trow125

Benson seemed even higher than usual last night, if that's possible. I wonder what was cut from the show -- it seemed like Benson kept racking up hundreds of points during games or rounds that weren't shown. I was disappointed that Hari didn't do better as he's one of my favorite comedians.

I didn't get the sense at ALL that Jon likes Rubio on a personal level. I think doing the Florida segment before he came on put him on the defensive immediately and Jon just kept scoring points throughout the entire interview. I was initially tempted to FF through it, but I'm glad I didn't, because it was pretty entertaining. My guess is that Rubio was not a happy camper afterward. However, I feel I must say a few words in defense of America's Wang. I have family in the Sunshine State and have spent a LOT of time there over the course of my life; in fact, I'm going to St. Petersburg next month. The parks and beaches there are spectacular, and St. Pete has some fine cultural attractions. And then there's the weather. I know Florida produces a lot of wacky news items, but I've visited the state at least once a year since the early 90s, and I can honestly say I've only had good experiences there. (Who knows, maybe something crazy will happen during my upcoming trip...)

1/19: Mike Huckabee (former Governor of AR & author – promoting book “God, Guns, Grits, and Gravy”) 1/20: Jennifer Lopez (actress – promoting movie “The Boy Next Door”) 1/21: Anne Hathaway (actress – promoting movie “Song One”) 1/22: Jennifer Aniston (actress – promoting movie “Cake”) I would love it if Jon asked Mike how he went from "Stop Digging Your Grave with a Knife and Fork" to "Grits and Gravy." Now that eating right and exercising are part of the Obama Conspiracy, no Republican can ever be seen as supporting those things. Therefore, we're back to Fat Huckabee.

Season 2 promo!!!

From Comedy Central: a press release announcing 3 contributors to TNS. Shenaz Treasury is a popular Bollywood actor, writer, TV host, and travel and cultural reporter who has lived and worked all over the globe. She began her career with MTV Asia and became a household name in India at the age of sixteen. She was nominated for a Filmfare Award for her first Bollywood film “Ishq Vishk,” which went on to be an Asia-wide box office phenomenon. Her film “Delhi Belly” was the biggest hit of 2011 in India, and was one of the top ten films on iTunes that year. She also wrote, produced and hosted the series “Culture Shock” on the Travel Channel. Four years ago, she immigrated to the U.S. Ricky Velez is a stand-up comedian who was born and raised in Queens. Last month he was named “New York’s Funniest” by the New York Comedy Festival and one of Comedy Central’s “Comics to Watch.” He is repped by UTA and 3Arts. Originally from St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands, Mike Yard is a New York City based stand-up comedian who regularly headlines at clubs across the country. Yard was also the stand-up winner of Comedy Central’s “Get Up Stand Up” online competition and performed with Greg Giraldo in Jamaica. His television appearances include Comedy Central’s “Inside Amy Schumer” and “Live at Gotham,” HBO’s “Def Comedy Jam” produced by Russell Simmons, “The Apollo Comedy Hour” and BET’s “Comic View.”

The LWT Twitter feed announced this morning that the first show of the new season will air on Feb. 8.

Another new promo: http://on.cc.com/1Fu6EFS

The main reason I was happy to see the new set is because if Comedy Central was willing to spend a bunch of money fancying it up, they're obviously committed to the show for the long haul. I believe "With Chris Hardwick" has also been added to the logo. I don't recall seeing his name featured so prominently before.

Here's an interesting article about the homeless program in Salt Lake City, in case anyone's curious about learning more. It looks like the field piece represented it pretty accurately, which hasn't always been the case with TDS' field pieces. The writer who came up with the Nazi Cow story deserves a raise.

1/12: Jimmy Carter (former president, promoting the Guinea Worm Eradication Exhibit at AMNH) 1/13: Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL & author – promoting book “American Dreams: Restoring Economic Opportunity for Everyone”) 1/14: Julianne Moore (actress – promoting movie “Still Alice”) 1/15: Sienna Miller (actress – promoting movie “American Sniper”)

I have to put in a plug for Judge John Hodgman. Real-life people come on the show to have John Hodgman decide their minor disputes. It's hilarious, informative and sometimes even moving. New eps every Wednesday.

Bumping this up to remind everybody that for starting tomorrow, for 2 weeks, @Midnight will begin at 11:29 and 59 seconds instead of the usual 11:59. A Funches episode will be the perfect way to kick off the new year.

And the frequent Andy Cohen plugs for that tablet computer -- ugh. I do agree that the #1 clip ("Maury") was a deserving winner, though.

