"The Daily Show": Week of 10/6/14

[trow125]

Oh Jon, why do you have to keep giving airtime to BillO and allowing him to promote yet another one of the books in his "Killing" franchise? Sigh.

 

10/6: Atul Gawande (author – promoting book “Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End”)
10/7: Bill O’Reilly (host of “The O’Reilly Factor” & author – promoting book “Killing Patton”)
10/8: Leon Panetta (former Secretary of Defense & author – promoting book “Worthy Fights: A Memoir of Leadership in War and Peace”)
10/9: Jeremy Renner (actor – promoting movie “Kill The Messenger”)

[The Luvly Junkie]

Oh Jon, why do you have to keep giving airtime to BillO and allowing him to promote yet another one of the books in his "Killing" franchise? Sigh.

        As long as Jonny-bun defends Stephen after Bill's remarks last week I could care less about his "Killing" books, unless Papa Bear decides to spar with the man he "corrected" before his show is off the air.

 

        I'm no Nursing Major, but I'm interested in reading Mr. Gawande's book. I presume his interview is gonna go terminally medical up in my face. (tee-hee)

[Fremde Frau]

What does O'Reilly do, piss out those books? He's such an egotistical sensationalist. They somehow have this weirdly compelling chemistry together, but I wish O'Reilly would just fuck off. They could replace him with Reza Aslan. I'm so ready for Aslan to have a forum where he's not cornered into a defensive position, surrounded by people who are unwilling to really listen and be informed by emic perspectives and revisit their view of Muslims. This seems to happen all the time; I cannot imagine how frustrating and dehumanizing it is to have to argue your way back into being viewed as equally human and not defined by the worst, most extreme actors who practice your religion.

 

Oh, well. Maybe Jon and O'Reilly will get into it about race and religion.

[peeayebee]

Another 'Killing' book? What a joke. 

 

Kind of strange that three of the guests are promoting things having to do with death, at least in title: Being Mortal, Killing Patton, Kill the Messenger.

[dubbel zout]

What does O'Reilly do, piss out those books?

 

A bunch of them have co-authors. BO'R probably comes up with the title, and the other guy does the rest.

[Victor the Crab]

Given Jon's recent anger towards the right, and at Fox News lately, and given O'Reilly's (and others at Fox News) recent pissy, whinny behavior towards Jon and company, it would not surprise me to see Jon get combative towards him and maybe even do a "two-twelve" on him.

 

I think Jon likes having O'Reilly on his show because he knows he can, intellectually, run circles around his much larger opponent. And O'Reilly would just sit there and stew a little.

[Fremde Frau]

Jon does that pretty well on O'Reilly's own show, too. How sweet it is.

[6 MeowMeowBeenz]

I'm looking forward to Gawande, he's impressive to read and IIRC he give good chat. 

 

But god almighty BILLO. yuck to the millionth power. If he were a fraction as clever as he thinks he is, he'd be tolerable. Is he positing that Patton was killed, as in, "it wasn't an accident" dun dun DUNNN?

[Victor the Crab]

That was one of the things TDS used to do. Take video clips from foreign countries and "translate" them to something funny, like the North Korean news clip. They should continue doing that again.

 

So what was the point of Jordan at the UN? Apart from him wandering around the UN General Assembly.

[dubbel zout]

It's not news that a UN resolution is useless—they're nonbinding.

[Fremde Frau]

Yeah, it bugs me when people complain about the UN being useless. It cannot force the member states to act. It's the same BS when people complain that, for instance, ratifying CEDAW would mean that the UN would take away our guns and mandate abortions for all women, or whatnot.

[iMonrey]

Oh, Geez, I honestly don't think I'll be able to watch the Bill O'Reilly interview. I simply cannot stand to look at that guy.

 

I thought the UN piece was pretty good actually. Too bad they're so useless.

[trow125]

Oh, Geez, I honestly don't think I'll be able to watch the Bill O'Reilly interview. I simply cannot stand to look at that guy.

 

You're in luck!! I just got an email from TDS and BillO has been replaced on tonight's show by -- hallelujah! -- Wyatt Cenac. I have no idea why we have been so blessed, but I'm delighted. I'm sure many of you will be as well.

[Latverian Diplomat]

Another 'Killing' book? What a joke. 

 

Kind of strange that three of the guests are promoting things having to do with death, at least in title: Being Mortal, Killing Patton, Kill the Messenger.

