LSSC: Season One All Episodes Talk

[Jaded]

There's a Hollywood Reporter article that's linked to on the last page of the media thread and one of the things mentioned was interference. 

[Visby]

I am in love with Jon Stewart.  There I said it.  It was great seeing him again, twice in one week,yay!  

Colbert and Meyers are my go to guys for intelligent commentary and laughs and they do not disappoint, but cbs needs to get rid of the cheesy, cold openings on late night.  Seeing Stephen away from the desk should be an event, a fantastic treat instead of turning him into a one awful joke Matt Lauer.

[ruby24]

Seeing the old Colbert and Jon Stewart back this week shows how much they were really needed for the past year. I wish we could have had both for one more election.

[peeayebee]

Jon's segment was fantastic. OMG, I didn't realize how much I missed him. 

When he was showing Lumpy and guests hypocritically applying different standards to Obama and Trump, I immediately thought about what I saw yesterday pre-convention on Fox with Bill O'Reilly. (My BIL had it on.) O'Reilly and a couple of guests whose names I can't remember, were saying how terrible it was that people on the left were comparing Trump to Hitler and Mussolini. Give. Me. A. Fucking. Break. I don't know how many times I've seen a pic of Obama with a Hitler mustache, or comparing him to a Nazi, and on and on. I wanted to scream it thru the TV.

Anyhoo, I enjoyed Stephen's monologue. I enjoyed Elizabeth Warren but, again, I was pissed at the way Stephen interviewed her. Yes, be a devil's advocate, but he kept interrupting! He wouldn't let her complete her statements! Plus, he could easily have posed questions in a short sentence rather than go on and on, eating into the time that Elizabeth could talk. Irked me.

I love Billy Eichner. I felt like the audience wasn't quite sure how to take him all the time, but I thought he was good.

[GHScorpiosRule]

❤️JON!!!!!!❤️

That was pure perfection and makes me sad that he's no longer doing his show. Beautiful just Beautiful was his piece and rant. And he and Stephen are just WONDERFUL together.  And their hug at the end! Seeing the shadow of Jon dancing after hearing the news about Ailes.

Pleasepleaseplease let Jon also appear next week as well.

[teddysmom]

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❤️JON!!!!!!❤️

That was pure perfection and makes me sad that he's no longer doing his show. Beautiful just Beautiful was his piece and rant. And he and Stephen are just WONDERFUL together.  And their hug at the end! Seeing the shadow of Jon dancing after hearing the news about Ailes.

 

I was yelling at the tv "SHOW US!!! NOT FAIR!!!" 

Like Ailes or CBS would be surprised that they're dancing around and jumping for joy?  They have been on Fox's shit list for ten years. 

[Victor the Crab]

It's times like this I wish there was someone at the taping who could give us behind the scenes stuff as to what really went on. Last night with Stephen, then Jon, reacting to the news of Roger Ailes' departure from Fox News was a perfect example.

[teddysmom]

I do actually know someone kinda. One of the writers, I follow on Twitter, and am  friends with his college roommate. 

Let me tweet at him and see if he responds. 

[SophiaPehawkins]

I enjoy Billy Eichner and don't mind his over-the-topness even though he was pretty tame by his standards during this interview. I appreciated it too when he gave Stephen praise for this week's shows. He definitely shines with the political stuff. It's the only reason I wish the RNC were longer. They give Stephen and the writers so much material. And Jon. What can you say? I would love it if he popped in once a week or something to do a desk segment. He's sorely missed.

[possibilities]

Jon and Stephen together on last night's show was like the good old days. I wonder what things will look like after the conventions are over. I think enough mainline Republicans have said damning things about Trump (and they boycotted the convention in large numbers), that there's some cover for the show in terms of whether they've alienated half the country or not, but even if they excoriate the Dems next week, I don't think there's any way to walk back the message that the show is not going to be reliably bland and fluffy and "welcoming to all factions" after tonight's lambasting.

However, from my perspective, any glee over Ailes being ousted is mitigated by his reportedly receiving a $40 million severance package.

[MisterGlass]

Loved the bit where Jon started talking to the side, looking for his old camera line :-)

So good to see them together.  There has been some joy in Stephen's work this week, as though he is really enjoying it.

[Macbeth]

I so miss Jon.  A great piece - and he still was able to make a dig at Arbys.

[GHScorpiosRule]

Forgot to mention how it just made my insides curl with warmth when I saw Jon slowly take the pen, and start doodling on the paper like he did on his old show. Or how I snerked when Stephen clipping on that tie, grabbed some of Jon's chest hair! 

And I love how tonight's show was a clip show! Got to see Jon AGAIN!

