• May 25, 2012
WTF?

July 25, 2008

Richard Simmons Freaks Out, In Congress

by Jim Newell  

Here’s a nice video from The Hill newspaper that shows fitness creep Richard Simmons annoying Capitol Hill for several hours yesterday. He testifies to a House committee about No Child Left Behind destroying public schools’ physical education programs, and he exercises with Hill staffers outside the building. For Republican Congressmen who could witness this from the Capitol’s bathroom windows, it was a dream come true. In this video, Simmons starts freaking out to Congress at :52, then ratchets it up at 1:15, then “climaxes” at 1:30. It is hilarious. This Hill reporter, Erica whatever, seems nice. [YouTube]

{ 52 comments }

greatgooglymoogly July 25, 2008 at 3:11 pm

Krusty the Clown meets Stuart Smalley.

queeraselvis v 2.0 July 25, 2008 at 3:12 pm

OMG, Richard Simmons and Ronald McDonald — separated at birth? No wonder the AFA has it’s panties in a twist.

itgetter July 25, 2008 at 3:13 pm

I want Erica to be my friend.

Lazy Media July 25, 2008 at 3:14 pm

Ha! Jim Newell is in L-U-V.

She seems like a well-scrubbed and wholesome girl child. Go for it.

Advocatus_Diaboli July 25, 2008 at 3:17 pm

Richard Simmons is truly America’s First Queen, and as such, I think we should all listen hard (uh uh) to his solutions so that we can become (uh uh) a slimmer, healthier, and gosh-darnit better people.

fer July 25, 2008 at 3:17 pm

Love him. Not kidding.

freakishlystrong July 25, 2008 at 3:17 pm

I can’t tear my eyes away from the sentance; ” For Republican Congressmen who could witness this from the Capitol’s bathroom windows, it was a dream come true.” And they block teh tubes at my damn office…

ManchuCandidate July 25, 2008 at 3:17 pm

Freaking out on the Oldies, Pt 1.

NotUrEvryDayWEzl July 25, 2008 at 3:19 pm

Why won’t american kids live longer? Because repubs keep buggering them and giving them teh HIV. Duh.

SuperRounder July 25, 2008 at 3:21 pm

Somebody get Richard drunk and leave him in Crew Club.

El Bombastico July 25, 2008 at 3:21 pm

Uh, can he swing by the office of Dr. Ada M. Fisher? No disrespect… I’m just saying, it might be time for an intervention. Does he have any spare Deal-A-Meal cards?

FalconerHK July 25, 2008 at 3:22 pm

He just comes around (cums inside?) Capitol Hill to make the GOP look less gay in comparison. I can only assume Tony Little and Chuck Norris had other gay activities that conflicted, hence sending in the tired, shrieky, lithium-addled Dick Simmons.

In that suit he looks like Michael Keaton in Beetlejuice after getting gang-raped by a roving band of Taser- and gravy-wielding Haggards.

loquaciousmusic July 25, 2008 at 3:23 pm

I liked the “it made them rounded” comment. Excellent.

AngryBlakGuy July 25, 2008 at 3:24 pm

…isnt he kinda late? I mean Denny Hastert’s fat ass retired like 2 years ago!

tkdead July 25, 2008 at 3:24 pm

It’s funny to see him in a dignified suit (excluding the wacky hair) and standing at the podium. For a moment you’ve got this false sense of hope that Richard Simmons is going to be speaking in measured and collegiate tones, but then the Richard Simmons you know and fear shows up.

wonk_the_heck July 25, 2008 at 3:24 pm

He’s well qualified to run for office. He’s made more fat women cry than McAncient.

satyricrash July 25, 2008 at 3:25 pm

Also demonstrated: we can save energy by doing away with microphones and just screaming everything.

AngryBlakGuy July 25, 2008 at 3:29 pm

…Republicans in congress don’t care if kids can “throw balls”, just catch them! *rimshot*

…I never took Richard Simmons as a “Jock”, more of a “Fem”! *rimshot*

…I think we have finally found someone with a more annoying voice than Hillary Clinton! *rimshot*

this is just too easy!

Josh Fruhlinger July 25, 2008 at 3:30 pm

All I know is that 15-year-old me would have rather been studying quietly for yet another round of standardize NCLB tests than going down the gym and having dodgeballs hurled at him.

RuperttheBear July 25, 2008 at 3:31 pm

Ya know, first they ruin “gay” and now he’s ruining “fit.” damn.

NotUrEvryDayWEzl July 25, 2008 at 3:31 pm

[re=44535]SuperRounder[/re]: LMAO

Hart88 July 25, 2008 at 3:32 pm

[re=44518]greatgooglymoogly[/re]: Holy shit, he IS Krusty.

NumbaOneHotDogEatah July 25, 2008 at 3:35 pm

Hot pants and cocoa butter for all!!!!

NebraskashireGentry July 25, 2008 at 3:36 pm

not surprisingly, Dr. Ada M. Fisher has no idea who this “man” is.

Balt_O_Matt July 25, 2008 at 3:37 pm

In the early 1990s Richard Simmons would sometimes just show up on the local CBS affiliate’s morning show–with the personal interest reporter who had a beagle named Barney. One morning, IIRC, it was Richard, Dick Wolfsie (the reporter), Barnie, and a clown(??) walking a neighborhood in Indianapolis just being insane. It was like Performance Art for the flyover crowd. Unreal.

Scarab July 25, 2008 at 3:44 pm

Um, I’d rather be fat.

