Fremde Frau

And let's hope The Daily Show will keep on keeping on, as well. We haven't really lost a voice as much as we've gained two and given one voice a bigger platform.

It seems to be an epidemic of illogic. I knew of Drudge, but I hadn't encountered sites quite like NewsBusters and Breitbart or people like Alex Jones before I began watching The Daily Show and The Colbert Report. Just one visit was enough to make me wish I'd never seen them. It's incredible how full of hatred, ignorance, and misinformation the posters there are, like a forum full of YouTube trolls. I hope Jon and Stephen (and John Oliver, from now on) don't google themselves. The level of vitriol directed at Jon, in particular, is sickening, and it also doesn't seem to take much of a scratch on the surface to reveal anti-semitic bile. Maybe, given stand-up and hecklers and how long he's been doing political satire in a very public sphere, he's used to it, but still. It makes me feel sick for him. And it makes me want to kick O'Reilly in the nuts when he implied in one interview that he would have to protect Jon from "real America." That ignorant hatred isn't real America, Bill. That America is dying, and its only strength is its fear of that death.

I hate when Twitter tricks me into clicking the link for a rightwing blog. In this instance, it was NewsBusters, whose commentators conveniently ignore the logic of Jon's segment, as well as the message of the second bit with Sparky and Michael. It's all fun and games until someone who doesn't look like you decides to exercise their open carry and SYG rights, as well. We know how well that works. Like bleach.

Given how some commentators had written about the net neutrality coverage as setting Last Week Tonight apart from its papa in terms of content, I didn't realize that The Daily Show had also covered the topic, a few times. It's been fun going back and watching those older segments. (Question: does John Hodgman age?) Anyway, seeing those bits made me appreciate even more the energy and advocacy of John Oliver's segment. Structurally, his show is like TDS, and his energy is like Colbert's. For me, that's the biggest thing so far that sets him apart from TDS.

Now I'll forever think of him as Sparky. I actually enjoyed the Tom Cruise interview, despite the presence of Cruise, because Jon was so into it. The first two segments were spot on. At first, I thought that the magazine falling out of Sparky's gun sort of deflated the bit, but then I realized that, however inadvertently, it perfectly represented the likely panic and brash incompetence that these Open Carry bozos would reveal if they ever felt threatened and acted on their SYG "right," let alone if they were ever faced with actual, deadly fire.

He was so silly with the eyebrow wiggling. I loved it.

Oh, I'm glad there's some hope of him dropping by occasionally. If I had to choose (for instance: Jon Stewart gets stuck on an island with two correspondents, a laptop, and a wifi connection), I would have to say that Aasif and Jessica are probably my very favorites right now. But it's a close thing, especially after Jason's stuff in Russia. Also, I have to know: what episode is this from and what is the context of Jon twirling around in a purple top hat? (I can't tell if that's a Willy Wonka background, Carroll's Wonderland, or maybe something that "Stephen" is dreaming.)

Michael Che may be on again tonight. On his twitter account, he's been telling people to watch the show.

I finally got a chance to watch the extended interview with Gigi Ibrahim, and it was just heartbreaking. Their conversation really pushes home the fact that stability, as viewed from the outside, is not the same as peace. Poverty is such a powerful tool of oppression and censorship. Like Jon said, it was very humbling to hear what she and other revolutionaries are faced with.

Not to add to your sadness, The Lovely Junkie, but it's possible Jason is also leaving. Here is some news about a sitcom that might get picked up. And, although I can't stand the thought of losing her work on TDS, I wonder if Jessica will realize her dream in the next few years, to do a one-woman show. She's fantastic and certainly deserves to make it big. The Daily Show really is launching careers, isn't it? One thing I appreciate is that Jon doesn't seem to ever make a correspondent or contributor bit about himself. The "star" of the bit is always the correspondent or contributor. I hope that, when Aasif's show starts, he comes back for a visit and to get a proper send-off. Or did I miss his farewell episode? He deserves a nice, big one, like John.

You bring up a great point, Tara. I liked the opening of Michael's segment and the interruption by Aasif, but it did sort of end on a whimper as the joke that he was showing them up didn't work as well. I hope that doesn't become a regular theme of his pieces. I remember having mixed feelings about Jordan's introduction; it was cute when he walked over to Jon's desk and called him "dad," but I didn't like it overall as well as the usual correspondent bit (say, any bit by Jessica).

I agree, Gilmel. The Colbert Report is a totally different experience from The Daily Show and Last Week Tonight, being satire as performance art. I wasn't there when it started, but, from the early clips I saw online, my impression is that it basically started as a Daily Show field piece becoming the premise for an entire show. The field pieces seem to be the purest satire on The Daily Show, and The Colbert Report seems to have been born out of that. Maybe it's because I'm new to all three shows, but I don't see a huge difference between Last Week Tonight and The Daily Show. LWT is structurally like TDS minus the obligatory interview, with the main qualitative differences being that it's also "weeklier" and on HBO, which all gives it more leeway to plan, write, and produce. Outside of the wrinkled old man penis and last week's call to arms, though, I haven't seen anything on LWT that I thought, "Wow, that couldn't or wouldn't have happened on The Daily Show." The closest thing to "Stephen" that John does is dabbling in a more direct engagement with the Internet, but that still seems more like an accessory, if you will, and less like a fundamental structural feature like Colbert's "Nation." He could definitely develop that, play up the British outsider aspect and turn that into an all-out performance with a regular "call to arms" of his Internet "monsters." It'll be interesting to see where he goes with that. LWT definitely has the chance to become a show with an active Internet presence, like TCR; compared to "Stephen" and John, Jon Stewart is much more old school in that regard. Outside of a joke like #mcconnelling, has he ever asked the Daily Show audience to do anything? He has the largest audience (so far) but seems reticent to go there, for whatever reason. Even (and I watched this long after the fact, so what do I know?) with the 9/11 first responders episode in 2010, he seemed confident that it would make a difference, but he never did the "Fly, my pretties! Call your senators!" thing. To get this back on topic: we don't know enough about The Minority Report yet to know what type of tone it will have, but it seems like it will be more of a parody of panel shows like The Five or The View. I'm looking forward to it. Larry Wilmore is just fantastic. And this isn't to take anything away from John's great new success with LWT and Jon Stewart's amazingly long, influential, and epic run on TDS, but I see The Colbert Report as a unique, magical sort of show that cannot be replaced, only succeeded.

