‘Daily Show”s Kevin Bleyer sheds light on Constitution, political controversy
Winner of multiple Emmys, satire reporter Kevin Bleyer is promoting his book “Me, the People.” Bleyer spoke of how he set out to become a “real journalist” instead of an engineer.
September 26, 2013
Satire reporting, especially political reporting are OK to infuse together now. Kevin Bleyer former writer of political shows “Politically Incorrect,” “Dennis Miller” and “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart” has been bringing the satirical approach to political news shows for more than a decade and, more recently, shedding light on some of the most controversial topics in America, the Constitution.
A multiple Emmy award-winning writer, Kevin Bleyer, will be giving a lecture about the Constitution Thursday, Sept. 26, in celebration of his book’s success, “Me The People: One Man’s Selfless Quest to Rewrite the Constitution of The United States of America” in the Great Hall in the Memorial Union.
When reminiscing on his days in college, Kevin was an engineering major at Stanford University, trying, but struggling, to fit in with his fellow engineering peers as well as trying to fit the career of an engineer into his life. He was very much into the arts, specifically musical theater and creative writing, vastly different from the life of engineering.
Around this time, his brother Keith Bleyer, former sports anchor for Fox Sports’ Net Rocky Mountain in Denver, Colo., had just landed his first job at a local new station in, Plattsburgh, N.Y. Bleyer observed his brother and the amount of fun it seemed he was having and the law of attraction began to take its toll. Because of this, Keith decided to change his major from engineering to journalism and set out with a goal.
“I set out to be a real journalist,” Bleyer said. “[I saw] my brother explode into the scene. … I started watching him and that’s when I decided I want to be like these engineers or do I want to be like [anchors]?”
Shortly after his decision, he had his news debut with NPR. From there he never looked back and had numerous career opportunities writing and producing from some of the biggest political shows before he landed with “The Daily Show” in 2005.
“Satire is telling the truth without really saying the truth,” Bleyer said.
Bleyer’s book, “Me The People,” will be the primary focus of his lecture today as well as the connection between satire and political reporting. In his book, he takes a satirical sword and shield wielding approach to exposing the Constitution and all of its flaws and aims to shed light as well as offer a completely new rendition of the Constitution.
“I didn’t quite know I would find this many flaws,” Bleyer said. “I was shocked by how many loopholes were in the thing.”
Bleyer’s lecture will begin at 8 p.m. and is all part of the Constitution Day keynote.