trow125

This story talks about how FF deliberately set out to hire diverse writers, and the methods they use to "level the playing field."

I'll admit that I was not a fan of Grace Parra when she first started, and I don't love all of her segments (I still don't think "Nightly Nightly" always works), but I thought she was really good on last night's show & panel. BTW for those who weren't previously familiar with Jose Antonio Vargas, his personal story is really fascinating, and heartbreaking. I was glad to see he's still in the U.S.

From Wikipedia: "Bee hired Jo Miller and Miles Kahn, formerly producers of The Daily Show, as executive producers for her new show. They set up a blinded process for hiring writers that hid the gender and experience level of the applicants, resulting in a writing staff that is approximately half female and 30% non-white." LOVE.

Re: the Canadian who was on last night, one of the articles I read said that any Canadians who are in the existing contestant pool will retain their eligibility, so we could conceivably be seeing Canadians on the show for the next year or so.

My reaction was to start singing "Two by Two" from "The Book of Mormon" ("I pray I'm sent/To my favorite place.../ORLANDO!"). Just three weeks in and this is already tied with "Last Week Tonight" for my favorite show. It's so sharp and funny. The segment about jobs for women was great.

I'm glad I stayed tuned for "The Nightly Show," which talked a lot about the importance of Hispanic voters in the next election. God willing they'll be highly motivated to come out and vote against Trump. And I'm going to eat my words about Cory Booker being a terrible interview because I did actually enjoy the segment they aired on the show (haven't watched the extended version). Loved the way he seemed flustered by the Ted Cruz jar. I didn't know Ted's wife was a vegetarian! As a fellow vegetarian, now I know that if I'm ever pressed to say one nice thing about Ted Cruz, I can give the same answer as Sen. Booker.

Wednesday, Feb. 24 Adrien Brody; Actress Danai Gurira from “The Walking Dead”; Physicist Brian Greene Thursday, Feb. 25 Tim Daly from the CBS drama series “Madam Secretary”; Krysten Ritter; musical performance by Jason Isbell Friday, Feb. 26 Bobby Cannavale; Advertising executive Donny Deutsch; musical performance by Charles Kelley (OAD: 2/5/16) Monday, Feb. 29 Director Spike Jonze; Jeffrey Dean Morgan from the CBS drama series “The Good Wife”; musical performance by Jack Garratt Tuesday, March 1 Christina Hendricks; Chrissy Teigen; Adam Savage of “MythBusters”

Awww, Jeb! dropped out. Here's hoping we get a new Hungry for Power Games next week. It's interesting to note that Jeb! was a guest on Stephen's very first Late Show. I guess he did not get the Colbert Bump.

I am not a Chelsea fan (never watched her old E! show or her new Netflix show), but I did watch her interview with Stephen and thought it was actually pretty good. I enjoyed their bonding over being the youngest kids in big families, and LOL'd at her suggestion that she form a "thruple" with Stephen & his wife (Stephen: "I don't know what that is"). I LOVE John Hodgman and was so excited to see him on "Friday Night Fights," though I think he was set up to lose by having to pick the Tooth Fairy. Bigfoot vs. Chupacabra would have been a fairer fight.

Casey stars in a new movie called "Triple 9" that opens later this month.

The Dreyfuss interview is now scheduled for Monday.

Monday, Feb. 22 Casey Affleck; Richard Dreyfuss; interview with and musical performance by Mavis Staples Tuesday, Feb. 23 Debra Messing; Zachary Quinto; musical performance by Violent Femmes

Next week's guests include Jose Antonio Vargas, journalist and activist (Monday, February 22); Rev. Al Sharpton (Tuesday, February 23); Eddie George, actor and former NFL star (Wednesday, February 24); Tom Papa, comedian (Thursday, February 25).

The only really good satire of Obama that I saw was in Key & Peele's Anger Translator sketches. They figured out the perfect angle, though unfortunately they couldn't use it all that much because the show was so resolutely un-topical (I think it was filmed way in advance of airing due to the elaborate sets, costumes, locations, etc.). "Full Frontal" is doing some additional stuff on Medium.com.

I don't understand how they decide which guests get 2 segments. For instance, I would have loved two segments with Craig Ferguson (I was glad he reappeared for the darts segment at the end, but I was really enjoying their conversation).

Cory Booker is a terrible guest. Like a lot of pols, he's little more than a talking-point machine. I hope Trevor eventually develops his own stable of regular guests. Neil DeGrasse Tyson seems to have become a permanent fixture on Colbert's show -- he's made several appearances already, and he was also on "The Nightly Show" not long ago, so (much as I love him) he's a tiny bit overexposed on late night.

