John Cleese rhymes again on "Countdown with Keith Olbermann"
John Cleese paid a visit to MSNBC's "Countdown with Keith Olbermann" on Friday. He had an appropriately wicked bit of verse to share, an ode to Bill O'Reilly. This one isn't quite as side-splittingly funny as his poem a few weeks ago about Sean Hannity, but it's a good distillation of O'Reilly's insanity.
(Keith presses Cleese on the definition of "berk," but doesn't really get an answer, as you can see in the clip posted below.)
Bill O'Reilly's No Spin Zone,
is rated highly by his own beloved mother,
but ... no other.
Except that Bill, for all his faults,
still has one skill, a skill of sorts.
He can amuse a true dumb ox,
the dullest crayon in the box,
the kind of ox that watches Fox.
And Bill will pander to this group,
with propaganda, right-wing poop,
knee-jerk views and censored news.
Thus Bill O'Reilly earns his crust,
behaving vilely as he must.
He will not shirk from Rupert's work.
He really is a perfect berk.
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The term "berk" (as John Cleese explained) if from Cockney rhyme slang, which uses two words that are associated, and the second word rhymes with the intended word. Those more familiar with the lingo need only the first "unrhyming" word.
"Berk" is short for "Berkshire Hunt" -- "hunt" rhymes with "cunt".
In short, a "berk" in English slang means "cunt".
Posted by: john | November 01, 2008 at 09:53 AM
A perfectly fashioned poem about someone who is really "behaving vilely..." as Cleese puts it.
I would have rhymed the last line as, "He really is a perfect jerk."
But then, I'm not English.
Posted by: hterrya | October 31, 2008 at 11:48 PM