[futurechemist]

Why is  tonight a repeat?  TV listings said a new episode with Jennifer Saunders, but they're playing yesterday's episode with Jon Stewart's whole bit.  Oh well, I was hoping they'd mock Trump's speech some more.

I'm guessing it was because of the terrorist attack in Munich. Unless they explained what was happening in the 2 minutes between the start of the show and when I flipped over from the Nightly Show.

[formerlyfreedom]

14 minutes ago, futurechemist said:

Why is  tonight a repeat?

I'm in the Central Time Zone, and tonight was a 'new' episode - what we saw was Stephen saying it was Friday's show, taped AFTER Thursday's show, so it was 1/2 AM ET. So you might have missed that before you turned the channel. They did have some repeated skits, but some new bits as well.

[peeayebee]

I FF'd thru the repeated stuff and the interview. Since I haven't been watching for a while, I had missed the Cajun Pope. I kinda liked him. I also missed a lot of the Hungry for Power Games. I absolutely love Stephen as Caesar Flickerman. The character never gets old for me. His lines are great, and I get a big kick out of his "ha-HAAA!" laugh and his Grrrrr. The bit with his mute eunuch man-boy was pretty funny, esp as the guy was trying not to laugh. I think I just love every character that Stephen does -- Flickerman, Esteban, "Stephen."

So I guess I'll record next week's shows as well for their DNC coverage, though I was getting burned out this past week with all the RNC late shows I was watching.

[mtlchick]

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I absolutely love Stephen as Caesar Flickerman.

I think he was renamed Julius after Stanley Tucci was on the show (sadly not dressed as Caesar.) That said, given Trump's "dislike" of Mexicans, I was surprised Esteban has yet to appear.  Unless that character was a bit TOO much for the CBS brass.

[GHScorpiosRule]

I will not lie. I forgot to manually record Corden's show so I only got half of Jon's bit before his bit got cut off; so I watched on Demand. Then, I was so happy to see it again last night, because this way, I get to KEEP it on my dvr and watch it over and over again. 

During the first time, I totally missed that one woman in rose? dark pinK? dress, when Jon showed up and the camera panned the audience. She was jumping up and down and clapping and laughing, and wooting. I smiled because that's what I was doing! Though I was in the privacy of my own home.

I am hoping we'll get more of Jon next week, and I said this in the upcoming guests, that I hope Jon is there on Wednesday, when John Oliver is on. The Three of THEM? together? A Perfect TRIFECTA for me.

[Clanstarling]

I loved seeing Jon again, and I think his piece popped the way it did precisely because we haven't seen him in so long. Which is not to say I wouldn't have loved seeing him around for the whole frightening ride this year - but I do think it's better for his health that he hasn't been.

I've always had mixed feelings about Billy Eichner, sometimes his energy bugs. But I really enjoyed him on this. I don't know if he toned down, or I've grown more accustomed to him.

[GHScorpiosRule]

Jon also looked as if he lost a lot of weight-or have his arms always been so thin?

[nowandlater]

Just curious: When did Colbert get a female announcer? Who is she?

[Victor the Crab]

20 hours ago, GHScorpiosRule said:

Jon also looked as if he lost a lot of weight-or have his arms always been so thin?

From what I've heard, he became a vegan shortly after he left TDS. Which makes sense, because the last thing you'd want is to discover the bacon and ham you ate was a sibling of the pig you just saved for your animal rescue farm.

[opus]

On 7/22/2016 at 4:25 PM, teddysmom said:

I do actually know someone kinda. One of the writers, I follow on Twitter, and am  friends with his college roommate. 

Let me tweet at him and see if he responds. 

Any news?

[teddysmom]

He just "liked" my tweet. I have a feeling we won't be seeing anything.  They have to be pretty careful how they tweet now that they're employed by CBS.

Another actor I follow got a gig on an NBC show and gave up his personal account completely. (He's also on The Knick).  Now it's run by an "admin".   These networks don't want their people saying stuff that doesn't fall in line with corporate. 

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From what I've heard, he became a vegan shortly after he left TDS. Which makes sense, because the last thing you'd want is to discover the bacon and ham you ate was a sibling of the pig you just saved for your animal rescue farm

I wondered too if it's just from not being at the studio and eating all the crap they ate. I listened to the last TDS podcast that he was on and for 45 minutes all they did was talk about food they had brought in while they were working, and it wasn't exactly fruit veggies, etc. 

[SophiaPehawkins]

I deeply admired Stephen's tenacity and was glad to see him make it up to the podium/stage. I guess I was more surprised that Nancy Pelosi wasn't enough to do it.

I really wonder how Stephen's wife feels about all these actresses stealing kisses. 

[peeayebee]

I loved the opening song, Death Taxes and Hillary. I couldn't quite understand all the lyrics, so I'll have to rewatch, but it was really enjoyable.

