> The libertarian magazine Reason has posted a video of Red Eye host Greg Gutfeld‘s appearance during Reason Weekend. He talks about Bill Maher, The Huffington Post and his “surreal” FNC program.

> Fired FoxNews.com entertainment writer Roger Friedman has joined The Hollywood Reporter, effective immediately. Friedman left Fox News in early April after he “promoted piracy.”

> Expect some fireworks on “The View” tomorrow, as FNC’s Glenn Beck is a guest during the week of Hot Topics. CNN’s Larry King is on Thursday.

Today on our 100th mediabistro.com Morning Media Menu we were joined by NBC chief foreign correspondent Richard Engel, ahead of his move back to the Middle East. Engel spent more than five years in Iraq, and recently reported from Afghanistan. He’ll be back to Afghanistan, as well as Pakistan, on his next trip.

“In Afghanistan, it’s the U.S. troop build up and the idea of an increased American focus to try to turn the tide of the war,” says Engel of the focus in that region, while in Pakistan “the story is can the government hold onto power, and is the government slowly losing control of its territory.”

Engel says despite some closures of bureaus by American networks, the future is bright for foreign correspondence. “I think you can still have a career as a foreign correspondent at the network level,” he said. “There’s lots of news, there’s lots of information to be had. What I’m noticing is there are more and more partnerships taking place. It’s probably a way to expand coverage and save some costs.”

Also discussed: the “show and tell” of appearing on Real Time with Bill Maher and The Colbert Report, the state of the newspaper industry and what’s in his “journalist toolkit” when reporting from dangerous regions.

(note: the podcast begins at the 30 second mark.)

You can listen to all the past podcasts at BlogTalkRadio.com/mediabistro and call in at 646-929-0321.

Click here to receive mediabistro.com’s Daily Newsfeed via email.

NBC News chief foreign correspondent Richard Engel appeared last night on The Colbert Report.

Engel, described by Stephen Colbert as “one of the last of the news-icans,” talked about why news organizations have dropped some foreign coverage recently.

“We’re expanding our news coverage in that area,” said Engel. “We’re trying to redirect some of our resources that way.”

Engel anchored the 11amET hour on MSNBC with Tamron Hall.

He’ll next appear on HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher Friday, and then is headed back overseas. After spending significant time recently in Afghanistan, he’ll be reporting from Pakistan beginning next week.

Click continued to see the Colbert interview…

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Keith Olbermann appeared last night on HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher as the second guest and later as a member of the panel. The conversation began with Cornell University (both are alumni) and the origin of their political beliefs. Maher also asked Olbermann why he continues to use the “Mission Accomplished” counter at the end of his show (“shouldn’t we let that go?”). Besides the political topics, a portion of the discussion revolved around Fox News. There’s this from Olbermann: “I have talked to Sean Hannity, where he says, ‘Isn’t this crazy that everybody thinks you and I hate each other? It’s just TV.’” See the first part of the conversation below, and after the jump, the panel discusses Glenn Beck (or as Olbermann calls him, “Father Coughlin with a crew cut”):



Click continued to see what Olbermann has to say about Beck (conversation starts around 4:00)…

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Those looking for potential fireworks when MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann is a guest Friday on Real Time with Bill Maher may be disappointed. TVNewser has learned Olbermann’s segment will be the second interview, and he will not appear on the panel which this week is made up of Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders, actress Kerry Washington and NYTimes reporter Andrew Ross Sorkin.

Meanwhile Olbermann will be a guest on NBC’s Tonight Show with Jay Leno tomorrow night (one night before the first ever late show appearance by a sitting President).

The most-commented post currently on The Daily Kos’ front-page “Recommended Diaries” list is a story titled: “Moment of Truth for Keith and Rachel coming up tonight with Update.”

Within the thread, MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann has left six comments, including revealing “it is true,” that Jon Stewart has something against him and that he’ll be appearing on Real Time with Bill Maher next week.