I enjoyed Michael Che's introduction, as much for Aasif's welcome appearance as for Michael's wonderfully dry "reporting." Hanahope, I feel the same despair. Down here in Georgia, it already feels as though we are living in a gun-toting theocracy controlled by corporations. Incredible that the very same party crying "Freedom!" and going on about shady left-wing conspiracies to silence opposition are the ones determinedly shutting down equal rights, opposition, and democratic principles.

Herman Cain responds. I'm not familiar with Canada Free Press and honestly can't tell if this is a parody or the real thing, but it looks real.

His interviews with scientists are my favorites. As an anthropologist, I especially enjoyed the Jane Goodall interview recently. I didn't realize that was the same John Waters. This should make for a particularly witty interview, if Waters can keep up. Thank you, possibilities!

Wow, that explains it. Thank you, maculae.

I'm kind of curious: does Stephen read the books of authors that come on his show? I've heard or read in interviews with various Daily Show people, including Stephen, that Jon reads the books, given time... unless, apparently, it's a tweet book by Denis Leary. (Rory Albanese and Paul Mecurio were laughing about that in a podcast interview from last year.) Anyway, I always figured it was a Daily/Colbert family trait, if you will, but I've never seen or heard a reference to it. He seems to have a great deal more familiarity with popular culture and fiction, like Lord of the Rings and whatnot.

The gray really does suit him. I like him better "filled out," too; he looked pretty skinny in the clips from 1999, almost like he was wearing someone else's suits. I can't quite figure out what's qualitatively different, but in the Fox interviews from 2011 with Bill O'Reilly and Chris Wallace, Jon looks quite the silver fox and less like the genial UILH (uncle I'd like to hug) that he does on the show. I want to attribute it to his lean, mean, killing mood while in the belly of the beast, but he wasn't being particularly combative, either. Stephen looks very good. I've been watching old clips from their websites, and he seems to have hardly aged at all. [/terribly shallow post]

Wow, I'm actually looking forward to all of these interviews.

Trow, your post reminds me of something Jon said in the 2004 Crossfire interview: that he enjoyed Al Sharpton's way of speaking and that people who know they can't win are often allowed to speak the most freely. Maybe he would also enjoy that aspect of it, simply because he loves when people (inadvertently or not) speak outside of the usual, election cycle talking points.

It's amazing to me that Christie still gets so much love from the right. That whole "real man" thing fits right into their "traditional America" fantasy, I guess. Like they all secretly concede that Mayberry wasn't reality but totally could have been if only Andy Griffith hadn't been such a pushover, so Christie's their chance to get the Sheriff of America just right. I'd completely forgotten about Jeb Bush. Damn. How do I not love that? Let me count the ways...

Peeayebee, I agree. I'm on his side, too, as far as energy goes, but when they were talking about "transitions," I couldn't help thinking of my time as a Human Resources interpreter in the manufacturing industry. We have a generation or two of workers who have been in one industry their whole lives, often without higher education to supplement their work experience, and--from what I've witnessed, at least--companies aren't that willing to hire an older, hardworking person who is seen as "set in their ways" if there's a younger, more "trainable" workforce to select from. Not to mention that trying to get a job outside of one's field of expertise, even with a college degree, is extremely difficult; an assembler trying to get a welding job or something is difficult enough, let alone someone like a welder getting an office job. I've seen that happen once, but he had to work twice as hard as anyone else, and he was still treated differently. Talking about new technology and alternative sources of energy as a "war on ___," as Republicans do, really hits home for a lot of people because it will absolutely have this devastating effect on their livelihood, which can/will trickle down to their children's opportunities. It's no wonder Republican talking points on energy are latched onto by the people whose fear and circumstances those talking points exploit for political capital. I really enjoyed how Stephen handled that conversation and didn't let up on him. What I've seen of Through the Wormhole has been fantastic.

I hope Herman Cain doesn't run, although Clinton would beat him handily. Who's likely to get nominated: Cruz, Christie, or Rubio? The segment on Bergdahl was nice, but Jon seemed so tired throughout it. It is admittedly soul-crushing how quickly every new event becomes a partisan talking point, especially courtesy of Fox talking heads.

RIP beard. You shall be missed. "Stephen" licking Reagan's ear is a sight I cannot unsee. I enjoyed the conversation with Esty, and Morgan Freeman is always wonderful. I wonder if he knew that "god" had a cameo on TDS tonight. The second segment on transgender people didn't work for me, but I'm not familiar enough with TCR to know what to have expected, really. It didn't seem to coalesce and make a point, and that left me feeling somewhat at odds with bits of the humor.

Yeah, I think Sunday is working out really well for them. It helps that their content so far is very internet-savvy, more so than TDS and even TCR. It's the perfect match of the timeslot and content aimed to go viral. It's too bad the full episodes aren't online, at least so far as I've found on their YT channel. They never did upload whatever they did that involved Cuomo, so I suppose some content will always be HBO-only.