Looks like Colbert's Late Show will be solely owned by CBS. Of course, Jon (and Busboy) still holds onto the 11:30 slot on Comedy Central...

I've said all along that there is no way Jon will leave TDS until he's sure that "The Nightly Show" is established, which could take at least a year. I think it's very, very likely that he'll hang on through the 2016 elections. The time to worry will be 2016; if he's going to quit, mark my words, it'll be a December 2016 send-off. I also love, love, love Jessica and think it would be wonderful to see her host her own show someday. She's still very young, though (25!!!!) so my guess is that she's smart enough to stick around TDS to gain more experience and continue to learn from some of the more seasoned writers/performers.

Here is the latest list: 1/5/15 Ron Funches, Nikki Glaser, Jon Daly 1/6/15 Paul F. Tompkins, Tom Lennon, Paget Brewster 1/7/15 Andy Daly, Brett Gelman, Paul Scheer 1/8/15 Scott Aukerman, Steve Agee, Sarah Silverman 1/12/15 Marc Maron, Jen Kirkman, John Hodgman 1/13/15 Doug Benson, Hari Kondabolu, Grace Helbig 1/14/15 Ari Shaffir, Judah Friedlander 1/15/15 Whitney Cummings, Neal Brennan 1/19/15 Patton Oswalt, Kyle Kinane 1/20/15 Nick Thune, Ben Kronberg 1/21/15 Rory Scovel, Emily Heller, Rene Gube 1/26/15 Ken Marino, John Gemberling, Tymberlee Hill 1/27/15 Jim Norton, John Roy 2/2/15 Nick Kroll, Jon Daly, Seth Morris 2/11/15 Lauren Cohan, Robert Kirkman, Josh McDermitt

Inquiring minds want to know: what was the "really awkward question"?

A seasonal message from John Oliver: (Edited to add: For some reason, the video was changed to "Set to private," despite the fact that I copied it directly from LWT's YouTube channel. Luckily, someone else posted it below...)

Stephen should invite Doris Kearns Goodwin and Neil DeGrasse Tyson to be early guests on his new show. I'll bet he'd love to interview them as Stephen, not "Stephen," and it would be reassuring to the Report fans that there'd still be a little continuity there.

Oh my God, me too. I was a mess. Laughing/crying. My husband was trying to console me by saying that "The Nightly Show" will be starting soon -- I'm a huge Larry Wilmore fan and always get so darned excited whenever he turns up as the Senior Black Correspondent on TDS -- but I didn't want to hear it. I'm sure TNS will be good, but STEPHEN. Dammit, my eyes are moistening just thinking about it. And torontomeridith, I too was just delighted to see Trevor Potter! And Neil DeGrasse Tyson -- I knew he'd have to be there! The whole finale was such a gift to members of the Nation.

1/5: Steven Brill (author – promoting book “America's Bitter Pill: Money, Politics, Back-Room Deals, and the Fight to Fix Our Broken Healthcare System”) 1/6: Cass Sunstein (author – promoting book “Wiser: Getting Beyond Groupthink to Make Groups Smarter”) 1/7: Ava DuVernay (director – promoting movie “Selma”) 1/8: Allison Williams (actress – promoting “Girls”)

As someone who was born in Sweden and grew up in the U.S. Midwest, I can tell you that it happened all the time. There were two reactions when people heard the word Sweden: (a) they confused it with Switzerland or (b) they said "bork bork bork." I'd rather have IKEA jokes, frankly. With only one show left before the break, I hope Jon & co. will tackle both Cuba and the Sony hack. If you are at all interested in the latter topic, there is tons of fascinating reporting being done, and a lot of it shows that there is little evidence that North Korea was behind the hack, despite what some officials believe. Whatever coverage it may get on TDS tonight, it's likely to be brief, so I can't imagine they'll be able to do a really deep dive into the issue.

Congratulations to John Oliver for being named "The Left's Sneering Cosmopolitan" by the right-wing National Review! (I haven't seen the story, just the cover)

My impression was that the piece on the Swedish prime minister was supposed to be a favorable comparison about how Swedish politics work (compromise!) vs. here in the U.S., and then after the segment was taped, that initial concept was completely blown to shreds by the recent developments there. Rather than scrap it, they probably just threw it on as a pre-Xmas break placeholder. Lofven's visit to New York (where the interview was taped) took place in mid-November; he was in town for the 25th anniversary of the Unicef Convention on the Rights of the Child, which took place about a month ago.

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