Flickerman at the DNC trying to get to the podium was terrific. Glad he finally made it, even though the podium was descended. After Stephen's remark that none of that was staged, I wonder if the RNC bit had been staged. Maybe that was real -- the guy with the sunglasses getting him off the stage. Now that I think about it, I shouldn't be surprised that one of the RNC guys there would be wearing sunglasses.

I watched the Janney interview, because she's terrific, but I didn't pay much attention to Weiner. 

[biakbiak]

I have nothing to add other than I adore Ryan Adams' voice.

[mtlchick]

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I really wonder how Stephen's wife feels about all these actresses stealing kisses. 

When in doubt, she can remind him about a certain Facebook video that went viral (which was nothing short of sweet.)

 

Meanwhile Chuck Todd's goatee has a one nighter with Caligula.  I never thought I would feel bad for a stuffed weasel but there you go.

[possibilities]

I liked the opening number. No idea whatsoever why anyone is interviewing Weiner or why we should be interested in anything he has to say. Allison Janney was fun, though. I like her song dramatizations.

[trow125]

Would love to know who wrote "Death, Taxes and Hillary." My husband wondered if it was David Javerbaum, who has written songs for Colbert in the past, but I wasn't able to find any credits online.

[The Luvly Junkie]

trow125, "Death Taxes and Hillary" was written by Jen Spyra and Michael Brumm, according to colleague Ariel Dumas.

[Arcadiasw]

Sucks CC complained about Stephen using his Colbert character but at least Stephen found a way around the loophole. 

[ABay]

My first thought was that we'd get to see Trevor Potter (the lawyer who helped Stephen with the SuperPAC) advising Stephen, or Stephen reading the lawyers' letter including the postscript not to read it on air. But the identical cousin was also good although I expected a Patty Duke reference, like a hot dog making him lose control.

[teddysmom]

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Sucks CC complained about Stephen using his Colbert character but at least Stephen found a way around the loophole. 

Considering Viacom was owned by CBS until Sumner Treadstone broke them into two entities ten years ago, I'd think they could figure out how to work out the differences. Like, Les Moonves makes a call to Sumner and Sumner calls the Viacom attorneys and tells them to lay off. 

But leave it to Stephen to figure out how to get around it. 

I thought he get Trevor on too.  

[Muffyn]

Does anyone know what John Oliver said that was bleeped?  The time without sound was really long on the west coast.  Now, thanks to him, I think of Tim Kaine as America's stepdad.  Sure, he seems nice now.  He's still trying to win me over.  Later he'll be telling me to be nicer to my mom and explaining how hard things are for her. 

[GHScorpiosRule]

35 minutes ago, Muffyn said:

Does anyone know what John Oliver said that was bleeped?  The time without sound was really long on the west coast.  Now, thanks to him, I think of Tim Kaine as America's stepdad.  Sure, he seems nice now.  He's still trying to win me over.  Later he'll be telling me to be nicer to my mom and explaining how hard things are for her. 

It was just him saying "shit" before repeating what he and Stephen were saying=="I know I said America was great" riff. I think it was "Shit, I can't believe I didn't say it" or "I shit on..."

Though I enjoyed it, I really wish we'd gotten another cameo from Jon. Sigh...

Yes, I know I'm being greedy.

[futurechemist]

I thought Viacom and CBS were in the same corporate family. Shows what I know.

What does Viacom hope to accomplish by stopping Colbert from being "Colbert" ?  Viacom keeps the IP rights, but burns their bridge to the real Colbert.  Does Viacom think that Colbert is going to decide to pop down and give a ratings boost to the Daily or Nightly shows whenever he has a hankering to be "Colbert" now that they've forbidden him from being "Colbert" on the Late Show? 

I do hope that seeing Colbert do the "Werd", that means that more of "Colbert's" old bits are up for grabs on the new show.  Maybe Esteban Colberto to talk about Tim Kaine...

Edited July 28, 2016 by futurechemist

[possibilities]

It might be that if they don't defend their copyright, they set a precedent that could be used against them later. Also, I bet it annoyed the hell out of them that after they gave him his start, and tried to keep him, Colbert left them and now wants to do the same material for someone else. Just on a visceral level, that has to annoy them-- which might be enough to drive a little saber rattling.

[zxy556575]

The copyright issue seems to be business as usual. Same thing happened to Letterman when he switched networks. And to me, since I signed a contract with my company about their intellectual property should I leave.

Seems like Stephen is grasping at straws due to his ratings problems. If he wanted to do the same show he should have stayed at CC.

I also didn't much care for Jon's appearance since it was the same old gripes about the media/Fox News. He rode that particular hobby horse for years and this newest rant didn't add anything to the discussion.

