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Video: Daily Show Examines Park Smoking Ban Impact In Union Square's Methadone Alley
By
John Del Signore
Published Jun 21, 2011
Modified Jun 21, 2011
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By
John Del Signore
Published Jun 21, 2011
Modified Jun 21, 2011
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Last night The Daily Show's awesome Samantha Bee reported on the NYC parks smoking ban from Union Square park, where she ironically juxtaposed the health-conscious smoking ban against the rather unhealthy realities of the park's "methadone alley." After shot after shot of stumbling, spaced-out drug addicts upstage her interviews with anti-smoking advocates, Bee finally asks, "You know what else inhibits my enjoyment of the park? This giant undulating pile of human sorrow. I have to go home at the end of being in this park and scrub myself with a metal barbecue brush just to get all the sadness off. Are you fucking kidding me? Smoking?"
The Daily Show - New York City Outdoor Smoking Ban
On the other hand, Bee is fair and balanced enough to confront a smoking scofflaw and demand to know "how are all those addicts behind you supposed to tweak properly with all of your secondhand smoke blowing in their face?"
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samantha bee
smoking ban
smoking in parks
the daily show
John Del Signore
Originally from the Albany area, John Del Signore has called NYC home since 1995. In addition to his thousands of meticulously-crafted bespoke blog posts for Gothamist, his writing has also been published in The Awl, Deadspin, The Nervous Breakdown, and performed at The Brick Theater in Brooklyn.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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