trow125

I'm not sure I agree with that. Remember, Herman Cain appeared on TDS numerous times -- hell, John Oliver did a whole series with him. Part of the reason Jon may want him back is because he was so game to participate in their show. I suspect that Jon is 100% sure that Cain could never actually be elected president, but the idea of having a hilarious albeit "legitimate" GOP candidate willing to appear on his show over & over again is downright irresistible. Edited to add: just got this press release from CC:

6/9: Philip K. Howard (author – promoting book “The Rule of Nobody: Saving America from Dead Laws and Broken Government”) 6/10: Sebastian Junger (author/filmmaker – promoting documentary “Korengal”) 6/11: Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY) 6/12: Christopher Walken (actor – promoting movie “Jersey Boys”)

I think they're airing it on Sunday nights because that is THE night for HBO. They always put their hottest shows on Sundays. I would imagine they felt LWT would get a stronger viewership if they could couple it with the powerhouse lineup of "Game of Thrones," "Veep," etc. Initially, I thought Friday at 11 (following Bill Maher) would have been a better time slot... but the Sunday airing practically guarantees that the funniest bits (like the FCC thing) will go viral on Monday mornings, when more people are online than they would be on the weekend. Ease into the workweek by watching John Oliver on YouTube, or Tweeting/Facebooking about it if you saw it on Sunday night. So it's a pretty savvy strategy, actually.

After Jon returned from shooting his movie, there was a really elaborate "Daily Show" taped piece in which Jon ran through a bunch of permutations of facial hair until he finally emerged clean-shaven. I thought for sure there was going to be some kind of "evil Stephen" sketch involving the goatee'd Stephen vs. a clean-shaven Stephen -- maybe even the best (and hardest to film) "Formidable Opponent" ever? It'll be interesting to see if he's beardless tonight, or if they take it any further.

One little teaser for an upcoming episode (or episodes): on the latest Bugle, John mentioned that he was in England during the Memorial Day break filming segments for LWT. The World Cup in Brazil (starting next week!) should give him plenty to talk about as well, since he & Andy have been rather critical (justifiably so) of FIFA in the past. One of the things I like about LWT, though, is that I can never guess which topics will be covered on any given show. Unlike TDS they don't seem to have any particular commitment to covering the "big story," which may be why they left the Elliot Rodger story alone. Who could have imagined a piece about the Australian PM, and yet it was brilliant (and rather Bugle-esque as well).

I think that's the best thing about the show so far, and what will really differentiate it from the Comedy Central programs: HBO is obviously letting John do whatever he wants. Any program with sponsors would never go after major corporations week after week the way Oliver is doing.

I don't mind the musical guests, as long as they're interesting. My main problem is that some of the musical guests tend to be overexposed (i.e. the Black Keys performing a song they'd recently done on SNL; Hynde will be appearing on Jimmy Fallon's show the night before her TCR appearance). I'd rather see musicians who are NOT appearing on a bunch of other programs. The one difference is that Stephen always interviews them, but often those interviews simply prove why musical guests generally aren't interviewed when they appear on talk shows. Chrissie Hynde is a legend and a bad-ass rocker and hopefully she'll have a good conversation with Stephen.

Sad news: Bassem Youssef has ended his show.

Mo 6/2: Thomas Piketty Tu 6/3: Morgan Freeman We 6/4: Jonah Hill Th 6/5: Chrissie Hynde I'm looking forward to tomorrow's Piketty interview. He's French, he's an economist, and he's written a critique of capitalism -- I haven't seen him interviewed elsewhere, but I truly hope he's an it-getter, since I imagine "Stephen" will come for him with guns a-blazing!

Coming up this week: Mo 6/2: Greg Proops, Alison Rosen, Dana Gould Tu 6/3: Max Silvestri, Nick Thune, Kristen Schaal We 6/4: Bobby Lee, Arden Myrin, Tim Simons Th 6/5: Paul F. Tompkins, Heather Anne Campbell, Brett Gelman

Next week's guests include Mike Lawrence, Kurt Braunohler and Fortune Feimster (Monday, May 19); Ron Funches, Brent Morin and Rick Glassman (Tuesday, May 20); Matt Jones, Heather Anne Campbell and Moshe Kasher (Wednesday, May 21); and Doug Benson, Jen Kirkman and Greg Fitzsimmons (Thursday, May 22).

I think so. It said 96 last night, and the final show will air in mid-December. With four shows a week, plus vacation breaks, it seems like a reasonable number. Personally, I think the countdown is a horrible idea! Even though I'm looking forward to Larry Wilmore's show, I will miss TCR so much and would rather stay in denial a bit longer about the Nation's demise.