Q2 July 25, 2008 at 3:44 pm

“This Hill reporter, Erica whatever, seems nice?” Newell…did you see what she was wearing AROUND HER FUCKING NECK: a padlock pendant. She obviouly into S&M, bondage, choke-sex, spanking or some similiar Republican perversion. What is the matter with you Newell? Hm. Oh. Right. Never mind.

Norbert July 25, 2008 at 3:46 pm

Erica Wishnooski, be my sweet Patootie

Rev. Juan MessyCan July 25, 2008 at 3:49 pm

I wish he’d worn hot pants to this thing (hey, you’ve got your milfs, I’ve got my … geez, what category does he fit? Fugly but entertaining queers?).

Doesn’t he have an appropriate red white and blue pair of nut huggerz? No flag pin needed!

Lazy Media July 25, 2008 at 3:55 pm

[re=44604]Q2[/re]: GOP kinks don’t wear kinky jewelry; they wear crosses or crucifixes. I didn’t notice that little detail; I may now have to be Mr. Newell’s rival for her affections. I’m 20 years too old, but if she’s kinky, who knows what she likes?

HedonismBot July 25, 2008 at 4:06 pm

They likes them some of them funny fitness queerz.

GlennBecksTaint July 25, 2008 at 4:08 pm

i have a fitness routine for Erica

nietzscheprojectile July 25, 2008 at 4:23 pm

I sort of (cough) caught myself humming ‘the wind beneath my wings’ during his emotional appeal… Um, I think it’s time for drinking now.

NoWireHangers July 25, 2008 at 4:29 pm

While I love Our Wonkette, I will say this:

DON’T YOU EVER EVER TALK SHIT ABOUT RICHARD SIMMONS WONKETTE I WILL CUT YOU! I WILL ENTER A KNIFE FIGHT TO DEFEND RICHARD AND I WILL CUT YOU WHILE SWEATING TO THE OLDIES!!!1!!11!

NoWireHangers July 25, 2008 at 4:30 pm

I feel much better now.

Sussemilch July 25, 2008 at 4:40 pm

They cut out the part where Jack LaLanne swam across the reflection pool pulling the Grant Memorial with his teeth.

DoctorCulturae July 25, 2008 at 4:42 pm

When did they let Phil Spector out of prison?

sanantonerose July 25, 2008 at 5:42 pm

What have we done to kids in this country?

Fed them gayburgers n’ fries from McDonald’s that’s what. But it’s true, Richard, about the physical education classes being cut. I ran 50 miles one year in elementary school. ELEMENTARY SCHOOL. I still have the certificate from the Presidential Fitness Program.

jimh July 25, 2008 at 6:23 pm

Shrill factor: 10

Eggy1 July 25, 2008 at 6:30 pm

[re=44836]sanantonerose[/re]: That’s nothing. John McCain ran 50 miles a day in elementary school, in the snow, uphill (both ways), and then flogged unmercifully if he showed any sign of weariness or pain.

But then that’s just the way they did things in Bronze Age Sparta.

Eggy1 July 25, 2008 at 6:33 pm

*was flogged

So much for making a grand entrance.

Joey Ratz July 25, 2008 at 7:08 pm

Would it kill Mr. Simmons to invest in a new pair of exercise shorts? Preferably some that aren’t quite as, well, short?

NumbaOneHotDogEatah July 25, 2008 at 7:49 pm

[re=44888]Joey Ratz[/re]: We wouldn’t be able to marvel at his glistening thighs if he had longer shorts, and we wouldn’t want to cover those up.

masterdebater July 25, 2008 at 8:17 pm

I want to work out with Erica and get all sweaty. Richard? Not so much, no.

Rev. Juan MessyCan July 25, 2008 at 8:52 pm

[re=44901]NumbaOneHotDogEatah[/re]: Everything you said (typed)! Only more.

RooseveltFranklin July 25, 2008 at 9:48 pm

[re=44836]sanantonerose[/re]: That video brought back some serious 5th grade memories of when I couldn’t climb the rope in gym class and failed the “President’s Physical Fitness Test” in 1976. He probably would have cried FOR me. I did have a friend who produced his TV show. She said he would have total hissy fits and lock himself in a closet and SOB.

sati demise July 26, 2008 at 12:21 am

[re=44938]RooseveltFranklin[/re]: He ‘locked himself in the closet?’

Did he evah come out?

font9a July 26, 2008 at 1:32 am

“Insert fitness experts into America’s schools”

…. ugh that’s what Coach Spikes did to us in 9th grade gym class. Those of us who made it this far are still in therapy.

breakingnews girl July 26, 2008 at 10:11 pm

I’m sorry, did he threaten to run for office? Oh please Santa, my only wish is for this to be the year that Richard Simmons runs for office.

josereyes.theroof July 27, 2008 at 7:32 pm

Erica Wisniewski is a Polish Princess, no doubt — but she’s no Michelle Kosinski (MSNBC correspondent who had the plum Natalee Holloway beat; she got to do a paid vacay in Aruba, in the name of news).

Still, with Erica, I’d make pierogi.

/don’t even know what that could mean

Deepthroat July 28, 2008 at 10:25 am
thefrontpage July 28, 2008 at 12:28 pm

Simmons is fearless. What a bizarro story. Maybe, in some great state, Richard Simmons, Jesse Ventura, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Warren Beatty, Richard Dreyfus, Barbara Striesand, Al Franken, Ross Perot, Mark Foley, Ted Stephens, Larry Craig and that other guy from “Predator” can all run together for the same office! Now that would be fun.

Comments on this entry are closed.

Previous post:

Next post: