Fremde Frau

Thank you for that background, trow. That sounds like so much fun! Man, I wish they would do it once in a while. I love The Luvly Junkie's idea of them doing a nostalgic toss. Maybe TDS will do a toss with TMR once Wilmore has taken over that slot? That would be neat, too! This is so much fun, you guys. I just realized how many exclamation points I've been using lately, and I should be embarrassed. But this is so exciting, and I appreciate all of your recommendations and links!

I think the only thing more unsettling than The Donald endorsing Jon's coverage of him would be for him to try to put his name on Jon. (It did surprise me that he didn't mind being called "Fuckface Von Clownstick." He's not a friend of the show, is he? That would shock me. Just from the little bit I've seen, Jon seems to hate or at least dislike him, and Trump himself seems like such a petty person, always getting upset over the smallest things. Are they friendly despite everything, like O'Reilly and Jon?)

Julia, thank you for that background. I was growing up in Japan during the Clinton years, so I missed all of that. She almost reminds me of Palin, only with more focus and fewer skills (such as they are). trow, I had completely forgotten about Bush's dog. I feel weird saying anything related to Bush is cute, but that video really was cute! I can just imagine that Barney's existential angst must have been terrible: to be a true dog and remain loyal to his humans no matter what, or to turn his back on dogkind and Bush alike. Poor boy. (I didn't realize people in Canada couldn't see the videos! Why would Comedy Central or Viacom block other countries from viewing their clips? Wouldn't more viewers automatically be better for them?) EDIT: I looked up "toss" on the website, and I found some more of them! I thought I would bring it over here from that other thread. Oh my god, this is my new favorite thing! Will the magic ever cease? Jon is a Downer (10/15/2009) Reverse Toss (6/3/2009) On the Same Wavelength (2/24/2009) Stephen's Busy (11/17/2008) Who's the Toss? (10/15/2008) - Oh, I wish they'd do this for real. A DVD of tosses would make the best birthday gift ever. Emmy Fight (9/24/2008) I have to go, so I didn't watch them all, but there were a few more listed!

Oh my god, they're fucking adorable! I need more! What are these?? What's a Toss?? Are they in the same studio? Thank you so much for this, Victor the Crab and Bastet!! I tried to find this video a while ago, but to no avail. I didn't know how to find it when I saw the bit of it when Jon announced about Stephen going to CBS. I was crying, I was laughing so hard. I think this may be my favorite thing that Stephen's ever done on the show! How did he manage to pull it back at the end? God, I hope they release the show on DVD someday. I couldn't take it if Comedy Central ever decides to take down the website.

Wow, that Betsy McCaughey interview was something else. She acted as though she was teaching a seminar, preaching at the studio audience and waving her finger. I loved it when he turned around to face the audience. "Who are we talking to??" And now I can count on one finger the number of times I've seen an interviewer ask for and then take the time to read the specific page of a document that the interviewee brought as "proof" of her argument. On another note: it's a small thing inside a larger moment, but I was struck by her smirk when he responded to her statement that he's rich by saying that he doesn't therefore mind being taxed more because it's a way to give back. I saw the same sort of reaction online after his segment this year on food stamps, with people saying that he's extremely rich and is therefore a hypocrite for criticizing other rich people (including corporate "people") who want tax breaks. Is it so impossible for some people to understand that not everyone is self-interested to the point that they see becoming rich as a stage in some cosmic life cycle that now exonerates them from caring about those outside of their own tax bracket? I mean, the disconnect there is so extreme that they see the notion as laughable. maculae, mariah, and Victor the Crab, thank you for that background on the Jim Cramer interview! I had seen it a few months ago (some article on TDS had linked to it), but I didn't know the context behind it. After all of that, it shocks me that Cramer volunteered to be on the show. Had Jon ever done an interview like that before, or did Cramer maybe expect the standard, very polite Jon? I thought the Matthews interview was tense and awkward, but Jon was still jovial. He was dead serious in that Cramer interview. It was awesome, and I mean that in the less colloquial sense of truly inspiring awe. I couldn't look away from what was happening. (I'm betting that Santelli never showed up for a follow-up interview!) EDIT: I couldn't resist, so I looked up "Santelli" on the website, and I think I found the segments on CNBC that sparked the interview? CNBC Financial Advice (3/4/2009) In Cramer We Trust (3/9/2009) Basic Cable Personality Clash Skirmish '09 (3/10/2009) Whew. The first and last ones were particularly scathing. I can see why they set off Cramer and had Morning Joe hosting his pity party.

