This week, Tucker Carlson performed an interview with Vladimir Putin for his present on X. The interview, which is over two hours lengthy, was ostensibly an try to interview the Russian chief concerning the conflict in Ukraine. Earlier than speaking about that, nevertheless, Putin launched right into a prolonged digression about his personal model of Russian historical past earlier than razzing Carlson to his face.
I’ll say this: This interview is definitely the funniest factor I’ve seen all yr. Granted, it’s solely been six weeks for the reason that begin of 2024, however Carlson’s awkward, bizarre speak with Russia’s autocrat had me doubled over laughing a number of instances.
There are a number of layers to the humor. For one factor, Carlson was compelled to fly to the Kremlin to conduct this interview. This, in and of itself, is humorous. Tucker is summoned to his interview topic’s royal palace, hoping, I’m positive, for an informative and thrilling dialogue that might lend itself properly to his various/rightwing/infotainment type of internet content material. What he bought, as an alternative, was a comically boring historical past lesson about nationwide borders and an ongoing stream of insults. The dumbfounded look of confusion on Carlson’s face as Putin droned on incessantly is actually one thing to be savored:
That stated, Tucker tried his darnedest to get one thing commercially viable out of his chat. At nearly each flip, nevertheless, Putin undermined these makes an attempt, opting as an alternative to mock Carlson and make him appear like an fool.
One of many extra memorable examples of this was when Putin informed Carlson that he clearly wasn’t minimize out for a job on the CIA (which Carlson satirically tried to get previous to changing into an anti-Deep State shill):
At one other juncture, Carlson requested Putin if he noticed God’s design in world political affairs. With a bored look that appeared to suggest he was speaking to somebody with a beneath common IQ, Putin merely stated “no” earlier than explaining that worldwide legal guidelines ruled world occasions, not a deity.
There are clearly loads of issues you’ll be able to say about Vladimir Putin however that he’s unintelligent just isn’t considered one of them. Putin’s demeanor all through a lot of the interview with Carlson is kind of that of a person making an attempt to clarify algebra to a goat.
The memes impressed by the episode have been plentiful and hilarious. I favored this one:
And this one:
And this one:
That Carlson needed to interview an influential world chief who’s at the moment engaged in a brutal conflict is commendable, although it’s tough to not really feel that Carlson’s content material is all the time beholden to a broader ideological narrative designed to rile up viewers with out giving them a number of context. I’d prefer to see an excellent interview with Putin, though this wasn’t it. It made me snicker although.