford once said he was trying to strengthen ties with Chicago by leading a trade mission to the Windy City. With this latest scandal, Toronto (hell, all of Canada) is getting attention from across the U.S. Who would have thought it would be this easy.
A tourism boom is most surely to follow. I wonder what sort of Canadian traditions those tourists will want to partake in?
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