Wow, that Matthews interview was like a trip down the rabbit hole. Jon must have really hated what he read! It was hilarious to see him being cordial yet rude at the same time. "I'm not trashing your book; I'm trashing your philosophy of life!" "I don't troll." "...Friends?" What was that gesture at the beginning, with Matthews sticking his head over Jon's? And it was so bizarre that he walks in with his arms crossed. He seemed so full of nervous energy. Everything that could go wrong went wrong, and it was the most magical thing! Are there any interviews where it does get genuinely heated and not in a cordial way? Or do you have any favorite serious interviews, where you think Jon handled a difficult interviewee or topic particularly well? This is one of the few older interviews that I've seen so far, and it's one of my favorites, despite the interviewee: Mike Huckabee 2008, part 1 and especially part 2 (on marriage equality)

Jediknight, thank you! (I have not seen that one on Elian Gonzalez. I'll have to look that one up, too! EDIT: Found it! My face hurts again from laughing! My gosh, it's easy to see why Steve Carrell went on to become so famous and sought-after.) maculae, I did see that one! I thought I was going to die from laughing so hard! Was he really drunk, or is he that phenomenal an actor?? Steve and Stephen were so fantastic together. Their comic timing sparkles. (I cannot watch Fallon. I tried once, when he interviewed John Oliver, but his fake, exaggerated laughter was painful. I endured it for John, but once was enough. Well, okay, I watched that particular bit more than once because it's always so lovely to hear them talk about each other so warmly--Jon about Stephen and John, John about Jon and Stephen, Stephen about Jon and John, and just various people from the shows on various other people, etc. I can't get enough of interviews. They seem like such a close-knit family and so genuinely happy for each other's success. It's infectious! I just smile and smile and want to listen to more!) I wonder, too, if Jon's viewership will drop a bit when Stephen moves to CBS. I know The Daily Show has a larger audience than The Colbert Report, but it's not by very much, is it? I do hope Stephen steals away some of Fallon's demo, but I also hope for Larry Wilmore's sake that he finds a solid viewership, too. He's in such a tough position, not only taking Stephen's old slot but being in direct competition with his new show. (Mostly, I just hope they all visit each other--for fun, love, and trolling.) Speaking of Wilmore and Oliver, my latest discovery is N-Word! Simply brilliant! I don't think I'd seen Larry in a field piece before. Wilmore & Oliver, what a dream team! Could they come back sometime to do a buddy/guest episode together for TDS? I wish there was a tag for them, like Even Stevphen! Man, this show is like a kaleidoscope of comedy. You think you've seen the best cast member or the most hilarious bit, but a few clicks and the newest video is full of brilliance, too! How have they managed to sustain this for 15 years? It's incredible!