I watched it -- the dick pic thing was idiotic, but I have to admit I chuckled at the strip-club cash cab segment where none of the men could name a single living woman over 50 besides Hillary Clinton. And no, I don't want the image of Doug Benson having sex in my mind, ever. (Did enjoy the fun fact that Ron Funches had a threesome the day his divorce was finalized.)

All dudes again. Hmph. 2/22: Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ & author – promoting book “United: Thoughts on Finding Common Ground and Advancing the Common Good”) 2/23: Anthony Mackie (actor – promoting movie “Triple Nine”) 2/24: Brian Chesky (founder & CEO of Airbnb) 2/25: Michael Hayden (former director of the NSA and the CIA & author – promoting book “Playing to the Edge: American Intelligence in the Age of Terror”)

Your wish re: W. Kamau Bell will soon be granted, since he's been working on a CNN show called "United Shades of America" that will be debuting this spring. (He also hosts a monthly live show called "Kamau Right Now" that you can listen to via KALW.) I also agree that last night's half-hour flew by! I kind of wish Sam's show was commercial free like John Oliver's, but heck, I'll take it -- I hope this stays on the air for a long, long time to come.

Larry is going to be a guest on Wendy Williams' show tomorrow (Tuesday, Feb. 16).

I watched Thursday night's show last night, and the greeting-card bit was SO hacky and unfunny -- it seemed like something Jay Leno would have done in 1994 (and I say that as someone who loves Paul Dinello and usually enjoys his appearances, but not even he could save it). I FF'd through Kelsey Grammer, and then Fred Armisen came out and they did that wonderfully absurd segment with the box of Foghat stuff, which I thoroughly enjoyed. So, as usual, whenever I watch this show, I find myself torn. I want this show to be good, but for the most part, it's just mediocre. I can't imagine who they're trying to appeal to with stuff like "first draft Valentines." Is that really why Stephen wanted to do a more traditional late-night show, so he could do lame desk pieces? Also, I find myself cringing every time Jon "reacts" to something Stephen says. I wish they'd turn his mic off.

Craig Ferguson was on last fall. They played one of my all-time favorite @Midnight games on his episode: "eBay Price is Right."

Mo 2/15: Nikki Glaser, Jim Jefferies, Kevin Nealon (R 2/8/16) Tu 2/16: Dominic Monaghan, Liza Treyger, Mamrie Hart (R 2/2/16) We 2/17: April Richardson, Kyle Kinane, Richard Jeter (R 1/28/16) Th 2/18: Affion Crockett, Jenny Zigrino, Marlon Wayans (R 1/26/16) Mo 2/22: Paul Rust, Gillian Jacobs, Claudia O'Doherty Tu 2/23: Craig Ferguson, Kurt Braunohler, Mary Lynn Rajskub We 2/24: Alison Brie, Katy Colloton, Katie O'Brien Th 2/25: Theo Von, Tiffany Haddish, Nick Thune And then, on the 29th, a show I'm really looking forward to: Ron Funches, Jordan Klepper (of "The Daily Show") and Mike Yard (of "The Nightly Show"). Mike Yard is absolutely hilarious, so I'm hoping he'll do well.

I read an interesting piece about Rubio's battles with anxiety. As someone who knows a thing or two about that, I'd say, um, maybe not such a great idea to run for president? I wonder if TDS' break (they're off next week) was planned around the primaries? The NH primary is tonight and I believe the next one is the SC GOP primary on the 20th. I'm really enjoying the election coverage. I also notice that they got rid of the "Indecision" branding.

A change for Thursday, and next week's listings: Thursday, Feb. 11 Fred Armisen; “Playboy” cover girl Sarah McDaniel; musical performance by Ty Segall and the Muggers Friday, Feb. 12 Patricia Heaton; Quincy Jones; Civil Rights Activist DeRay McKesson; musical performance by Grace (R 1/18/16) Monday, Feb. 15 Craig Ferguson; Senator Cory Booker; World Darts Champion Scott Waites Tuesday, Feb. 16 Eva Longoria; Abbi Jacobson & Ilana Glazer; musical performance by Lucinda Williams Wednesday, Feb. 17 Kate Hudson; musical performance by Courtney Barnett Thursday, Feb. 18 Actress Téa Leoni from the CBS drama series “Madam Secretary”; Amanda Peet Friday, Feb. 19 Chelsea Handler; Zosia Mamet; musical performance by The Lumineers