I mentioned over on TWoP that the number 97 appeared during the opening credits. If it says 96 tonight, we'll know he's counting down 'til his last show in December.

5/19: James McAvoy (actor – promoting movie “X-Men: Days of Future Past”) 5/20: Aneesh Chopra (author – promoting book “Innovative State: How New Technologies Can Transform Government”) 5/21: Timothy Geithner (former Secretary of the U.S. Department of the Treasury & author – promoting book “Stress Test: Reflections on Financial Crises”) 5/22: Drew Barrymore (actor promoting movie “Blended”) Week of 5/26: DARK!

Based on Sunday's episode, I think John is having fun with the freedom given him by HBO. Comedy Central's never gonna allow a close-up of flaccid old man penis on air, for better or for worse. In an ideal world, W. Kamau Bell would be asked to join the Wilmore Report team.

The Polish "butter churner" video is available to watch on Eurovision's YouTube channel. Enjoy!

Next week's guests include Jonah Ray, Emily Gordon and Maronzio Vance (Monday, May 12); Mike Phirman, Weird Al Yankovic and Mamrie Hart (Tuesday, May 13); Burnie Burns, Gus Sorola and Gavin Free (Wednesday, May 14); and Myq Kaplan, Emily Heller and a guest TBD (Thursday, May 15).

5/12: Dr. Martin Blaser (author – promoting book “Missing Microbes: How the Overuse of Antibiotics Is Fueling Our Modern Plagues”) 5/13: Ron Suskind (author – promoting book “Life, Animated: A Story of Sidekicks, Heroes, and Autism”) 5/14: Blondie (band – promoting new double album “Blondie 4(0) Ever”) 5/15: Jim Parsons (actor – promoting HBO movie “The Normal Heart”)

5/12 GLENN GREENWALD - Author, “No Place to Hide: Edward Snowden, the NSA, and the U.S. Surveillance State” 5/13 THE BLACK KEYS - Album, “Turn Blue” 5/14 KERI RUSSELL - “The Americans” 5/15 THOMAS FRIEDMAN - “Years of Living Dangerously” (SHOWTIME)

I guess there's not necessarily going to be a guest -- John did mention at the end that there was a web exclusive interview up with journalist Simon Ostrovsky. I think the show really needs to be bumped up to an hour. There was also a funny letter from Pom Wonderful read by John, that is also up on YouTube.

Next week's guests include Dan St. Germain, Jamie Lee and Jared Logan (Monday, May 5); Scott Aukerman, Jerry Minor and James Adomian (Tuesday, May 6); Marc Maron, Nate Bargatze and Natasha Leggero (Wednesday, May 7); and Matt Besser, Rich Fulcher and Lauren Lapkus (Thursday, May 8).

5/5/14 EDWARD O. WILSON - Author, “A Window on Eternity: A Biologist's Walk Through Gorongosa National Park” 5/6/14 BETTE MIDLER - Author, “ A View from a Broad” 5/7/14 DAVID REMNICK - Editor, The New Yorker 5/8/14 ELLEN PAGE - Film, “X-Men: Days of Future Past”

5/5: Mariano Rivera (former New York Yankee & author – promoting book “The Closer”) 5/6: Peter Schuck (author – promoting book “Why Government Fails So Often: And How It Can Do Better”) 5/7: Seth Rogen (actor – promoting movie “Neighbors”) 5/8: Katie Couric (journalist – promoting documentary “Fed Up”)

I'd like to see some other featured performers whom John can bounce things off of, similar to the way TDS employs John Hodgman, Larry Wilmore, Kristin Schaal, etc. for desk pieces with Jon Stewart. Ideally, Andy Zaltzman will eventually turn up, but I'm sure there are plenty of NY-based performers who could appear in the meantime.

Another new correspondent joins the Best F*ing News Team. Also, since diversity always comes up with new TDS hires: Che is African-American. Che is his middle name; he was named after Che Guevara, according to IMDB. Here's a profile from the NYT. NEW YORK, April 28, 2014 - "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" has tapped comedian and writer Michael Che to become its newest correspondent, joining the roster of "The Best F*ing News Team Ever!" from the Emmy® and Peabody® Award-winning show in June. Currently a writer on NBC's "Saturday Night Live," Michael Che (@CheThinks) has enjoyed a meteoric rise as a stand-up comedian. In 2013, Che was named by Rolling Stone as one of "The 50 Funniest People" and as one of Variety's "10 Comics to Watch." The year prior, he was crowned the winner of New York's Funniest Stand-Up competition at the New York Comedy Festival. The New York Times describes him as possessing "a reflective, laid-back stage presence with jokes that draw as much from his city upbringing...as from blunt, insightful points that bring the abstract into focus."