The Donald liked his segment: In other news (saw this linked on FaceBook): Howard Kurtz and his fellow Fox anchor discuss a viewer's comment on Jon Stewart edging out MSNBC in the "trusted" sweepstakes. The viewer's reasons: Jon is "left of center," "unapologetic about it," and "a thoughtful and decent human being." Surprisingly, Fox praises Jon as sincere and describes his "explanatory journalism" as clear and well done. (Even more surprisingly, the example they used was his recent love-triangle description of the Iraq situation.) Unsurprisingly, Fox gets stuck on the concept of "decency" and ends by reminding viewers that Fox is #1. The extended interview last night with Hamid Al-Bayati was interesting yet thoroughly depressing. The history books--unless filtered through the Texas Board of Education--will certainly show how deeply the Bush administration damaged Iraq, that whole region, and our own country. How do we not have a moral obligation to help Iraq, after that war of choice? It's an enormous weight to leave on any administration that follows, on the military, and on all of us through the economy, not to mention the millions of Iraq citizens. It was a bit frustrating to listen to Jon because the UN has no direct power of enforcement, but, on the other hand, Saudi Arabia and Iran are both member states, and they have at least gone through the motions of ratifying conventions on terrorism. (Isn't accession effectively the same as ratifying a treaty, from a legal standpoint?) Jon's right: Iran and Saudi Arabia have more than enough resources to handle the issue, if they wanted to, but, naturally, the power players involved don't want to, and neither do our own warhawks. It's all about profit. Regarding the first segment, I was initially wishing that TDS had devoted more time to the Washington/patent story, but then it ended up being a hilarious, three-in-one slap in the face. That was the perfect product placement for the NRA. Having grown up in Japan, I'm unfortunately more familiar than I care to be with their porn industry. Since moving to the States, I've seen arguments by American anime/manga consumers for the legality of hentai, one of the major ones being that the characters are fictional and therefore no harm, no foul. "No one is going to be inspired to rape a woman or a child," "the fantasy alleviates any impulse," etc. This kind of argument ignores the context of where the hentai industry originates. Sexual abuse and child abuse are depressingly underreported in Japan--some studies even choose not to ask about sexual abuse because of the stigma. This is an interesting, undergraduate research paper on the legal process; it mentions the normalizing effect of sexually violent pornography, as well as how consent is legally defined. I did not realize that rape in Japan is defined specifically as the penetration of a vagina by a penis and in excess of "normal" levels of violence or aggression. In any case, I can personally vouch for this: Yes, and in addition to naked women in sexually-suggestive poses gracing the pages of mainstream newspapers. Groping in trains is also normalized, and it used to be poor manners by the woman to make a fuss over it. Ah, my childhood. (One time, my older sister slapped a persistent groper full in the face, the small crowd in the carriage started laughing, and it was one of the best moments of my girlhood. I was never that bold, but I made good use of my elbows a few times.) At least now they've responded by making women-only carriages. Progress, or something like it!

Julia, I appreciate your comment, and I feel your pain, too! We'll have to keep working on our families! It seems like the type of disconnect in the rhetoric vs. the reality of how the public feels about an issue is part of Jon's theme? I think he'd rather the media not let the politicians control the dialogue but take more of an advocate role for truth/facts/science/etc. and not be so in bed with the power players. I don't get the sense that he meant to suggest there is an equal amount of BS or offense from the left as from the right but that his point was about tone, not content? As far as content, at least in the last eight months or so since I've been watching, he keeps ripping apart GOP ideology and policies and mostly leaves the ideology of Democrats alone, although he does pick on any inconsistencies or poor behavior. (I've noticed that conservatives and libertarians commenting on news articles label his criticism of the right "propaganda for Obama," but to me it just seems like what he described to Chris Wallace in the 2011 interview I saw: that his ideology informs his comedy.) EDIT: I forgot to post what I found! Even Stevphen on the Clinton years. Stephen has a complete meltdown, and it is glorious! I think this is my favorite so far. How ever did Steve Carrell keep a straight face? Oh, and I found this bit on bloggers, too! Jon is so cute trying not to laugh, and Stephen is having such a blast trolling him. Perfection!

My old boss was the only female general manager of the Japan-based company where I used to work (her department was Human Resources), and she was constantly under pressure to be "less of a woman" (hardline adherence to policy) when dealing with lower level personnel and "more of a woman" (acquiescent to demands) when dealing with equal to higher level personnel. I had to translate (Japanese-English) for the hiring process, and I've seen, for example, that of the three applicants for one particular, medium-level office position: the two (white) men were asked whether they'd like to travel or even relocate, and the sole (black) woman was asked if being expected to serve guests coffee would be offensive to her. Needless to say, the white men weren't asked that question. She ended up being hired because the men were seen as perhaps over-qualified and potentially impatient in a position that was not upper management. This isn't representative of every instance, of course, but it has stayed with me a long time because it felt representative of how sexism and racism are normalized in business practice, at least here in Georgia.

