Stupid, Ignorant, and Mean

You may have heard that Stephen wrote a book. If not, you will surely know if you walk into any bookstore. Stephen's book, "I Am a Pole and So Can You," is #1 on New York Times Best Sellers for the Advice, How To, and Miscellaneous sections. And it is #2 on Publishers Weekly for Hardcover Nonfiction. That means it is not fiction and therefore that means it is all true fact. Stephen compared his book to books written by other pundits. Obviously his book is superior. And by the way Tom Hanks read the book - audio recording - and  proceeds go to usvetsinc.org. So that's pretty cool.

We haven't seen The Word for a while, but it was back tonight. We learned about the standards in Texas, baseball cards, chewing gum and loss of innocence.

Also tonight, in a sad development, Mayor Michael Bloomberg of New York wants to ban big glasses of soda - those so-called Giant Sodas. This is particularly distressing to Stephen since he always drinks huge amounts of soda, especially at the movie theater. In fact, he missed the ending of Thelma and Louise because he was taking .... well, you know. Anyway, he missed the ending and will have to catch up with Thelma and Louise in the sequel. Drinkie (Gulp Zilla) made a brief appearance on the show, and Stephen, in accordance with the Mayor's wishes, did what he had to do. Stephen will not be gulping down those giant sodas any more.

Jack Hitt, an author and Peabody winner (just like Stephen) was the guest tonight. He writes a lot of stuff and his latest book is "Bunch of Amateurs: A Search for the American Character." It makes us sound like a bunch of amateurs, but he says that can be a good thing. We just go out and get stuff done. Back in the day, way back, the Europeans thought that the vapors over here in North America made us stupid, ignorant and mean!

Jack Hitt is not as smart as he thinks he is, though. Stephen zings him with a final comment and question.

"You are a professional writer. How good can this book possibly be?"