Delwyn

You can rest a bit easier about those stones, Dave: the technology exists. They can use sound waves to break them up. My uncle had it done to great success.

I can't have been the only viewer who assumed that Ben lifted his character entirely from the King of the Dead in Lord of the Rings.

My favourite part about the delicious baked potatoes at Medieval Times is that they did not actually have potatoes in medieval times. Despite that, it seems like Liv is having a way cooler childhood than mine.

I literally had both hands over my face listening to John Ramos fail at the GoT clips. Aw. Also, I have been following everyone involved's coverage of TV since TWOP in about 2004 and only just realized that John Ramos and Couch Baron are both the same awesome person. Duh.

I guess this settles it: John Oliver is the world's most patient and talented troll. Seven months of tithes via snail mail is a very long game. Turning satire into a legal, tax-free way to contribute to a charity that actually helps people, instead paying for planes, is impressive. That's a pretty bold move, creating your own church. Kudos. I had an unexpected and macabre out loud laugh at the line "anyway, the casualties number in the thousands." The timing and change of tone masterfully illustrated how silly the news can make very serious issues look.

This comment sent chills down my spine at how deep this problem cuts (not directed at Eegah, at all). At that moment it occurred to me how Twilight and, as a direct result, Fifty Shades of Nonsense completely tie into this backwards way of raising kids. How can those fictional male "heroes" not be construed as people who frequently break the law and violate consent, but are still considered sexy while doing so? Telling girls that they are garbage - it just makes me sad that we say people in other countries are deplorable for this behaviour and then teach it in schools? Women have voting rights but are not allowed to know their bodies or understand that they are not a bad person for saying no. Boys should watch the previously mentioned movies and be taught that that is super-gross behaviour. If your daughter is into Edward Cullen, you should be worried. ETA: Sorry for the weirdo typos, I got a new touch screen/keyboard hybrid computer today and typing has a learning curve.

So sweet that the title card was Jon Stewart and Jonathan Banks joining in the fun with all the other awesome folks was great. I also liked "trump is a douche, shut it down", but was surprised he didn't somehow acknowledge North Korea making a new time zone. I continue to have gratitude that I live in an open minded community that makes US sex and gun laws seem pretty archaic.

There were some okay parts, but I really hated this leg for a few reasons. 1. Putting racers in possibly physically harmful conditions back to back. Burying someone in cold sand in a trough of North Atlantic Ocean water and then putting them straight back in the cold water, both for an indeterminate amount of time on the same day, seems dangerous and mean. The poor person's sacrifice of freezing their butt off at the sandcastle was then immediately negated by the kayak hockey results. I can't imagine how it must feel as a father to watch your kid suffer that badly because you are struggling with a detail on a sandcastle. That is a psychological aspect that was hard to watch. No wonder once Kristen was unearthed and couldn't move, he was like "nope, straight to the hospital. My kid's welfare is more important than this stupid race." 2. Sabrina and Nic did not get the advertised "hourglass" penalty at the Face Off for being last. Why did the editor's even include that part if they just had to explain it away later? They didn't have to do a task that teams had to complete simply because others physically couldn't it without risking their health. Then, despite having skipped that, they still didn't do the u-turn detour because they were so frickin' late and still somehow came in ahead of two teams. It would have been a pretty depressing result if not for the TBC. ETA: after typing that out, I realized that even though Nic and Sabrina skipped kayaking, they were still so far behind that it became impossible for them to have completed both sides of the detour because it got dark. That must be poor production planning? When your u-turn amounts to a time penalty instead of doing the task? 3. I think I can see what they were trying to do with the activity and gimmick heavy leg. All teams are bunched arriving at a very small location. You need Face Offs and u-turns to have any hope of shuffling teams. But! Then they don't eliminate a team and there will almost certainly be a bunch getting off the island so NONE of it mattered in the end. Kristen got injured for no reason. (Was I not paying attention or did she not have to climb those stairs?) I did like how, in theory, the tasks had a lot of variety and it was engaging in that way. Gino and Jesse made a fairly reasoned use of the U-turn, considering most people use it for petty revenge. But I also loved Brent and Sean outsmarting the situation and correctly assessing that they would be fine without burning the EP. Sorry, that was really long. I love when a leg really tests the teams but the unneccessary cold torture and Nic and Sabrina's free passes really bugged.

I have to disagree with that. CNN has certainly been a target, but after watching the Month Of Zen, FOX has taken the brunt of Jon's ire to a pretty extreme and comical degree. I personally could use a break from FOX news just because I think their speculative/anger coverage is so awful. I have a cringe response to a picture of all their "news people" at this point. If Noah and the writers can diversify the satire, more power to them. I am looking forward to a broader version of this show and hope that we can see an incarnation which takes into account that 24 hour news is not as relevant as our current social media climate for information delivery. Speculative journalism is definitely worth mocking, but perhaps a dinosaur in the age of Twitter and all the instant first hand footage. Maybe the show could embrace and use this change for the better.

This story was linked on CNN's home page (but leads to Telelatino, a Canadian network) about Ottawa being the infidelity capital of the world: "Millions of cheaters to be exposed?" The opening blurb would seem to suggest that Last Week Tonight's piece about Ashley Madison has some sort of relevance to the reporting of the hacking situation, although it is maybe only name dropping to get attention. I have the utmost respect for LWT and TDS, etc for bringing these things to our awareness, but it worries me that reporters are considering a comedy show a legit news source. It's really sad (but not new) that entertainment media and news media have crossovers. It always bothered me that people Jon Stewart skewered took him seriously enough to rebutt his statements, much like Jack Warner did to JO. If you are a professional news person reporting facts like you are supposed to, LWT and TDS have no business making an appearance in your factual news piece. If it is accurate news, you will never have to defend yourself to a comedian or mention their opinion in your story.