The Luvly Junkie, thank you for that link! Kristen and Samantha were fantastic. Now I want to see a female hosting duo more than ever! The Spice Girls? It was hard to believe what could have possibly happened there, so I had to look that one up. Wow, you're right; that was truly painful. I also watched the Lynne Cheney interview (part 2). I wasn't sure what to expect, but it was at the same time more respectful and more hardball than anticipated, if that makes sense? It's hard to say how else he could have handled that; it's such an unusual interview for them to get, that the wife of Dick Cheney (of all people) should volunteer to sit down and talk with Jon Stewart (of all people). There were definitely some intensely uncomfortable moments when he corrected or gently challenged her a few times. I feel ill-equipped to comment on the rally or Jon's message about civility, since I don't understand the full context of it like everyone else. I didn't get the sense from his speech, though, that he was speaking only to one side but that he was specifically speaking to both sides (or outside the whole concept of "sides")? This is totally anecdotal, but my father has been a dedicated Fox viewer for years, a true Bible Belter, and a working class believer in the grassroots myth of the Tea Party (although he's not a gun nut and is disgusted by the NRA and Open Carry nonsense and never quite believed that Obama was Kenyan, so there's that). When I started watching TDS last October, I expected that my father (a retired missionary) wouldn't like the crudity in some of the bits, but I felt he might appreciate Jon's interview style and maybe open up his heart and mind a little by watching some of his interviews with conservatives. He's since then actually stopped watching Fox and started watching Al Jazeera America for his news, and he loves to watch Jon's interviews with non-celebrities. I can't credit it all to Jon (I've been trying to reach my dad for years), but I can say that he went from believing Fox's BS to now wanting to listen to the other side and being willing to admit that he didn't see his white, Christian, male privilege before. Anyway, my point is that Jon's approach did move my dad and encouraged me also to have the patience to keep working on my ultra conservative family here in Georgia. A lot of them have trouble reconciling the fact that Sarah (me) their relative is the same person as Sarah the bisexual woman whose reproductive rights, marriage equality, and protection from employment discrimination they have no interest in, but I can't just shut them out. If my 78-year-old, Paul Harvey-adoring, Fox-watching, Bush & Cheney-supporting, creationism-believing dad can be moved to change his views on foundational things, then I believe there is hope and it's worth the effort, I think, because that change becomes how people vote and what they support. So maybe it's a valuable thing to have a person with white, male, class privilege like Jon speaking in a tone that can reach other people whose privilege might overlap with that. I'm not straight, and I'm not a man, but I try to educate other white people who dismiss white privilege as the "PC myth of the liberal media" or whatnot, not by saying they're assholes but by trying to deconstruct their perspective in conversations with them. It seems like that's what he's doing? I think that's different from saying people without privilege should treat people with privilege with civility, regardless of offense. He seems pretty aware of his privilege, just based on the stories they cover and the kinds of points he brings up when speaking with someone like DeMint or Huckabee. But I'm basing this mostly on the last six months or so that I've seen. I know I'm missing a lot of TDS history. I didn't intend to bring up a sore point for longtime viewers; it's a bit of TDS history that's been a mystery to me. Wow, that was really long-winded. Sorry! In happier news: I somehow stumbled across this video today. Pizza porn and boobies! How did Stephen get Sheinkopf to participate? That was priceless! I loved hearing Jon laughing in the background at the end as Stephen made love to the bread, but I kind of wish they'd carried that gag to its logical conclusion: sharing the pizza with Jon. Oh, well! This is so much fun. What more will I find as I sift through the archives?? I feel like a kid in a candy store!

That shirt looked alive... like if only I stared long and closely enough, I would observe mitosis.

dubbel zout, I love that he said, "Give me a kiss," but he was the one to kiss her. How uncomfortable! attica, that sounds perfectly horrifying! I wonder if we have been evil enough as a species to have that coming to us. (Probably so!)

