Supervisor Eric Mar no match for "The Daily Show"

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Supervisor Mar: Next time comedians come looking for ya, run!

Lea Suzuki/The Chronicle 2010

Supervisor Mar: Next time comedians come looking for ya, run!

"The Daily Show" has been having lots of fun with San Francisco's ban on toys in Happy Meals, but we suspect Supervisor Eric Mar isn't laughing.

Monday night's episode featured correspondent Aasif Mandvi heading to our very own City Hall to interview Mar, author of the legislation that that was passed in November after the supervisors were able to override the mayor's veto. (Note to earnest politicians: you're never going to appear smart, let alone sane, on "The Daily Show." Never.)

"What you're basically telling us is, 'Guess what? McDonalds food is s---. Duh!" Mandvi begins.

But the most brutal part comes when Mar explains that his 10-year-old daughter, Jade, doesn't like fast food anymore after watching the documentary "Super Size Me" with him. Those opposed to the ban maintain it's up to parents, not McDonalds, to ensure their kids learn healthy habits.

Mandvi: "So she learned from her parents?"

Mar: "That's a large part of it."

Mandvi: (staring in wide-eyed disbelief) "Would it be hard to pass a law to force Netflix to send 'Super Size Me' to every parent in San Francisco?"

Mar: "We can't force Netflix, a private company, to do something like that."

Mandvi: "Are you serious right now?"

Mar: "We have no power to force Netflix or a private company like that to change a business practice."

Mandvi: "So on one hand, you're like, 'We can't do that' but on the other hand, you are doing that."

Mar, looking very tired, shakes his head, stumbles over one of the progressive supervisor's favorite words, equitability, and mercifully the interview ends. Oy.

Mandvi and the crew were at City Hall Dec. 2 and spent more than an hour in Mar's office. We bet it felt like a year to the supervisor, who, by the way, hasn't returned our call about the segment.

Meanwhile, Mayor Gavin Newsom and his staff were enjoying barbecued meats sent as part of a World Series bet by the mayor of Arlington, Texas when the crew popped in to ask if they could interview Newsom on camera. Newsom, a lover of the national media spotlight, was game.

He explains in the segment why he vetoed the bill and Mandvi just gazes at him for several long seconds.

"You are really good looking," he adoringly tells Newsom.

Newsom's spokesman, Tony Winnicker, said the first time Mandvi said that, the mayor burst out laughing. And the second, third and fourth times too. It took 20 tries to get Newsom to just nod sincerely.

"I had too clear a sense of the risk of this interview," Winnicker said, relieved Newsom came off OK. "I'm surprised that Supervisor Mar and have his staff agreed to do this. There's almost no way this could have ended well for him, and you only have to watch 'The Daily Show' a couple of times to realize that."

Maybe the supervisors need to pass a law requiring them to watch some old episodes before passing any more only-in-San Francisco legislation.

UPDATE: OK, maybe Mar's a better sport than we thought. He phoned to say he went on the show to spread his message about healthy food to a national audience - and that he found the clip amusing.

He said the crew of eight spent two hours in his office with several cameras and a "huge amount of lights."

"It's very intimidating," he said, explaining they asked the same questions again and again, asked him to repeat some lines and spliced together footage. Still, he's not complaining. He watched it with his daughter, and they both enjoyed it.

"I think she was nervous like I was a bit - and a bit relieved when it was over," he said. "Seeing how we have to laugh at ourselves was an important lesson for her and me."

Posted By: Heather Knight (Email) | January 04 2011 at 11:55 AM

Listed Under: Board of Supervisors, Health programs, Mayor Gavin Newsom