"The Daily Show": Week of 11/10/14

[trow125]

Oh my gosh, this looks like an AWESOME week:

 

11/10: Bruce Springsteen & Frank Caruso (promoting book “Outlaw Pete”)
11/11: Amb. Samantha Power (United States Ambassador to the United Nations)
11/12: Steve Carell (actor – promoting movie “Foxcatcher”)
11/13: Maziar Bahari & Gael Garcia Bernal (promoting “Rosewater”)

[Fremde Frau]

All I can think is YES PLEASE. Give it to me. All of it.

 

Sounds like just what he might need, too: comfort, friendship, personal heroes, and awesomeness.

[The Luvly Junkie]

Bring in a choir of angels so I can bask in the absolutely awesome lineup! It would be a lie if I wasn't excited about Steve Carell's yearly visits! And yay more Rosewater promotions!

[Victor the Crab]

Awesome indeed. :)

 

The question that needs to be asked is, how much of Jon's drool will Bruce have to wipe off of himself?

 

When Maziar Bahari and Gael Garcia Bernal show up, will Jason also make an appearance as he was also in the movie as himself?

[Victor the Crab]

If you thought Tuesday's results left you feeling depressed/suicidal, wait 'till Jon starts off next week with what surely will be the lead story about this super fun happy cheerful story! >:P

[Fremde Frau]

Either that or Arizona's Proposition 122 would be the perfect lead. Wasn't the subsidy nonsense a bit on the show a while ago, about how this could all be fixed by just adding "or HHS" to one sentence in the bill? 

[fastiller]

Yesterday, I heard Dave Marsh (he, among other things, is one of Springsteen's biographers; Marsh's wife works for Springsteen, too) tell the story of how he brought Caruso & Springsteen together.  It was really interesting.

 

More on it here: Illustrator draws on the Boss for 'Outlaw Pete' book.

[Victor the Crab]

Couldn't get excited about the episode. Not even with Bruce Springsteen on, because I FUCKING HATE BELLMEDIA!!! Ever since they shoehorned Jimmy Kimmel Live between both TDS and TCR, they've stretched TDS's commercial time to fit between that and Kimmel. And after the show they show a useless unfunny piece of comedy filler called The Late O'clock News. But now, the fuckers have decided to put the useless filler on during the first TDS commercial, thereby making us Canadian viewers wait five and a half minutes till the show returns. I WANT HORRIBLE DEATH ON ALL OF THEM!!!

[Fremde Frau]

That sounds awful, @Victor the Crab! Why would they do that? It seems counterintuitive.

 

I was feeling quite sick and feverish last night, so I had a hard time getting into the episode, as well. The only part that I even vaguely remember is the Springsteen/Caruso interview, which I might be misremembering, because it felt like a three-way lovefest that only did not involve cuddling by virtue of the table that separated Jon from his idol. The body language at the beginning was hilarious; that much I do remember. Jon wanting a bear hug, Springsteen allowing a mild one, and Caruso off in the corner getting a distracted handshake.

[ABay]

I don't remember anything significant after PUPPIES!

[dubbel zout]

This week's guest list must be an early birthday present to Jon from the staff.

[iMonrey]

I must be the only one in the world who doesn't give a crap about Bruce Springsteen. I didn't even bother watching the interview.

[dubbel zout]

I didn't watch the Springsteen interview, either. I appreciate his place in music history, but I'm not a gigantic fan. 

[peeayebee]

As I mistakenly posted in the other thread, I found the Springsteen interview excruciating. Bruce and the other guy just seemed so pleased with themselves. The project/book sounded completely uninteresting.

[Fremde Frau]

I just watched the episode again. Loved the first two segments; Jordan is consistently fantastic, although that segment was infuriating.

 

Turns out my delirium last night made the interview far more interesting than it actually was.

[cattykit]

 

I must be the only one in the world who doesn't give a crap about Bruce Springsteen. I didn't even bother watching the interview.

Nope, not the only one.  Fast forwarded right through it.  Can't stand his music to the point where I have to put my fingers in my ears if it comes on overhead somewhere.

[The Luvly Junkie]

Gee, the winter season is definitely taking a toll on everyone these days. Ok so not everyone is satisfied about "Outlaw Pete" and/or Bruce, Jordan's piece on police authorities training to prevent dog (animal) shootings was both brilliant yet dark, and Victor the Crab, sorry that your channel is putting too much filler. But hey, 

 

This week's guest list must be an early birthday present to Jon from the staff.