Didn't Patton die from a car accident? Or is there some conspiracy theory Bill O wants to promote before Beck gets a hold of it?

 

Making fun of the UN is kind of like shooting fish in a barrel. But it basically does what it was designed to do, serve as neutral ground for a lot of talk, and in those rare moments of extremely broad consensus, maybe do some stuff.

[The Luvly Junkie]

You're in luck!! I just got an email from TDS and BillO has been replaced on tonight's show by -- hallelujah! -- Wyatt Cenac. I have no idea why we have been so blessed, but I'm delighted. I'm sure many of you will be as well.

 

     Well, trow125, the reason is quite simple, yet surprisingly refreshing; Papa Bear's too scared to face Jason Jones' Reign of Terror! Booyah!

[peeayebee]

Didn't Patton die from a car accident? Or is there some conspiracy theory Bill O wants to promote before Beck gets a hold of it?

I thought his books were novels, fictionalized history.

[Latverian Diplomat]

I thought his books were novels, fictionalized history.

Not intentionally :-) They are listed on the NYT nonfiction bestseller list.

 

They are, by reputable accounts, fairly shoddy though.

[Skyfall]

You know it's time to call it a day when every guest host kills it! If we can't hav Jon nightly, I'll settle for Jason!

[Skyfall]

Tuned in late tonight (go Nats!). Why isn't Jon there, is it the closing of the NYFF?

Sickness.

[Victor the Crab]

Well, I think we now know why O'Reilly didn't come on tonight. No way does Jason go up against him in an interview on an emergency host fill in.

 

Why isn't Jon there, is it the closing of the NYFF?

 

Jason said he was suffering from the "bubons", which is another way of saying he's sick. Must have been a bad one if he decided to skip a night.

 

You know it's time to call it a day when every guest host kills it! If we can't hav Jon nightly, I'll settle for Jason!

 

I don't know if I could take Jason on a regular basis. Perhaps in a situation like tonight, and without sharing it with Samantha.

 

I miss Wyatt. I wish he were still at TDS. He would have been an excellent fill in host.

 

Get well Jon, and hurry back.

[buttersister]

Didn't Patton die from a car accident? Or is there some conspiracy theory Bill O wants to promote before Beck gets a hold of it?

Why yes, yes he did and yes it is. He was babbling on some other show about Russia's poison production (true) and so of course, Stalin used it on the injured Patton (wtf?). His immediate response to any question or challenge, repeatedly loudly, as is his way, is "They couldn't wait to get him in the ground!" If Jon ever interviews him, take a drink every time BOR says it--you'll get a nice buzz.

 

Nice to see Wyatt again. Get well soon, Jon!!

[Jediknight]

I love Jason Jones, he's great as a correspondent, but as a host, he's not great.  Perhaps we were spoiled because of John Oliver, but Jones wasn't good.  For awhile I thought Jon wasn't actually sick, and was going to pop up saying that this was Jason's last telecast so they let Jason be the host.

[jbrecken]

Did Wyatt choose to leave the show, or was he fired?  It didn't look like he has much going on now.  Or maybe that was just because he was a last-minute substitute guest.

[trow125]

Pretty sure Wyatt left the show voluntarily. And he's got a busy stand-up career -- he's got a few dates in San Francisco coming up later this month -- so I think he's keeping active.

 

I have to admit I'd rather watch Jason & Sam interview Wyatt Cenac than Jon interviewing smarmy ol' O'Reilly any time. Tomorrow's scheduled guest is Leon Panetta -- I don't think any of the four current correspondents have the gravitas to do a good job interviewing him. If Jon's still ill, perhaps John Oliver could swing by and substitute for Panetta (hey, LWT is dark this week!).

Edited October 8, 2014 by trow125

[peeayebee]

I thought Jason did fine, but having Samantha do the "interview" with him was a terrible idea. They work better apart.

[Skyfall]

I thought Jason did fine, but having Samantha do the "interview" with him was a terrible idea. They work better apart.

Agreed my post was before Sammy Bee came out and insisted on co hosting. If Jason wasn't married to her he would've said no to that idea.

[Fremde Frau]

That was rather painful. If Jon is out again today, I hope they go with this Game of Thrones joke and have Jessica host tonight.

