the show the conversation where Cenk interviews rising progressive politicians and leaders was really important but didn’t seem like it got the viewership we want.
I was thinking that we could use celebrity guest interviewers to help bring attention to the lesser known progressives. maybe even try to get the celebrity to share a story they haven’t shared before. we could start by choosing people tyt already has a relationship with brian unger , ron perlman , kevin smith , helen hong and aida rodriguez. then we could target celebrities that have shown to care about an issue like olivia rodrigo that just passed out plan b and contraceptives at a concert. we match her up with a strong fighter for reproductive rights that may be lesser known. the celebrity can support the issue without getting the backlash of making a bunch of political statements themselves.
here we can brainstorm celebrities that might be willing to come on to support progressives and what issues they might be willing to discuss. also strategies on how best to get their attention
for instance olivia rodrigo and reproductive rights.
mark ruffalo and anti-war / pro palestine.
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We’ve run across several celebrities who we’ve said would make great guest hosts or Power Panel members. Phil Rosenthal (writer of Everybody Loves Raymond, star of several streaming series including Somebody Feed Phil which is in its 7th season on Netflix) consistently expresses progressive values in his content, even when he’s basically doing a “food show”. In his latest season, he also highlights an important progressive charity and provides links on his website to them. He also serves on the board of Represent Us, an anti-corruption organization and his family’s foundation launched a program to help feed people waiting in long lines to vote. Honestly, I’m rather surprised he hasn’t been on TYT already.
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that’s an excellent idea! we could raise money for one of his charities in return for his participation. He seems like the type of person that would be perfect for this!
What makes him especially suitable is not only the sense of humor he brings to things, but he also seems to be incredibly well-respected by everyone he deals with. He has dozens (likely hundreds) of celebrity contacts that make guest appearances on his shows from many venues: sports, food, entertainment, travel. Some of the other celebs he’s had on (off the top of my head) are Dwight Howard (former LA Laker), Ray Romano (naturally), Wolfgang Puck, Tracy Morgan, Al Roker, Fran Drescher, Ted Danson… so it’s possible he could introduce even more heavy-hitters that may have progressive values.
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I’d recommend to anyone who’s trying to help Operation Hope and is also a social follower of any celebrity, regardless of their political views, that they should start messaging said celebrities. TYT is a big enough platform that it could boost popularity for any performer or artist, but I know a lot of them have to consider losing fans by appearing on it.
Even a minor celebrity would likely bring in more members. This appears to be a great way for members to help support the network without reaching into their pockets, and I don’t see a downside as long as the asks are polite.
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If Cenk were able to get ahold of Jon Stewart he’d be perfect! Maybe now that TYT has interviewed Don Lemon — and The Daily Show used some TYT footage — TYT might be on his or his people’s radar? That’d both be an excellent interview and could encourage other big names to come on the show and hopefully spread TYT’s (and progressives’!) reach.
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I think TYT is on The Daily Show’s radar. Of Course Jon Stewart saw the TYT clips and he must have already bumped into a YouTube recommendation (I mean TYT has been on YouTube for almost 20 years now)… I would even go as far as to think that TYT line-up (Cenk and Ana) made Jon and the people at The Daily Show inspired them to take the risk and line up a two-host combo: Desy Lydic and Michael Costa.
I don’t know if that necessarily means that Stewart is willing to come to the show… I mean, Jordan Klepper has been guest host, so I don’t think TYT has been out of their radar this whole time. It could be the case that they don’t see it as practical or convenient for them… like TYT’s previous Director of Audience Development that left out of his LinkedIn profile ANY hint of him working at TYT during the period of 2018 to 2020: I think he saw this left-leaning job experience as a disadvantage in a job market in which more bosses are likely to be right-wing leaning.
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