trow125

I think the main reason that Maher hasn't been on TDS since 2008 (when he went on to promote "Religulous") has more to do with the fact that he's based in L.A. Despite Maher's criticisms, I suspect their interview will be cordial, and the topic of the rally won't come up. It wouldn't surprise me at all if Jon was a "Real Time" viewer; Maher's show has a similar mix of serious guests, showbiz personalities, and silly comedy bits.

God no. I am certain that Jon truly despises Trump. For one thing, he rips into him with such gusto (watch the brilliantly named "Me Lover's Pizza with Crazy Broad" segment if you haven't seen it yet); for another, Trump lives in New York and he has never been a guest on TDS. Ever. Considering how much Trump loves publicity, I'm sure he would not turn down the chance to go toe-to-toe with Jon (especially if he could have promoted "The Celebrity Apprentice" back when it was still polluting the airwaves). Jon would NEVER allow the Donald in his house. Bill Kristol? Betsy McCaughey? Lynne Cheney? Sure. But Donald Trump? No.

In the early days of "Colbert," at the end of "The Daily Show," Jon and Stephen would briefly banter with each other via (I presume) satellite -- "Colbert" is taped after TDS, and it would be timed so that they could film this segment at the end of TDS' taping and the beginning of Colbert's. (I was once in the Colbert live audience when they did it, and Jon appeared on the monitors.) I suspect it was mostly to remind TDS viewers to stay up and watch Colbert, and once the Report became mega-popular, it wasn't really necessary. It was probably a logistical nightmare to coordinate the taping times, so they gradually let it go, to the dismay of many of us old-timers.

You know, I estimate that I've watched 99.9% of TDS episodes since Jon took over -- I was an early adopter -- but I couldn't bring myself to watch Betsy McCaughey. That's one of the few I simply couldn't stomach. Jim Cramer was great, though, and spawned the "Daily Show" meme, "Roll 212!" I just remembered another one of my favorite clips, though -- Barney's White House Christmas, featuring the late Barney and the late Tony Snow (one of Bush's press secretaries). I've watched this several times throughout the years. Stuff like this kept me sane during the Bush era.

If The Donald is truly self-aware enough to start appreciating TDS's coverage of him, I hope he changes his Twitter handle to @FuckfaceVonClownstick. I was a little disappointed that there was no Cheney coverage this week -- I thought for sure we'd get some "You Don't Know Dick" after his editorial in the WSJ and TV appearance. Jon's Cheney impression is a favorite of mine.

It wouldn't surprise me if many Republicans feel the EPA should just be abolished. Rick Perry would probably have it on his list along with the Commerce Department, the Department of Education, and, uh...

Next week's guests include Jason Nash, Busy Philipps and Andy Daly, stars of the movie "Jason Nash Is Married" (Monday, June 23); Doug Benson, Nikki Glaser and Ron Funches (Tuesday, June 24); Steve Byrne, Owen Benjamin and Roy Wood Jr., cast of the TV series "Sullivan & Son" (Wednesday, June 25); and Harley Morenstein, Grace Helbig and Hannah Hart (Thursday, June 26). None of the names from June 26 rang a bell, but they are, I guess, YouTube celebrities. Respectively: "Epic Meal Time"; "it'sGrace"; and "My Drunk Kitchen." Oh, and after next week, the show will be on hiatus for 2 weeks (as will "The Daily Show" and "Colbert"). Back July 14.

Nooooo! Andy Zaltzman Tweeted this morning: Buglers. I have some news. We will, regrettably, be taking a sabbatical until September. Full explanation in a sub-Bugle, due out later... We will be putting out sub-Bugles most weeks between now and September, with (mostly) original material... But, with John's show still in its early days, we don't have time to do The Bugle properly. As you might have noticed in recent weeks... We're aiming to be back in early/mid September. Many apologies, hope you understand. See you all in Edinburgh. All. I mean all. Can't say I'm terribly surprised. But I am sad. The only thing that would make up for it would be Zaltzman appearing on LWT.

Here is a longer article about the study about racial identity.

John Oliver will be the guest on NPR's "Fresh Air" radio show tomorrow (Thursday). The host, Terry Gross, is a huge "Daily Show"/"Colbert" fan, so I'm sure she's been following his career for quite a while and will ask good questions. Also, Oliver will appear on Bravo's "Watch What Happens Live" on Tuesday the 24th, along with "Real Housewife" Sonja Morgan. That should be weird...

Fremde Frau, if you are looking for some really fun pieces, try the Even Steph/ven bits with Steve Carell and Stephen Colbert -- in fact, almost everything featuring Carell (remember, he was a total unknown when he started on TDS) is solid gold. I also recommend the Code Pink segment with Rob Riggle -- I particularly enjoyed that one because I used to live just a few blocks from Code Pink's Bay Area HQ -- and the pieces (I think there were at least a couple) where Wyatt Cenac visited senior citizens' facilities in Florida during the 2008 election season. Also, I'm not sure why I love this one so much, but the Counter Clinton Library piece, and Ed Helms' All-Star Salute to Getting Hit in the Nuts. There's some great early John Oliver material too. Back to present time, I believe tonight's guest, Kevin Hart, is a "Daily Show" first-timer. Should be interesting to see how he and Jon interact.

For pity's sake, that ALONE should be enough to disqualify McCain from ever getting to speak as an "expert" about anything ever again. Fremde Frau, I know you are a fairly new TDS viewer, but my husband & I were speculating last night if Jon sounds especially bitter about McCain (a.k.a. "Johnny Rotten Judgment") because he was once a "friend of the show." Yes, John McCain used to appear as a guest on "The Daily Show" regularly. I believe his last appearance was a few months before he received the Republican nomination in 2008. McCain's behavior during the campaign, not to mention the Palin pick, was the nail in the coffin to that bromance.

6/23/14 JOHN GREEN - Author, “The Fault in our Stars” 6/24/14 EDIE FALCO - “Nurse Jackie” SHOWTIME 6/25/14 CONGRESSWOMAN ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON - District of Columbia 6/26/14 PAUL RUDD - Film, “They Came Together”

6/23: Bill Maher (host of “Real Time with Bill Maher”) 6/24: Jennifer Esposito (actress & author – promoting book “Jennifer's Way: My Journey with Celiac Disease--What Doctors Don’t Tell You and How You Can Learn to Live Again”) 6/25: Keira Knightly (actress – promoting movie “Begin Again”) 6/26: Melissa McCarthy (actress – promoting movie “Tammy”) Weeks of 6/30 & 7/7: DARK!

Program note: Jennifer Esposito will not be appearing on Thursday's show, as previously scheduled. She will be on next week instead. The new guest is Hamid Al-Bayati (former Permanent Representative of Iraq to the United Nations).

Next week's guests include Deon Cole, Jesse Joyce and a guest TBA (Monday, June 16); Randy Sklar, Jason Sklar and Erin Foley (Tuesday, June 17); Chris D'Elia, Will Sasso and Bryan Callen (Wednesday, June 18); and David Wain, Michael Showalter and Michaela Watkins (Thursday, June 19).

6/16 TA-NEHISI COATES - "The Case for Reparations," article in The Atlantic 6/17 DAVID BOIES & THEODORE B. OLSON - Authors, “Redeeming The Dream: The Case for Marriage Equality” 6/18 KATTY KAY & CLAIRE SHIPMAN - Co-authors, “The Confidence Code: The Science and Art of Self-Assurance---What Women Should Know” 6/19 JAY CARNEY - Former White House Press Secretary

6/16: Howard Schultz (chairman, president and chief executive officer of Starbucks) 6/17: Daniel Schulman (author – promoting book “Sons of Wichita: How the Koch Brothers Became America's Most Powerful and Private Dynasty”) 6/18: Kevin Hart (comedian & actor – promoting movie “Think Like a Man Too”) 6/19: Jennifer Esposito (actress & author – promoting book “Jennifer's Way: My Journey with Celiac Disease--What Doctors Don’t Tell You and How You Can Learn to Live Again”)

And the kitties. (Here's a sneak preview of tonight's show, courtesy of LWT's fabulous Instagram feed.)

I would LOVE to see them put the extended versions up on CC on a regular basis! That was awesome. And interesting to see the scores in "real time." I'm looking forward to Steve Agee on Monday's show, since he was the person who came up with my all time favorite @Midnight joke (the one about "Pervert Dave" and his dog, "Sad Jeff").

MONDAY 6/9 • Dave Hill, Steve Agee, Michelle Buteau TUESDAY 6/10 • Rob Riggle, Ice Cube, Jimmy Tatro WEDNESDAY 6/11 • Tommy Johnagin, Maria Bamford, Jackie Kashian THURSDAY 6/12 • Jimmy Pardo, Ali Wong, Ian Edwards

Wasn't Jordin Sparks an American Idol contestant? I think stillshimpy was mixing up two different Jordans! I fell asleep during the Tom Cruise interview. First, however, I did make note of the fact that Jon and Tom are the same age. Must admit that Tom is doing a pretty good job of staying young looking.

The Herman Cain op-ed was apparently syndicated from his own web site, so I guess it's real. The "shucky ducky" had me convinced it was a parody, but... I guess not!

It has been stated in the press that the "Tonight Show" producers are insisting that celebrity guests appear with Jimmy Fallon first before they go on any other show, and based on my observation of the lineups, that definitely appears to be the case. (For instance, Tom Cruise is appearing on Fallon tonight, and will appear on "The Daily Show" tomorrow. He did go on Kimmel earlier, but that might be a geography thing, and I would guess NBC would be willing to make an exception for a celebrity of his status.) As long as Fallon stays #1, I presume celebrities and their managers/studios will continue to go along with that. The biggest celeb on Letterman this week is Hugh Jackman, and I am sure he's coming on primarily to promote the Tony Awards, airing this Sunday on CBS. Barring some kind of miracle turnaround in the ratings, Colbert will not have the juice to get the biggest names to appear on his show; even if celebs like him personally, business is business, and NBC is historically the late night ratings leader. Which is good news, I think, for those of us who don't want Colbert's "Late Show" to be just another late night talk show.

6/9/14 ESTHER PEREL - Author, “Mating in Captivity: Unlocking Erotic Intelligence” 6/10/14 JOHN WATERS - Author, “Carsick” 6/11/14 ROB RHINEHART - Software Engineer created Soylent, a liquid food replacement 6/12/14 JAMES WEBB - Author, “I Heard My Country Calling” Really excited about the Wed. show, because I'm kind of obsessed with Soylent (though not enough to try it, mind you -- I just hope somebody will take the idea and make it taste good, not like "watery pancake batter," as I've seen it described). Maybe Stephen will do an on-air taste test?