But the crux of the post relates to whether Olbermann and Rachel Maddow would highlight the Daily Show’s interview with Jim Cramer on their shows last night. Maddow did, but several commenters who say they are longtime viewers of Countdown expressed disappointment over the decision by Olbermann not to cover the story. Olbermann responded with reasons why, while noting, “I threw Santelli in twice to Worst Persons, played clips, and called him “Sick Rantelli”…and I never heard a word of criticism from management.”

Olbermann also addressed me personally. A quick response, after the jump…

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Erin Burnett was a guest on NBC’s Meet the Press yesterday, but there were a couple other appearances from this weekend by the CNBC host as well. On Friday night, she joined Newark mayor Corey Booker on HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher for nearly the full hour. “Why didn’t anybody there predict what was going to happen?” Maher asked Burnett. “I predicted you would ask this question,” she joked. And although she said CNBC did accurately forecast some elements to the crisis: “The question of timing and magnitude, nobody got. That wasn’t just a CNBC pundit thing, that was any expert out there.”

Last night she was a guest judge on “The Celebrity Apprentice.” Donald Trump, who never met an exaggeration he didn’t like, introduced her as his partner in “the number one rated show in the history of CNBC,” The Billionaire Inside (sure, Donald). See a portion of her “Real Time” appearance below, and a clip from “Celebrity Apprentice” after the jump:



Click continued to see a clip of Burnett on The Celebrity Apprentice…

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We’ve written about the potential for a new 10pmET host on MSNBC a few times since MSNBC president Phil Griffin floated the idea last month.

The LA Times and Huffington Post have written about how progressive radio hosts Sam Seder and Cenk Uygur (of The Young Turks) created Facebook fan pages (here and here) with the hopes of getting them the gig, assuming there is really a gig to be had.

Their fans have inundated our inbox too.

So, it’s time for another vote.

We took the top 5 vote getters from last month’s poll, added new names: Willie Geist, Ted Koppel, Carlos Watson, Bill Maher (why?), Dan Rather (why?) and Uygur, and we leave the option open that no one gets the hour:

Who Should Be MSNBC’s 10pm Host?
( surveys)

FNC host Mike Huckabee is profiled in this month’s Esquire magazine by A.J. Jacobs, who follows the former presidential candidate through book tours, public appearances and his Fox News show.

“He’s the most likable politician I’ve ever met,” writes Jacobs. “Here he is, one of the most conservative voices in a couple of decades…And yet, when you’re with him, he’s so damn folksy and kind and self-deprecating that the liberal media (i.e., me) just want to hug him.”

Speaking of that “liberal media,” Huckabee defends Charlie Gibson and Katie Couric over charges they were unfair to Gov. Sarah Palin. “I must say I did not think that either the Charlie Gibson interview or the Katie Couric interviews were unfair,” says Huckabee. “In fact, if anything, Katie Couric was extraordinarily gentle, even helpful. [Palin] just…I don’t know what happened. I can’t explain it. It was not a good interview. I’m being charitable.”

Click continued to see why Huckabee thinks it’s more effective to let his liberal guests talk without interruption on his FNC show…

• Earlier: Jim Cramer is profiled in this month’s Esquire as well.

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FNC host, author and former presidential candidate Mike Huckabee is profiled by Kate O’Hare of Zap2It (appearing here in the Buffalo News).

Huckabee describes the TV hosting job as “an experience that takes me full circle.”

O’Hare writes about the long list of liberal guests who have appeared on “Huckabee,” including Richard Dreyfuss, Bill Maher and Oliver Stone. This week, Fran Drescher, the actress seeking Sen. Hillary Clinton‘s Senate seat, appears on the program.

“The words ‘host’ and ‘guest’ imply something to me,” says Huckabee. “They imply that the host is extending hospitality to those whom he invites, and that the guest will be treated with dignity and respect and hopefully, in turn, will act like a guest.”

• Earlier: TVNewser’s interview with Huckabee.