   Dubbel zout's right. I guess Jonny-bun needed his spirits to be lifted so it seems fitting he would interview the three things he cherishes the most: his idol, his successful pupil (besides Colbert), and the people he worked with in Rosewater. It's more of a gift for all of us to enjoy now that the Midterms are (bitterly) over. I mean, it's now or never he tries to fill airtime with the people close to him rather than politicians before he makes his decision of extending his contract beyond 2015. 

 

To everyone in the forum: don't let the Arctic bomb zone in your heads! Stay warm and drink lots of tea or cocoa!!

Edited November 11, 2014 by The Luvly Junkie

[trow125]

This HAS to be tonight's moment of Zen, doesn't it?

[futurechemist]

I'm a fan of Bruce Springsteen's music, but the whole "Outlaw Pete" book made me thing that everyone except for me was on some kind of mind-altering substance.

[Fremde Frau]

That's hilarious, @trow125. It's gotta make MOZ sometime this week.

 

EDIT: You got your wish!

Edited November 12, 2014 by Fremde Frau

[Victor the Crab]

Nice to hear the doctor from New York who went to Africa to treat Ebola victims is Ebola free himself. No thanks to the chicken littleshits in the media and in politics who made a fucking stink for their own benefit.

 

That MoZ didn't surprise me one bit.

[Fremde Frau]

That first segment did nothing for me, but I appreciated where Jon was trying to go with the interview, even if it never quite got there. On a related note, he must be pretty exhausted with all of the recent interviews and promo tours for the movie to do a two-segment interview instead of another written segment. I guess none of the correspondents had a field piece ready to go.

[heebiejeebie]

Maybe I am just in a mood but I thought Jon's "why does it have to be us" questioning just came off belligerent and even whiny.  It is not so much I disagree with what I presume is his thought process, but I also think ISIS, no matter how what and why we might have done a better job of preventing, marginalizing etc. is not something we can simply think will go away if we merely talk at it.  

 

Then again I am finding Jon's interviewing style even more grating even when he is having fun.  Much as I love watching TDS in large because of his role and certainly his influence in shaping the show since he took over, he sucks as an interviewer.  Post-Rosewater, he seems to have gotten even, not worse, but more Ann Curry-ish in his determination to pile multiple questions or cut the person off to get in that next question instead of letting the interviewee simply follow through.  Okay I guess that is worse. 

 

This interview had some significant quality to it simply because, despite her politician type answering, it was her eloquence and focus that kept it on track.  I'm hoping she is someone we see of more in the public sector after 2016.

[attica]

I get your point, heebie, but to my ear Jon's question was less whiny than to yours. I remember it struck me when he asked that it wasn't more complain-y. Funny: it's like we're different people, or something! With different responses to the same stimulus! No way!!!

 

Shallow alert: I thought Sam Pow's dress was rocking, but I worry about the encroachment of her eyebrows. Looks like an incursion in progress.

 

Super shallow alert: Obama killed in his APEC garb. So smooth, so cool, such a badass motherfu -Shut your mouth!.

[peeayebee]

I too thought Jon came off as belligerent. I admired how Pow handled the interview, and I kept wondering what was up Jon's butt. Also, he was like good cop/bad cop -- He was pleasant and the first half of the interview, but combatant in the second half.

[Fremde Frau]

I was reminded of Jon's statement about how he despises interviewing politicians, as well as his older statements about how he likes to try to get underneath talking points to have a real conversation. It raises the question: why does he bother to interview them if it's a hopeless cause, when he will come across as either too softball or too belligerent? That must be followed with the question: well, then, why does anyone bother to interview them (outside of partisans interested only in scoring points for them or against them)? Which brings me back to: political dialogue in this country sucks, and each interviewer has their own way of dealing with that slippery brick wall. His belligerence is pretty mild compared to the standards on cable news, and his softballs are pretty subversive compared to the same standards. But that's just my take on it.

 

Also just my take on it: Jon's questions of her and of the administration in general reminded me of the things he used to say and ask about Bush's administration and decisions. It may be that he's in total despair over the clusterfuck of Iraq and how our efforts there have continuously only made things worse, and he can't believe that Obama is following in some of Bush's footsteps.

[heebiejeebie]

I guess I just don't see Jon as naive or stupid.  So to have him underscore the lack of a true international medical response team as being short sighted and silly (which it is) and then try to make ISIS sound like some sort of straw horse that is merely being used by warmongers and finish with trying to push the "but why us" faux isolationist meme just sounded like he wanted to score points in certain areas no matter what. 

