… welcome back, loyal NPR listener. We’re in day five of the summer pledge drive. We know this is about the time the pledge drive gets a little perfunctory and dry, much like the rest of the midday coverage. ha ha! We kid Roosevelt Stevens and his Farm Report. Love you, Rosie! He hates it when we call him Rosie. ha ha.
Therefore, we’d like to give you a little Capraesque look into a future without pledge drives. Sounds great, doesn’t it? No overpriced tchotckes. No aimless banter about moral responsibilities.
By the way, did you notice a distinct lack of high-pitched tittering? Yes, the 2 am music hour is now missing a host… or will be once a missing persons report can be filed in 48 hours… but our donations have risen 14% over last year since her odd disappearance yesterday. See? We do care about you.
But back to Capra. In the vein of “It’s a Wonderful Life”, we’ve put together a sample of NPR programming without pledge drives. You may have heard “Ryan Seacrest’s Laundry List” earlier and maybe you were around this morning for “A List of Chicks Burt Reynolds Claims to Have Banged as Read by Burt Reynolds with Explicit Commentary by Burt Reynolds”. A quite disconcerting experience over breakfast, no?
Still, donations haven’t markedly increased, so maybe you think we’re not being serious about this. Maybe you think this is some kind of cute little gag we’re running. It’s not. We’re serious.
To further prove our point, we’ve asked noted comedian Carlos Mencia to tape an essay for This I Believe. As regular NPR listeners know, This I Believe is a collection of essays allowing people both famous and not-so-famous pontificate on their core beliefs in front of a paid audience. You know, like Chris Matthews but classier.
As regular listeners to this pledge drive know by now, I’m making air quotes when I say “noted comedian”.
Just as we would be forced to tell you if we skipped pledge drives, Carlos Mencia has a new book out: “Jokes I Told Milton Berle”. You can buy it at bookstores now… I guess. Now, This I Believe with Carlos Mencia. (more…)
