As part of the generation that gets its news from the Internet, we have to admit that we don’t spend much time watching it on TV. But recently, a TV news anchor has attained such indisputable awesomeness that we can no longer ignore him. Ladies and gentlemen, we present to you our newest favorite person on television: Brian Williams. Let us count the ways after the jump.
1. His favorite show is Mad Men — and he’s a total geek about it Yes, Don Draper obsessives, Brian Williams is one of us. And not only does he love the best show on TV, he nitpicks it — just like us! Earlier this week, as the NY Post notes, Williams took the time to write a detailed rundown of the premiere, including some cutting observations about the show’s historical inaccuracies. “The new kid in the office (graphic artist?) had a perfectly contemporary haircut (2010, that is) and his sweater vests appeared more circa ’67-70 than ’64, the year of this season’s setting,” he gripes, later revealing that his nerdy pastime of listening to recorded Lyndon Johnson phone conversations makes him uniquely qualified to judge the period appropriateness of Mad Men‘s dialog.
2. He slow-jams the news with Jimmy Fallon Brian Williams. Jimmy Fallon. The Roots. What is not to love?
3. His 30 Rock cameos are hilarious We loved the way he repped Nightly News in a recent clip, but by far our favorite moment was Williams’ wonderful, self-parodying turn as the butt of Tracy Jordan’s fake-phone number scheme. “I’ve not heard of that term before. Do you know how to get to Connecticut?” Brilliant. Watch Williams and the 30 Rock cast crack jokes about his appearances on the show below:
4. He has great taste in music Williams has been called “the Walter Cronkite of the 20th century,” but we can’t imagine the latter becoming pals with Bruce Springsteen. (You may want to check out the entire linked article, in which Williams also discusses all the menial jobs he took as a teenager. Sample quote: “That wasn’t a bad job, until a guy came up and stuck a .38-caliber pistol in my face and made me hand over all the money.”) But the 51-year-old news man isn’t just into classic rock. He’s also responsible for the adorably named BriTunes, a web series in which Williams interviews some of his favorite indie bands. The show site’s “Current Playlist” includes Antony and the Johnsons, She & Him, and Happy Mondays.
5. He’s buddies with Jon Stewart As a general rule, we’re down with any friend of Jon Stewart. Earlier this year, he told All Things Considered that The Daily Show is good for the news: “They hold people to account, for errors and sloppiness.” Right on! So it’s no surprise that Williams is a frequent (and always funny) guest on the show.