New 'Morning Joe' Promos Suggest That Mika Brzezenski Has A Shit Deal

What does it take to be a repeatedly steamrolled female cohost to a loudmouth morning television personality? Mothering, exercise, and sexy female assistants, that’s what!

New ad spots for MSNBC’s Morning Joe have some viewers a little confused. The idea seems to be that there’s an entire magical world of preparation that precedes the anchors’ appearances on the program, but the end result of the campaign seems one part little beer commercial, one part sad commentary on how much harder Mika has to work than her male coworkers.

Cohost Willie Geist is depicted partying and showing up to work drunk, still smelling of the fanciest champagnes and evening harlotry. Joe himself is shown getting his heart restarted after drinking too much, and then continuing to drink in bed while looking so totally over it. The men try to get to work, but they’re running late because they keep getting distracted by fun, cool shit like dice games. Meanwhile Mika Brzezinski is supermomming all over the place, waking up and packing lunch for her kids, and then going on a blazingly fast run — whilst wearing a somewhat-revealing (even if it’s realistic) workout ensemble, of course — that ends in the Rockefeller Center elevator, where two waiting female assistants dress and prepare her for her TV appearance. Meanwhile, male tomfoolery! Isn’t it hilarious when men act irresponsible and fun but women are uptight try-hards?

Blatant appealing to stereotypes aside (men are laid back and cool; women are rigid frowny faces), there are other problems with the spot. If Mika is incapable of dressing herself without having a threesome with two sexy ladies in an elevator or naming her kids “Child #1” and “Child #2,” then how does she muster the motor skills to pack her kid’s lunches at all? How does she put on her running clothes? Is Mika a robot? Who built her?

The message of the spot seems to be that Mika works twice as hard as the guys to get not quite as far, and also that getting interrupted by a drunk Irish guy who hates everything takes hard work and preparation. I guess this means that I have to up my training regimen before spending Christmas around my dad’s side of the family.