Joyce Zeller - Eureka Springs City Council Member. Am I the only Red Dwarf fan who laughed and laughed at Smegma (the origins of smeg are definitely the 1970's Battlestar Galatica's Frak which they kept for the reboot)? I may be assuming way too many cultural references for fake swear words that may just have been picked to be gross.

Egh, all these jokey/braggy Brian Williams interviews are painful to watch. But yay for the tongue-in-cheek Leonard Nimoy narrated package about Romney's life. And also the show's subtitle for the 2012 RNC in Tampa being "The Road to Jeb Bush 2016." Nailed it. The Ferrell/Galifianakis/Hamm comedy team giving Jon crap about being terrible at interviews made me grin. A few screencaps collected during the last couple days of viewing: Steve and Jon holding hands like teenaged girls: Paul Rudd as Jon's first test guest looking older than today? The forearms made a return after all: That time there was a march and news media outlets forbade their employees from attending, even on their personal time: Rob Corddry's first return as a guest (yes, this picture features a bong allegedly belonging to Ed Helms, agiant dildo, a 7 year old frappucino and a book about Hitler):

Sniff. Seeing Steve Carell on as a guest talking about all the love for "papa bear" Jon and sense of home coming back to TDS was lovely. SC also suggested a reunion show, which I sincerely hope is an idea they will be using as a blueprint for the last show (or four).

Am I the last person to figure out that the digital red globe over Jon's desk is sometimes just random words? Some time a few days ago I noticed it (2008ish?) and didn't see it again until today because 2009 merited the demotion of back ground noise. But I glanced up today and: "galoshes". I also couldn't stop chuckling at Aasif pronouncing the word cheesesteak for 30 seconds straight and it was great to see his excellent run of "Team" segments with Wyatt again.

The top photo was from one of his first appearances, if not the first. Bad haircut and ill-fitting suits seemed to be kind of his thing for a while. Also, Rob Corddry should be getting residuals for #prattkeeping:

I had this cassette when I was ten so this gave me all the childhood feels. Major props to a lady in her 50's dancing on TV in a replica skin-tight white jumpsuit and a wig. That takes a level of bravery I cannot fathom.

I went to bed, then work and suddenly Obama has been president for four months. Things I learned from the show today: Kindle seems like kind of a scam; Tom Selleck is as bad with sheep as he is with water and thinks it's a joke; I did not notice until just now when he signed the Canada guest book (like a wedding!) that Obama is a lefty; in retrospect John Oliver was an obvious vacation replacement - the ease and chemistry he has with Jon during this year (mostly his deft and affectionate skewering of Jon being a subpar Oscar host compared to Hugh Jackman) portrays them as partners instead of the host/correspondent relationship he had with the other long time people. ETA: John Oliver used to look like this on TV all the time: John Oliver showed his forearms that one time: And then saw them in the monitor and immediately hid them forever.

The segment on food waste was pretty soul crushing. I feel bad if my spinach goes bad before I can finish it, but seeing all that fresh produce in the trash was heart breaking; I actually cried to see it. I have worked at the food bank and know that what people get is not a balanced diet. The sheer amount of waste was mind boggling to me and I'm grateful that at the very least my city has organic collection. I'm not sure I want to pull at the seams of that. How could anyone creating regulations see that and not do something? I hope no one in a third world country ever has to know this is a thing. The El Chapo bathroom tunnel story was pretty great, though. But: why was his bathtub nicer than mine while he was in custody?

Wow, the jokey vibe of the "what are we doing to pigs?" segment seems so far removed from Gestational Crates horrors. Which I guess is a pretty accurate gauge on how the tone of the show has changed over the last few years.

I am crushed to discover that I could have been watching this all along because I assumed that Comedy Central stuff would not be available in Canada as per usual. I just had 4 days off work with nothing to do and now these gems are passing me by while I have to be in the office, dammit. Even though I am happy Jon is moving on to better things, I still have all the nostalgia feels. It's also a pretty impressive overview of social/political/technological change over the years.

I don't think it's implausible that a "journalist" as famous as Barbara Walters could be swallowed up by internet/social media shaming in a heartbeat if she asked "what do you look like if I saw you naked?" of George Clooney or Sandra Bullock in a post-Oscar special about their genitals (Barbara: "George, is it true that you don't show movie goers your penis because you actually have a vagina?"). Is that for real? Although I can understand pronoun confusion from lack of education on the subject, I have to mirror JO's incredulity that it is anybody's business at all.I think what makes this show so successful is that John gets us all fired up about some really important and overlooked issues, but gleefully balances out the crushing reality with ostrich sex and hamsters eating tiny burritos. I don't take his topics any less seriously because of Space Geckos.

I'm sure someone will make a list. It is the internet. I am personally hoping it is going to be a one second clip of Rick Astley at 11:59:60 on the 30th. Greatest Rick Roll ever.

Is this the right place to post that some of my friends are pretty happy about this? NBC and Universal announce full Bombshell stage show.

Oh, I miss-read it as Vallauris, the artist commune in France that Picasso lived in. Guess my brain invented the S. You're probably right.

Besides the reprise of "Danger!" my favourite part of this episode was the Picasso (in French) "Last week tonight" poster in the background of the Internet parody. Amazing reference. Now I am wondering how many of these inside jokes I haven't noticed on the show before.