 

Tomorrow's scheduled guest is Leon Panetta -- I don't think any of the four current correspondents have the gravitas to do a good job interviewing him. If Jon's still ill, perhaps John Oliver could swing by and substitute for Panetta (hey, LWT is dark this week!).

Heh. That would be pretty demoralizing for the current correspondents. If Jason would treat it like his Russia interviews rather than the usual field piece, it might go well, but I'm not sure I trust his sense of judgment, and I don't want more of him, anyway. Maybe they could do something completely unexpected for the interview and bring out a friend of the show like Patrick Stewart to interview Panetta.

[attica]

I super liked Sam's field piece about the dearth of police-shooting stats. The guy crowd-sourcing the research is only doing a five year span, and even that is daunting. People are combing through news accounts to tote up the dead and wounded, since the record keeping is non-existent. 

 

That's an awful lot of beard, there, Wyatt. I can almost smell it from here. (Not a shaggy beard fan,)

[ABay]

Jason really suffered from the comparison to John Oliver, and the interview with Wyatt was terrible. Didn't they talk at all before the show about what to cover, joke set-ups, and the like? Sam's field piece was infuriating and frightening.

[dubbel zout]

I don't think Jason was so bad. It was a last-minute replacement, not something planned, like Oliver's stint. Also, John needed some time to settle in. He didn't hit it out of the park his first night.

[Fremde Frau]

Yeah, I really enjoyed the piece on the police shooting stats. That, plus seeing Wyatt again, was the highlight of the episode for me. There needs to be a serious overhaul of police policies, training, and recruiting across the country. And transparency. That above all would help to solve so many of their big problems.

 

I don't think it's really fair to compare Jason to John, though, since the latter had plenty of prep time and guidance before Jon left last summer, and Jason last night was filling in as an emergency host on (presumably) less than a day's notice. He still annoys me, but I think it's because I've seen him do spectacular work (Russia again), but that doesn't seem to be where he's most comfortable.

 

I thought Wyatt looked hot.

[shok]

I quite enjoyed both Jason and Samantha and liked how they teamed up for the second segment and the interview although that part was pretty weak. It was great to see Wyatt again but he really didn't have much to contribute.

[dusang]

Ummm... did Wyatt just plug Charlotte Bronte by Jane Eyre??  Hahahahahahaha.

[solotrek]

Hey Fremde Frau, remember a few weeks back you were asking about emergency guests and if TDS had any? I think you got your answer last night. Wyatt promoting basically nothing.

 

I didn't think Jason was awful, I think people forget that John's first day as replacement wasn't that great. And Jon's first day on TDS was pretty awful as well. They both had a lot of time to prep. Jason as a last minute host was fine.  Having Sam in for the interview reminded me of when they had Steve Carrell and his wife do an episode together when Jon was out back in the day. Sam has a very finely tuned personality for the show and it doesn't work as a host or co-host. Sam's piece was frightening.

 

Jon probably would have done a better Seinfeld though.

 

The MoZ is very Canada.

Edited October 8, 2014 by maculae

[WhatDoYouKnow]

I thought Jason did a good job, and I thought the interview with Wyatt was, while stupid, funny. And much more enjoyable than the one with Bill O'Reilly would have been/will be.

 

Jon must have been super sick because he's done the show many times when he could barely talk or was clearly feeling horrible.

[attica]

Going back to the previous day's show, I really got a lot out of the interview with Atul Gawande.  When my mother was dying, she was very clear about what she wanted done and not done, and it was effortful to get the doctors to back off.  (Even when she was taken off treatment and put in hospice, the doc still wanted to stick her for blood sugar tests three times a day. When I expressed ???!?!?, he replied, well, duh, her diabetes is brittle! And I was like, she's going to be dead in a couple of days, what the fuck do any of us care whether it's the glucose level or the many-tentacle'd tumor that was surrounding her brainstem? And he blinked at me as if this was something he never thought to consider.) If there's a thing to treat, they treat. It's reflex more than anything else. So I appreciate Gawande coming out in support of paying attention to the bigger picture.  In my family we've always been end-of-life planners. We've been known to start discussions with the opener, "So, who's your designated plug-puller?". I get that some people are put off by that kind of thing, but lemme tell you how much aggravation and stress is eliminated by having done so at a time when your emotions are so raw.

 

Plus Gawande's pretty. :)

[dubbel zout]

We've been known to start discussions with the opener, "So, who's your designated plug-puller?".