Oh my god, my face hurts from laughing!! Thank you, Bastet! I had no idea Stephen and Steve had hosted TDS before! That would be fun sometimes, if Jon took a break and let a couple of correspondents host the show for a day. Jessica and Samantha? Samantha and Jason? Jediknight, I wasn't sure when they filmed the show from Washington DC, so I looked up interviews with Obama. Is it the 2010 interview, before the rally? Wax Lion, I haven't caught up with the McCain interviews, but I watched two Huckabee interviews (one from 2008 and one during the 9/11 first responders episode). It's nice to see how he continues to push against Huckabee's theocratic fantasy. He's incredibly patient with Huckabee while making these very pointed arguments that pick apart Huckabee's position. The one from 2008 was especially well handled, I thought. What maculae says makes sense, that he probably feels obligated to be as polite as possible as a host when they appear in person, perhaps especially because they know they are entering a hostile territory (the audience and the show's history of them). He's pretty good at discrediting them so gently in person that they don't always realize they're being discredited. maculae, it's interesting to see him interview people from the left and people from the right. I started downloading the show in December, so I watched the recent Pelosi and DeMint interviews several times, mainly because I just enjoy conversation analysis. There was a sense of him expecting more from Pelosi and almost mildly lecturing her at times with a "c'mon, our side can do better!" With DeMint, Jon kept pointing out the holes in his logic, but mostly he seemed to be caught between hoping DeMint would meet him halfway on anything at all and resigned to the fact that it wasn't going to happen. It also felt like Jon found DeMint distasteful but felt compelled to understand why he believes what he believes (or says he believes). I did find it interesting that, following the Pelosi interview, so many conservative blogs made hay of him laughing, while Jon laughing during the DeMint interview (with the "heart" comment, etc.) was completely ignored. And thank you for that clip! It was infuriating to listen to Fox's arrogance, as though America has a patent on liberty, but I loved Jon dancing at the end. It's fun to watch him step away from the desk, like the Lincoln game show with Napolitano. I wish he would do that more often. (But, god, the orangutan peeing into its own mouth. My brain needs bleach!) EDIT: Following maculae's advice from the other thread, I went back and watched Jon's first episode from January 11, 1999. Popeye and Olive Oyl's marriage, Stephen already cracking Jon up, Jon being taller than his first guest (Michael J Fox), and Jon in general being very nervous, brown-haired, and tiny! That was far cuter than it had any right to be. Now I've gotta see more!

How far removed from any semblance of journalism would you have to be to give yourself an actual round of applause for conducting an interview? It's getting harder and harder to remember how much I respected CNN while I was a teenager in Japan. My parents loved Paul Harvey, but it seemed to me that CNN was telling it like it was. I guess that was CNN International; I wonder if they've changed under Zucker's management or if they're still worth something as a news network. Christiane Amanpour is a reputable journalist, isn't she? That must have been rather embarrassing for her. I've never watched WWE, but it was fun to watch Kevin Hart and Jon talk about his experiences.

Last Week Tonight only scores a brief mention in this Variety article on the Emmys, but it's exciting to see that it's already talked about as in the race. Will the show have been on long enough by the time Emmy nominations are submitted and voting begins, or should we wait and see what next year brings? They're definitely going to be a strong contender. (As a side note: the graphic Variety has up really brings home how welcome Larry Wilmore's show is going to be.) Hopefully, that will be a game-changing decision. Snyder didn't have any comment on it, and I suppose it's a long way still from resolution. I think that it's mostly a matter of lucky timing, as far as LWT's segment on Washington followed so closely by the Patent and Trademark Office's decision. His segment on it wasn't quite on the level of the net neutrality piece, as far as how detailed his coverage was and how viral the clip became. And this time, the story itself was already pretty viral in social media and mainstream media. But I think it's one of those issues where every little bit of national attention definitely helps.

Thank you, stacey! I had completely forgotten about that thread. Edit: DiscoverMagazine.com posted this image (taken by the International Space Station) of the Persian Gulf, gave a concise description of the geographical context, and concluded with a recommendation that curious readers should watch The Daily Show's coverage if they want a good summary of the situation. I thought it was a cute mention, what with being unexpected.

