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10/27/14 Meredith Vieira - “The Meredith Vieira Show” 10/28/14 Michael Lewis - 25th Anniversary Of “Liar's Poker” 10/29/14 Jill Lepore - Author, “The Secret History Of Wonder Woman” 10/30/14 David Miliband - Former British Foreign Secretary & CEO, International Rescue Committee

*TDS IN AUSTIN, TX* 10/27: Wendy Davis (State Senator and Gubernatorial Candidate, D-TX, & author – promoting book “Forgetting to Be Afraid: A Memoir”) 10/28: Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-TX) 10/29: TBD 10/30: Spoon (band – promoting album “They Want My Soul”)

Reviving this old, old thread because I was thinking about something today -- there are only 30 or so TCR episodes left, and I was curious if Stephen and his writers will give us some fan service ("material which is intentionally added to please the audience") before riding into the sunset. Which old segments would you like to see before the end? I'd love to see the On Notice board, a toss with Jon Stewart, and Formidable Opponent, but I'm sure there are plenty I'm forgetting. (Maybe an all-bear Threatdown?) I was delighted that he brought back the Atone Phone last month, as it didn't make an appearance last year.

And of course the dog playing Thomas will never have to "speak" -- they can just go to him for reaction shots.

I have a Boston terrier so I just FLIPPED when I saw the Supreme Court bit, which featured a Boston in the role of Sonia Sotomayor. I have to hand it to the LWT "casting director" for not making the chihuahua play Justice Sotomayor (I believe the chihuahua was Ruth Bader Ginsburg). Ooh, somebody's already made a video (I'm guessing this particular case was picked because it contains a dog reference!).

I really hope John Oliver shaves his 'stache before showtime. (Spotted on the LWT Instagram)

You are referring to me, I believe. I attended a taping in August and posted my report here. At least if you go during the colder months, it won't be so frickin' hot in the waiting area! I follow LWT on Twitter and they Tweet an alert every Sunday when they have released tickets. All I did was go to the web site, fill in the form, and wait for them to confirm via email. I live in California and was only going to be in NY for 1 Sunday, so I didn't have a lot of leeway. However, it's a large studio so there's room for a big audience. That said, I believe they've already filled up their audiences for 2014 -- their last show of the year airs Nov. 9 (sob) -- so check back again in a few weeks. And if you want to pay cash money to see John Oliver as opposed to getting the free LWT tix, he has a boatload of dates coming up while the show is on hiatus.

Aasif is busy working on his HBO show, but he was a guest on my local public radio station's morning chat show last week and said he would be appearing on TDS again very soon. So while he's no longer a regular correspondent, it sounds like he'll still be popping up from time to time.

10/20/14 Tom Lennon, Cameron Esposito, Daniel Sloss (R 10/1/14) 10/21/14 Brody Stevens, Arden Myrin, Ron Funches (R 9/10/14) 10/22/14 Grace Helbig, Henry Zebrowski, Matt Mira (R 10/9/14) 10/23/14 Kyle Kinane, Hari Kondabolu, Doug Benson (R 9/29/14) 10/27/14 Rob Corddry, Alison Becker, Dannah Phirman 10/28/14 Doug Benson, Ari Shaffir, Steve Rannazzisi 10/29/14 Steve Lemme, Jay Chandrasekhar, Kevin Heffernan 10/30/14 Steve Agee, Brian Posehn, Aisha Tyler

Plus you need to attend a TDS taping at some point in your life! BTW, I haven't gotten any info about next week's shows, but I'm assuming it'll be a rerun week, as the show will be taping in Austin during the week of the 27th.

I found an article about Bob Larson, the Skype exorcist, and not surprisingly, he has nothing to do with the Catholic Church. He is "the head of the Spiritual Freedom Church of Scottsdale, Arizona." The other exorcist appears to be a legitimate Catholic: "Fr. Gary Thomas is the mandated exorcist for the Diocese of San Jose, California. In 2005, his bishop, Most Rev. Patrick Joseph McGrath, asked him to take training in Rome for the rite of exorcism." (Catholic.com)

Oh, last night after the show, I Googled "chocolate freedom White House," and it turns out it's... a chocolate soufflé. Maybe it was named back in the Freedom Fries era, when "soufflé" may have sounded too French?