[Fremde Frau]

I don't think he doesn't see the danger of ISIS (he was agreeing with her as to the brutality and relentlessness of their strategies). Asking why rhetoric doesn't match action is a legitimate question, I think, especially going back to his point about how our politicians are better at campaigns than at governing. And I don't see that asking "why us" is isolationist; I think it's a pretty relevant question in light of everything that we've done poorly in arming, destabilizing, and manipulating that region for our own political and/or economic interests over the years. As long as we say, "It'll never get done unless we do it," it'll probably remain a self-fulfilling prophecy that only creates more situations like the one we are in.

[ChelseaNH]

then try to make ISIS sound like some sort of straw horse that is merely being used by warmongers

 

That's not what I got.  It was a matter of "how come your actions don't match your rhetoric?"  Not just nationally, but internationally.  Are we the only nation that's worried about ISIS?  If not, then how come we're the ones who have to organize other nations to do something about them?

[iMonrey]

As long as we say, "It'll never get done unless we do it," it'll probably remain a self-fulfilling prophecy that only creates more situations like the one we are in.

 

I don't think Jon was necessarily trying to make a point that we shouldn't get involved, so much as trying to ask why we always have to take the lead in these middle east situations. The surrounding countries and territories have a much more vested interest in what's going on over there - and in point of fact, Power did not really explain why it was so important for the US to take the lead on such matters, she only emphasized that it was. Her attitude, which is common among politicians, seemed to be "Well, we're America, so . . . duh!" 

 

I honestly don't think Samantha Power merited two segments. She's not high profile enough and the UN is so irrelevant it's a joke. I wanted to hear why she wasn't quarantined like everyone else coming back from that area. Laura Logan was.

[Fremde Frau]

@iMonrey, that's what I meant to say, that he was criticizing the supposed need for us to take the lead every time. I wasn't very articulate; you and @ChelseaNH stated it much better.

 

If Jon was too tired to do another written segment, as perhaps he was, I wish they'd had Jessica, Jordan, and John Hodgman take over with some improv. That would have been magical.

[dubbel zout]

Power did not really explain why it was so important for the US to take the lead on such matters

 

I think the answer got lost in her long explanation. When Jon asked why the Middle Eastern countries don't play a larger part, she briefly mentioned all of the tribal/religious/cultural divisions that influence those countries' politics. But then she went on about how we should take the lead, and neither she nor Jon came back to that.

[Victor the Crab]

Clever attachment of the photo of Stephen and Cardinal Dolan that Jon put together. Expect William Donohoe to fume and attack Jon for that.

 

The last time Jon and Steve Carell had a normal conversation without anything sketchy was when I was in the studio audience in 2011. This looks like a new side to Steve's acting talent.

[peeayebee]

That whole elephant story made me sad and angry. First you have people who just have to have ivory, no matter that they're helping to cause elephants' extinction. Then you have ISIS underscoring their depravity by slaughtering elephants to make money to kill people. And THEN you get the NRA… Their actions put them in ISIS's camp. 

 

I'm also sad that it takes terrorism to make Republicans angry about the killing of elephants.

 

I'd been reading about the Minneapolis mayor and the photo. She always does that pointing when taking a pic with someone. 

[Wax Lion]

Local media really needs to be shamed more often for not being critical about what officials tell them. That Minneapolis station got played. Someone wanted a smear put out about the mayor and they pulled out the Drudge sirens on the issue without double checking.

 

Too bad the anchors are going to feel the shame and not the station managers that give them budgets too small to really cover local news.

[Qoass]

Could've been worse:  they could have performed a "terrorist fist bump"!

[attica]

Anybody else think that Carell's makeup in that clip make him look like Gru?

 

eta: the 11 pm (ET) 'cast did not pixelate Jon's middle finger salute. I hope this is a new thing, and not a mistake.

Edited November 13, 2014 by attica

[ABay]

I thought he looked like Gru when he gave Jon the "dark" look in the interview.

[ganesh]

The NRA has no credibility to me, but they need to be put down now. Seriously, against elephants getting slaughtered? For that *one* gun? You have to have every single gun ever and fuck anyone else? Ok. Go away now.  

[Fremde Frau]

The story about the elephants made me feel sick to my stomach. Of course, the NRA couldn't give a fuck. When do they ever? I wish John would do one of his "How is this still a thing?" numbers on them.

 

I loved the interview with Steve Carell. It was everything the doctor ordered, definitely for me if not even more so for Jon. The only thing missing was him crashing a Toss. Oh, well! Tonight's the night for Stephen-and-Jon goodness!

[dubbel zout]

eta: the 11 pm (ET) 'cast did not pixelate Jon's middle finger salute. I hope this is a new thing, and not a mistake.

 

I wonder if it's connected to Amy Schumer winning the right to say "pussy" without being bleeped.

 

The NRA has no credibility to me, but they need to be put down now. Seriously, against elephants getting slaughtered? For that *one* gun?