Thank you, trow!

trow, I just finished watching the Nuts piece and the Counter Clinton Library. I completely lost it at the end of that second video, when Corddry started singing. I love the current group (along with Aasif and John Oliver) so much that I didn't think anyone could top them, but Ed Helms, Steve Carrell, Rob Corddry, and Stephen Colbert... man, what a fantastic group of correspondents they were! Oh! I also took your advice to look up the Even Stevphen bits, and I ended up watching this piece on Islam vs. Christianity. I was dying, and then they ended it so perfectly! The two of them (the three of them) have such fantastic chemistry. I'll definitely have to watch more of those. maculae, I couldn't resist and watched the Jennifer Love Hewitt interview. I was cringing and laughing at the same time. There was the bizarre conversation about his dog eating her dog, and then he calls Bill Murray "a crazy whore for money" for doing the Garfield movie! Oh my god. I couldn't believe that came out of his mouth. When I did the search for her name, I noticed that interview was her last appearance, almost 10 years to the day. Not hard to see why she didn't come back. What was Jon thinking?? (This post is completely off-topic, being about old shows, but I wasn't sure where else to respond about it. I hope this is okay.)

It's so exciting to see how people are just loving John and the show! They have really hit the spot for a lot of people. When I think of what he said in some recent interviews about being nervous and uncertain before he guest hosted last year and compare that to how journalists and fans are raving about him now, it's such a nice feeling to see that it's worked out perfectly for him. He seems too modest to believe it all (and having worked at TDS, I'm sure he takes any media coverage with a grain of salt), but I do hope he believes that he and his show are amazing, because they are. This must have been what it felt like when The Colbert Report started back in 2005. (I'm guessing that when Jon started hosting TDS, the general reaction was more of a "Who is this guy? We want Kilborn!")

Yeah, that's a good point. The hard-core libertarians seem to love this concept of "survival of the fittest," what with seeing themselves as the fittest, but they're misinterpreting and misapplying the theory and mechanics of evolution. I can't stand when people call this stance a "Darwinian" philosophy, as I've seen some libertarians do; they're closer to Spencer and even Galton than to Darwin and Wallace. Like you say, the hard-core crowd definitely prefers to call it a "natural order" and not what it is at its core, social Darwinism. Maybe that's too on-the-nose for them. So many seem to support unlimited corporate power in the name of free market capitalism, even when it goes against their best interests as citizens with individual rights. I haven't done any reading on the subject, but I'd be curious to see if libertarianism in the States is different from elsewhere in the world. Is it something born out of the American Dream and this myth of rugged American individualism, pulling oneself up by one's bootstraps? So they vote to protect the too-big-to-fail corporations now, against the hope that when they've become the power players that are too big to fail, they'll be protected from the have-nots? It boggles my mind.

Loved his bit on the World Cup! The Victory Foot was hilarious. I'd like to read the study he cited on racial identity. Not every culture has the same definition of race.

That interview was more interesting than I thought it would be. I'll have to check out his book when it hits my local library. I'm no economics whiz, but it's hard to fathom how libertarians maintain that competition in a free market would solve inequality. In any case, I'm glad Jon pointed out that it is fundamentally an elitist view, not a democratic one. Ganesh, I wonder if the "liberals are intolerant of our intolerance!" tactic is just such a standard operating procedure for the GOP that they didn't feel it worth commenting on until Perry or someone else inevitably pulls it out? The whole segment on the shit-in-a-bottle was a hilarious narrative and led perfectly to the Trump bit, so maybe they just went with the immediate story, saving the broader picture for later? It is pretty horrifying that people still subscribe to such discredited "science," although I don't think Perry cares one way or another as long as he finds the right button to push to keep his constituents voting for him. Ugh. Do they ever hire people back? I looked on his website, and he mentions that he's working on a CBS comedy but no word on TDS.

Thank you, maculae! That sounds like a great strategy! I've really loved the extended interviews that I've seen. And now I'm fascinated to see how McCain has changed through the years on the show, and how Jon's coverage of him has changed. I didn't realize there were so many "friends of the show" that I recognize from elsewhere. (Edit: it was hard to believe at first that Bill O'Reilly was effectively a friend of the show, but I ended up spending almost two hours last night watching O'Reilly and Jon interview each other. Now I believe it, but I don't know how I feel about it. My very conservative parents used to watch The O'Reilly Factor nightly until even they got tired of him; it's an odd feeling to realize they probably knew of Jon before I did, thanks to one of his appearances on O'Reilly's show.) Trow, I watched the Rob Riggle and Wyatt segments you recommended, and they were hilarious! Just brilliant. Wow, if only I'd been watching this show back then!

Wow, thank you so much, trow! This is fantastic!