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Life Imitates Art – The Story of the Turkeys and the Frog

By Brian | September 24, 2009 | Share on Facebook

OK, you’ve got to bear with me here, but trust me on this – the payoff is so worth it.

First, there’s this clip from the old WKRP in Cincinnati show:


WKRP in Cincinnati: Thanksgiving Turkey Bomb! @ Yahoo! Video

Then, the hilarious conclusion (credits to the same show, different video clip):

And, finally, this from the Glen Beck show on Fox News Channel:

As God as my witness, I thought frogs jumped out of boiling water…

UPDATE: It’s possible that Glenn Beck did not actually throw a live frog into the water. See the comments below for more…

Topics: Primetime TV | 11 Comments »

11 Responses to “Life Imitates Art – The Story of the Turkeys and the Frog”

  1. Jeff Porten says at September 25th, 2009 at 12:31 am :
    Oh.

    Oh, dear Christ.

    I guess the man has never eaten lobster.

    Oh.

    Man, that’s… that’s….

    Nope, genuinely speechless.

  2. Janet says at September 25th, 2009 at 6:01 am :
    Well, lobsters don’t jump, so maybe that wouldn’t have been an appropriate generalization. But I would imagine that a little research would have debunked this one – and not only did GB not bother to do it before killing a frog on live television, neither did any of the staff who set up the pot, got the poor frog, etc. Maybe they were all auditioning for Mythbusters? Is the SPCA involved yet? I imagine PETA could run with this for a long long time. . . .

    As for WKRP, first of all, I remember it, and it was awfully funny then, too. Having said that, however, it is essential that I not leave you city boys with the misconception that turkeys can’t fly. This calumny against the birds our own Ben Franklin wanted to be our national symbol has gone on long enough. Turkeys can, and do, fly – I’ve seen them many times. Not far, not gracefully, but there’s no other word for how they get from the ground to the branches of trees (and they do). It’s pretty funny too, actually. So turkeys do fly – just not when dropped from a helicopter.

  3. Lisa Rafal says at September 25th, 2009 at 7:46 am :
    Seriously? No one thought there was potential for this to go awry? That poor poor peeper froggie…
    And I, too, remember that WKRP…I guess that was funny because no ACTUAL turkeys were harmed in the making of that episode.
    UGH.

  4. Brian says at September 25th, 2009 at 9:31 am :
    Ugh…OK – it seems I’ve been sucked into a media stunt here, and now I’ve sucked in others, so here comes the (apparent) disclaimer:

    Apparently, the whole thing was staged. Beck reached into an aquarium filled with live frogs, but pulled out a plastic frog, threw it in the water, and then faked disappointment that it didn’t jump out. Apparently, the next thing he said after the YouTube video ends is “…and forget the frog, because that was fake too” or words to that effect. And, apparently, he had former UN ambassador, John Bolton, waiting in the wings to come on stage, examine the frog and confirm for the TV audience that it was, in fact, a fake frog. Finally, PETA has apparently issued a statement that Glenn Beck did not harm a frog, but affirming its stance against animal cruelty.

    I keep using the word “apparently” because I’m getting all this in e-mails from my more conservative friends, but a quick search of the web (including Google, YouTube, PETA.org, and foxnews.com doesn’t turn up an extended video or an official PETA statement.

    So maybe he killed a frog on TV and maybe he didn’t. To be honest, it doesn’t bother me all that much either way. The same thing happens regularly in French restaurants all over the world and, I’m guessing, in pet stores (there must be a larger animal that eats little frogs, no?)

    Anyway, there you have it – if I unintentionally misrepresented Glenn Beck as a frog murderer, then I offer him my sincere apologies.

    You’ll excuse me while I attempt to overcome my feelings of guilt. OK, there – I’m done.

  5. Brian says at September 25th, 2009 at 9:37 am :
    @Janet #2: ironically, I helped run the Euro conversion for a large investment bank back in 1999, as the European Monetary Union was being formed. The acronym (EMU) led to much discussion back then about actual Emus, which, we were told, are one of only two truly flightless birds in the world (the other being the penguin).

    So yes, I have no trouble believing that turkeys can fly, although probably not when they are dropped from a helicopter, and especially not when they are fictional, unseen props in an old sitcom…

  6. Zack says at September 25th, 2009 at 10:00 am :
    Why does Glenn Beck insist that he did not kill a frog on live television when he STILL won’t prove that he didn’t RAPE and MURDER a girl in 1990?

    I’m not saying I think he raped and murdered a girl in 1990, in fact I think he didn’t. But if he is willing to deny that he boiled and killed a frog on live television before force-feeding it to John Bolton, WHY won’t he similarly provide proof that he did not rape and murder a girl in 1990? If he’ll debunk far less insidious rumors that he killed a frog on live television, he should also provide conclusive evidence that he didn’t rape and murder a girl in 1990.

  7. Brian says at September 25th, 2009 at 1:16 pm :
    Nice one, Zack…

    For those who are not on the same listserv that Zack and I are on and might not know about this (specifically, Jeff, Janet & Lisa above), allow me to explain:

    A few pranksters on Fark.com decided recently to satire Glenn Beck’s habit of raising a ridiculous claim rhetorically in order to get them into the media, and then deny that he actually made the claim if/when legal troubles arose. They began posting the phrase “rape and murder a girl in 1990” along with Glenn Beck’s name all over the internet, in the hopes that Googling “Glenn Beck” would return lots of stories about raping & murdering. The text above (“I’m not saying he did . . . in fact I think he didn’t”) is the legal protection in case the author is accused of slander.

    Someone eventually created this site, which is when Beck’s lawyers became involved, catapulting the “experiment” into viral mode (exactly what Beck’s lawyers hoped to avoid. . . . OR DID THEY?!?).

    In any case, it seems that Glenn Beck didn’t murder anybody or anything (frogs included). It also seems that there’s no such thing as a short conversation about Glenn Beck…

    <sigh>

  8. Zack says at September 25th, 2009 at 6:31 pm :
    Actually, the whole “in fact, I think he didn’t” is also a parody on Glenn Beck’s style. ie “I’m not saying Obama wasn’t actually born in Hawaii. In fact, I think he was, but why hasn’t he produced a copy of his birth certificate? or whatever, yada yada yada…”

  9. Jeff Porten says at September 26th, 2009 at 12:05 am :
    Oh, I’m well aware of the allegations that Glenn Beck raped and murdered someone in 1990. In fact, I heard it was a flightless turkey. Not that I believe he did.

  10. Brian says at September 26th, 2009 at 7:47 am :
    Isn’t it bad enough that she was raped and murdered by Glenn Beck in 1990 (if, of course, she was, which I don’t think is true)? Do we have to call her a turkey as well? After all, she couldn’t help looking like that…

  11. Janet says at September 27th, 2009 at 1:12 pm :
    Clearly something comes next that ends in “you brought her,” but I’m not sure what (or not sure what that I’d post). Of course, I wouldn’t believe it was true, anyway.