In his first full week back hosting Pardon the Interruption since the NFL season ended, Tony Kornheiser looks and seems as if the stress from working and traveling for almost three straight months is taking its toll.
Kornheiser seems angrier than ever, and not in a halfway-mocking, purposefully over the top way. Part of it might be due to guest host Dan le Batard, who has replaced Michael Wilbon this week; le Batard, who is jokingly referred to on the show as “hateable”, seems to legitimately be getting under Kornheiser’s skin. One need only look at today’s edition of PTI, where Kornheiser seemed genuinely angry by le Batard’s incessant referring to new Alabama head coach Nick Saban as a vaccum salesman.
Maybe the generally low reviews of his performance on Monday Night Football is getting to him. He did refer to one of his critics as a “two-bit weasel slug … who I would gladly run over with a Mack truck given the opportunity”. Or maybe he’s just having a bad week. No matter what it is, Kornheiser seems to lack the same kind of light-hearted attitude that brought fans of PTI the trampoline bear, the penguin dance, and sex jokes about the cast of The Golden Girls.
Kornheiser’s dour demeanor isn’t hurting PTI. Yesterday’s episode was its most viewed ever, according to ESPN.