 

My family had this discussion again recently, to make sure we all knew who wanted what and who was going to do it. It's a really important thing to know, as macabre as the subject can get.

[iMonrey]

Is this the first time Jason has guest hosted? I thought he did just fine as a last-minute fill in, and I think he could be a good replacement host if Jon takes another break. The problem here is that too much time was filled up with shtick about him being the replacement so there was less "serious" news than usual. He and Sam kind of made the show about themselves rather than the news (although Sam's field piece was excellent, intros and bumpers aside).

 

Ugh, Wyatt Cenac! Love his comedy but not a fan of the homeless look.

[formerlyfreedom]

I thought Jason did well for it obviously being a last minute thing - I sensed a slight air of almost-panic as he started, like "What have I gotten myself into?"...

 

And of course, any chance to see Wyatt! Just loved him plugging books by dead authors! It would be great to see that come up again somewhere....

[ABay]

I thought I saw Jason's hand shake at the very start.

[Grace284]

I thought Jason did well. It can't fairly be compared to John's turn as host because they would have had a reasonable amount of time to develop his comic voice as host and differentiate it from his correspondent voice. Jason had the difficult job of balancing both personas and managed to pull it off. And hey, it saved everyone from another 10 minutes of O'Reilly. 

[dubbel zout]

And hey, it saved everyone from another 10 minutes of O'Reilly.

I'd have taken Mo Rocca as substitute host if it prevented an O'Reilly appearance.

[The Luvly Junkie]

Ummm... did Wyatt just plug Charlotte Bronte by Jane Eyre??  Hahahahahahaha.

        Smart, yet silly move by Wyatt as a favor to help promote dead authors' works. I thought it was hilarious he tried plugging The Scarlet Letter too. How I miss the nostalgia writing a terrible essay on Hester's predicament.

 

        Ok, so I expected there would be mixed opinions about Jason's performance last night, most of them about how uncomfortable and nervous he was in the first act, that he employed a serious, slightly silly humor, and that he was better off as a correspondent. I just gotta say, I applaud Jason for stepping in. Taking over TDS has been quite practical (see the early days when Colbert+other correspondents took the hosting position back then) but is not an easy task for a correspondent (especially last minute) because he/she is expected to apply the humor and delivery as their boss does every night. I agree with the others about not comparing Jason's performance with Ollie-Scone's, though I will interject about the second-in-command position he made. Right after Ollie-Scone's departure, I never really imagined who would be Jonny-bun's new right-hand man (or woman). Narrowing down the set of correspondents remaining, I only saw them as equals, each playing to a strength based on their pieces, their interactions with Jonny-bun, and experience. Jason may not be everyone's favorite correspondent, but I was glad to know there would be someone brave enough to take over when the host is in his worst condition. 

 

        Maybe it's just destiny that Jason took over, though I had wished he could go toe-to-toe with O'Reilly, whether or not he makes it through the interview, dead or alive. And yay Sam Bee for sticking it on her husband to at least co-host the latter half! She at least deserves her 6 minutes of spotlight after staying on TDS longer than her husband!

[attica]

If only Wyatt had pimped Emily Bronte by Wuthering Heights (of the Yorkshire Heights).

[Fremde Frau]

Or Herman Melville by Moby Dick. That would have been a killer.

[Victor the Crab]

The MoZ is very Canada.

 

Between Jason and Samantha dominating the show, as well as the MoZ, it definitely felt like Canada was well represented last night. Not too ironic, given that last night was also the season premieres of The Rick Mercer Report and This Hour Has 22 Minutes on CBC.

[alias1]

I liked Jason Jones.  I thought he did pretty well and with more practice he could be really good.  I didn't know he and Samantha Bee were married.  

[Victor the Crab]

It's very difficult to find the funny about these ISIS assholes.

 

Well, these condescending ads directed at women must be working, because Republicans are poised to take the Senate as well as keep the House. Nice prop work with the bowl of jellybean - I mean birth control pills - by Kristen.

 

Nice to see you feel better, Jon

[Jediknight]

Wow those political commercials, just wow.  Holy crap, how did someone ever look at those and think "Yep, that's the ticket.  We've got a winner."

[peeayebee]

I'd heard of those ads but hadn't seen them yet. Wow is right. So tone-deaf. However, I thought this was perhaps Kristen's strongest bits. Maybe that's because the material is so mockable. Still, she was hilarious.