The Fix

Michael Moore tells Jon Stewart about being recalled, Gray Davis' wife says he's dull, and Bono gets away with using the F-word! Plus: Rob Lowe says he didn't get enough love

Published October 7, 2003 1:45PM (EDT)

Jon Stewart chatted with Michael Moore on "The Daily Show" last night and Moore told how he was the youngest person elected to the school board and then was recalled because he pissed people off by challenging the administration and suggesting things like changing the name of the all-white school to Martin Luther King High School. Moore, who was on the show promoting his new bestseller "Dude, Where's My Country?" won his recall election and continued to serve.

Gray Davis might not be so fortunate. Probably seeing that Arnold Schwarzenegger made points by bringing out his wife Maria Shriver, Davis let his wife talk to the crowd yesterday and she rallied them with this: "The worst thing my husband has been accused of is being dull. And dull looks pretty good to me right now!" Wow, bet that got him all hot and bothered.

Well, the nation is safe once again. The FCC has ruled that when Bono went on the Golden Globes and yelled "This is really, really f---ing brilliant" he didn't meet the test for indecency. Instead, they ruled that it was so "fleeeting and isolated" that it didn't break the rules because it "did not describe sexual or excretory organs or activities." Try again next year, Bono. (Reuters/Hollywood Reporter)

Poor Rob Lowe ... he is suffering from unrequited love. When asked why he left "The West Wing" Robbie moaned, "Why didn't [creator Aaron Sorkin] know how much I loved him, how much I loved that show? Why didn't he love me like I loved him? It's weird, considering it's another man, but that's as close as I can put it." (IMDB)

New York Magazine reports that the December issue of Playboy will have photo shoots of playmates directed by Spike Lee, Mike Figgis, Neil LaBute and Kevin Smith. This follows a tradition started in 1978, when photo shoots were directed by Federico Fellini, Michelangelo Antonioni and Louis Malle.

Speaking of men's mags, I hate to agree with the Wall Street Journal, but Russ Smith is right when he says that Esquire's 70th anniversary issue is "self-aggrandizing" and "nerdy" -- with articles like "The Esquire 70" (things that make us happy to be alive), which includes "JetBlue, Altoids Tangerine Sours and Kleenex Cottonelle..." But one thing Smith didn't mention is that the issue is worth buying for the reprint of Gay Talese's 1966 piece "Frank Sinatra Has a Cold" -- one of the best magazine stories ever written. (Wall Street Journal)

-- Karen Croft

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Money Quotes
Roy Horn on the tiger that mauled him: "Do not kill the cat." (Associated Press)

Rush Limbaugh on his former fellow ESPN football commentators: "[It's] difficult not to be angry -- I thought we were all friends." (N.Y. Post)


New York Times gossip columnist Joyce Wadler on Lloyd Grove's new gossip column in the New York Daily News, which he kicked off with an item about Billy Bush and a fart machine: "Oy! My first thought was, Man, I bet Rush and Molloy are going to be sleeping like babies tonight. I mean, did somebody tell him, 'Well, in New York, what you really want to do is lead with a fart gag'? Will he last? Under Mort? Does anyone?" (New York magazine)

Best of the Rest
Page Six: Val Kilmer slums it at the Hollywood Collectors & Celebrity Show, signing autographs and posing for pictures at $50 a pop, prompting Erin Moran (Joanie Cunningham from "Happy Days") to marvel, "I can't believe he's here"; Mary Tyler Moore bans photographers from set during TV appearance; Siegfried & Roy cast and crew members bitter about severance package. One source says that, in addition to 10 days' pay, "They were each just given a garbage bag" and told to clear out their personal effects.

Rush and Molloy: Is murder suspect Phil Spector a Roman Polanski-esque flight risk? L.A. sheriff's office says it's "not worried about him. If he's charged, he'll either turn himself in or he'll flee. But where's he going to go? Let him run. We'll catch him"; Elton John on a certain comedian after said comedian dissed Howard Dean and Al Gore: "I love America, but if you want to know why the world hates America, I can give you two words: Dennis Miller"; Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf have new baby daughter, Jaz Elle Agassi, 23 months after birth of son, Jaden Gil Agassi; Clint Eastwood to New York Film Festival audience: "You know me. I'm the one who's not running for governor of California."

Boldface Names: Luciano Pavarotti refuses to answer question about whether tenors really make better lovers, says he sings to his 8-month-old baby daughter "when she cry. And when she cry I sing louder, and then she shut up"; Philip Seymour Hoffman on the first time he met Madonna: "I was like, 'Hi, hi, and then I realized who it was and I was like, 'Oh, wow! Oh my God! Oh God!' ... I think I found my libido, you know, when I was 15 years old, watching her."

-- Amy Reiter

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