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Video: Jon Stewart Gives Pepper Spray Cop Anthony Bologna His Own TV Show
By
John Del Signore
Published Sep 30, 2011
Modified Sep 30, 2011
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By
John Del Signore
Published Sep 30, 2011
Modified Sep 30, 2011
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Jon Stewart turned his attention to the Occupy Wall Street protests on The Daily Show last night, homing in on infamous pepper spray officer Anthony Bologna, who was caught spraying demonstrators in two videos. After showing the first video, Stewart tried to give the high-ranking officer the benefit of the doubt, speculating that perhaps, since it was a hot day, he was "reaching for his canister of cooling, cucumber mist spray—and grabbed the pepper spray by accident."
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But after the second pepper spray video surfaced, Stewart "starts to think this guy doesn't even HAVE cucumber mist spray!" And once the officer's name is revealed, the jokes just write themselves. "Anthony Bologna? You and I both know that guy's name is Tony Baloney. Favorite pasta? Rigatoni. Favorite island? Coney. Favorite southern buffet restaurant? Shoney's." And so on and so forth. But the segment really catches fire when Stewart decides Bologna deserves his own crime drama, about a rogue cop who loses his badge and spray cans but brings justice to the streets his own way—one spray at a time.
The "show," called The Vigilogna, stars Fear and Loathing scene-stealer Chris Meloni, who will forever be Law and Order: SVU's Eliot Stabler. "In a city gone mad," the narrator declares, "Tony Bologna was the fine mist of the law. But then... he went too far. This fall, justice has a first name. It's spelled T-O-N-Y. And it's gonna burn. Chris Melogna (played by Chris Meloni) IS Tony Balgona in The Vigilogna."
"Crime doesn't spray," Melogna intoneys. "But I do."
Tagged
anthony bologna
Jon Stewart
occupy wall street
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
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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