 

It's perversely impressive (at least to me) to see how the group can connect almost anything to infringing on gun rights. It's beyond gross that Lamar Alexander plays lap dog for this crap.

Edited November 13, 2014 by dubbel zout

[trow125]

The elephant segment seemed like the sort of thing "Last Week Tonight" would do. Good on TDS for bringing it to light, though it was hella depressing.

 

Personally, I wish Comedy Central would stop bleeping "shit" on the initial airings of TDS. They're allowed to say it on "South Park," which airs an hour earlier. They could bleep it for TDS reruns earlier in the day.

[attica]

I wonder if it's connected to Amy Schumer winning the right to say "pussy" without being bleeped.

 

Good point. Maybe. (I did notice the new non-bleeped 'pussy' throughout @Midnight the past few nights, so it's already in force.)

[Fremde Frau]

I was thinking that, too, trow125. Not so much that it was a LWT topic, so to speak, but that it's the sort of special topic focus that the correspondent pieces routinely deal with. That's maybe the big difference, content-wise, between Jon's desk pieces and John's desk pieces: John has basically taken what he used to do in the field and transferred it to the desk, and then he takes advantage of the time he has to give it more than five to ten minutes. It was interesting to see Jon cover it himself, rather than it being a field piece with Sam or Jessica. (I wonder where they all are this week. There has only been Jordan's field piece from Austin, right?)

 

Didn't they formerly bleep "asshole," as well? A lot of unbleeping going on. I wonder if this is the new normal.

[Wax Lion]

 

I wish John would do one of his "How is this still a thing?"

 

God. Yes. The NRA totally deserves a "How is this still a thing?" pointing out how it used to be about gun safety and now it just treats its members are marks.  I've encountered more than a few 2nd amendment supporters that can't stand the NRA. It's too bad no one has stepped in and taken over the gun safety programs. I know they've got pressure from an even nuttier guns everywhere group, I really think gun owners deserve a group that's dedicated to actual gun safety (instead of thinking that telling gun owning parents to lock up their guns is the first step on a slippery slope where all firearms are banned).

 

That elephant piece was all kinds of headdesking fury-inducing. I remember as a kid I knew a woman who had a few ivory pieces. I found them to be really neat but then I got older and found out the cost of those pieces. I'm glad, though, that the piece featured Republicans who wanted to curtail the ivory trade. Republicans being fine with elephants going extinct would have just too fury inducing.

 

I wonder if there's a shortage of field pieces right now. Sam and Jason might be busy with their pilot, which would bring the correspondent numbers down to two until the new guys show up.

[heebiejeebie]

 

I think the answer got lost in her long explanation. When Jon asked why the Middle Eastern countries don't play a larger part, she briefly mentioned all of the tribal/religious/cultural divisions that influence those countries' politics. But then she went on about how we should take the lead, and neither she nor Jon came back to that.

 

 

Yeah had Jon been Fox I would have expected it to be followed by a montage of the countless segments the show has done on how various US administrations have failed to realize how disparate the region's ethnic groups are.  In fact in the last month when the show has mentioned ISIS I'm pretty sure I have heard Jon mention the arbitrary British map drawing.  More than once.   She danced.  Jon though was the bad to outright horrible dj playing the tune though.  I actually hope he wins a direction Oscar so he has the impetus to decide if he is truly done with the show as I suspect he is.  Too bad we lost John Oliver for a 2015 replacement, but hopefully after March of next year Jon can decide not to be so half-assed in some regards and a worthy replacement can be groomed.  Especially if it is true he is talking about doing a movie about Malala (seems almost redundant in some ways but he does have a rapport with her already).

[Fremde Frau]

In the recent batch of interviews, there's no indication that Jon wants to continue directing movies. He didn't even intend to direct this one; it just turned out that way.

[Ankai]

The jokes about the APEC fireworks got me remembering when Australia was the host country back in 2007 and a certain local comedy group caused a bit of controversy. If you have ten minutes to spare, I would highly recommend watching this video.

[peeayebee]

I thought Jon was using footage from the Beijing Olympics for the APEC segment. I didn't realize China had actually did that for the summit.

[Victor the Crab]

Loved the episode. Having Jon invite Ollie to host his show so as to not look like some kind of conflict of interest was brilliant (we miss you on TDS Ollie, wish you could have done your Carlos Danger move). Loved that Jason and Jay Greenberg giving us insights into their filming in Iran we hadn't known before. Maziar Bahari telling Ollie "you're welcome" because he was responsible forgiving him his own show, LWT. And Gael Garcia Bernal looked great. And the MoZ was arguably one of the best things about Jason's piece. Memorable episode all around.