"The Minority Report" has hired its head writer:

What's the deal with Arby's bringing TDS all of that free food? If you are typical, Victor the Crab, then it really is true that any publicity is better than no publicity. "Hey, TDS just said that Arby's food tastes like raw sewage! Now I'm really craving one of their sandwiches!" The Democratic candidate from Staten Island reminded me of Miss Teen South Carolina from a few years ago. You'd think somebody running for Congress would be more eloquent than a teenage beauty pageant contestant.

There was a lot of coverage a couple years ago that the Obama emails that got the best response (i.e. most $$$) had the subject line "Hey." I'm pretty sure TDS did a similar piece on the Dem email blasts during the 2012 cycle. My late grandmother used to send me her some of the GOP direct mail pieces she received (like, actual paper that comes to your home mailbox) because she knew I got a kick out of them. A lot of them had the same desperate tone as the Dem emails. It wouldn't surprise me if the GOP still makes more money by sending paper mail than it does with email, since its constituency is older (case in point, my grandmother, who died at 91).

There are a few Thai and Burmese restaurants in my town that serve pumpkin curries, and they're delicious. I suspect some small amount of the population is eating a lot of pumpkin, skewing the averages, whereas most people only eat pumpkin-flavored things. Heck, Trader Joe's alone has about a zillion pumpkin spice flavored products, including pumpkin-flavored O's (their store-brand Cheerios).

John takes on pumpkin spice:

It's 100% dudes on both TCR and TDS next week. It's interesting to me that "@Midnight," which is a panel show featuring comedians -- talk about a traditionally male world -- strives to feature at least one female on every panel, while TDS and TCR -- which can draw from the entire world of actors, newsmakers, authors, activists, etc. -- often go for several days with no women guests.

TDS had a nice response to Malala's win on their Twitter feed today. Maybe she'll be the MoZ on Monday...

The current TDS contributors are Lewis Black, Kristin Schaal, John Hodgman and Larry Wilmore. Obviously Larry will be moving on soon, if he hasn't already...

Next week's guests include Jo Koy, Jen Kirkman and Matt Braunger (Monday, October 13); Justin Willman, Jonah Ray and Mamrie Hart (Tuesday, October 14); Kurt Braunohler, Thomas Dale and Mary Lynn Rajskub (Wednesday, October 15); and Scott Aukerman, Jon Daly and Brett Gelman (Thursday, October 16).

NEW CORRESPONDENT ALERT! HASAN MINHAJ AND TREVOR NOAH JOIN COMEDY CENTRAL'S® "THE DAILY SHOW WITH JON STEWART" AS THE NEWEST MEMBERS OF "THE BEST F*ING NEWS TEAM EVER!" NEW YORK, October 10, 2014 - "The Best F*ing News Team Ever!" is getting bigger and bester with the Emmy® and Peabody® Award-winning "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" adding two new members to its roster with Hasan Minhaj beginning in November as a correspondent and Trevor Noah joining as a contributor in December. According to the link, Minhaj is an Indian-American comedian, actor and writer, and Noah is a South African stand-up comedian who has appeared on Letterman and had his own Showtime special.

Former correspondent Aasif Mandvi has a new book out called No Land's Man and it looks like it might have some TDS content:

The main thing that bugs me about BillO's appearances is that there is absolutely zero chance that he will EVER change his mind on anything, no matter how many times Jon rolls 212. The guy is sure he is right and from accounts I've read will never admit he's wrong, even when presented proof. ("It’s often simpler to let him believe something erroneously than it is to correct him... He’d latched on to the story, and pesky things like 'facts' weren’t going to convince him otherwise.") Gen. Patton himself could come back from the dead and tell Bill his "mercenary army" idea is terrible and I am sure Papa Bear would still be 100% convinced it's a brilliant strategy.

Here's an interesting take on the "meet the Press" story from Time.com's James Poniewozik: Could Jon Stewart Have Put Sunday Morning Shows Out of Their Misery?