[GHScorpiosRule]

Boo! No Jon this week!

[Victor the Crab]

13 hours ago, lordonia said:

I also didn't much care for Jon's appearance since it was the same old gripes about the media/Fox News. He rode that particular hobby horse for years and this newest rant didn't add anything to the discussion.

Given how the mainstream media has downplayed the outrageousness coming out of that dangerous idiot Drumph's mind, all to create a horserace for people to follow for their advertisers, I'd say Jon coming back and taking a baseball bat to their heads is EXACTLY what is needed at this critical point in time.

[saylubee]

I really enjoyed Colbert during the RNC, but the DNC stuff was so weak.  I don't think Colbert necessarily needs to stay bipartisan, but he was just not really bringing the funny this week in favor of protecting Hillary?  The Democrats?  Heart not into it like with the return of Stephen Colbert & Jon Stewart?

Anyways, these two weeks pretty much settled it for me that it needs to be deleted from the DVR.  I'll catch any trending clips and maybe catch a few OnDemand here and there.  It's just too hard watching Stephen with so much spirit during the RNC and so neutered the rest of the time.

[Slovenly Muse]

To be fair, it must be really difficult to be satirizing these two parties/conferences in a "neutral" or bipartisan way. There's this idea that in order to seem fair and balanced, you have to mock both sides equally. Problem is, the two parties are NOT providing equal levels of material! The GOP is eating itself alive, its nominee is making flat-out treasonous remarks, its upper-level representatives (senators, congressmen, sponsors) are boycotting the RNC, key figures are surprising the audience with speeches AGAINST the nominee, and the people who ARE showing up to the convention are the wackadoos who won't see reason because they have no idea what it looks like. You don't even need to make jokes about a situation like that, you just need to talk about it and it's sure to be entertaining! By comparison, the DNC, while it has its conflicts, seems mostly tame and reasonable. There is SOME sketchiness surrounding the nominee, sure, but not nearly on the level of what's happening with the GOP.

Personally, I think Colbert and others in the media HAVE been applying about the same level of humour to both sides. But since the two sides are not on equally-respectable footing, it comes across as being disproportionate, even though the discrepency in the levels of discourse actually stems from the parties themselves, not the media or satirists. If just flat-out TALKING about the facts of these two conferences makes one of them seem like a total shitshow and the other a big love-fest tainted with some sour grapes, that's not the same thing as choosing to UNFAIRLY portray one side as being more reasonable than the other, that's just examining the truth of what's happening! IMO, expecting Colbert and the media to make Hillary SEEM as ridiculous and unhinged as Trump, or make the DNC SEEM like a disaster on the same level as the RNC, would be unfair and biased. There is not as much comedy to be mined from the DNC, and that's just the truth!

[Milburn Stone]

30 minutes ago, Slovenly Muse said:

TIMO, expecting Colbert and the media to make Hillary SEEM as ridiculous and unhinged as Trump, or make the DNC SEEM like a disaster on the same level as the RNC, would be unfair and biased.

And not only unfair and biased--if Colbert and others tried to make the Dems seem as unhinged as the Repubs, it would also fail to be funny. Because what makes people laugh is the truth. No one ever laughed at a joke that didn't have truth behind it.

Edited July 30, 2016 by Milburn Stone

[mtlchick]

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but he was just not really bringing the funny this week in favor of protecting Hillary?  The Democrats?  Heart not into it like with the return of Stephen Colbert & Jon Stewart?

Quote

There is not as much comedy to be mined from the DNC, and that's just the truth!

Speaking as a Canadian, that's probably why I felt there wasn't as much viral content coming out the DNC week as opposed to the RNC: a lot of the jokes and one liners write themselves and the RNC simply made it a LOT easier to write about.  I mean, look at the celebrities that both sides trotted out.  DNC got Katy Perry, Alicia Keys, Demi Lovado.  RNC got...Scott Baio (who as an aside wrote some pretty ridiculous tweets himself.)  DNC was felt very "Up with People" despite the division due to Sanders and his supporters.   RNC felt "America is completely fucked already, and it's going to get worse" BECAUSE people on that side can't fully endorse the candidate.  Both nominees are prime targets, but which one seems to run their mouth off every hour because they like a good sound bite and KNOW the media will bite the bait and talk about it in a "Did you HEAR what he's saying now?"  

 

Can I hope Colbert goes live on debate nights?  Because the live format really worked wonders for him and the show.  

[wknt3]

5 hours ago, Slovenly Muse said:

If just flat-out TALKING about the facts of these two conferences makes one of them seem like a total shitshow and the other a big love-fest tainted with some sour grapes, that's not the same thing as choosing to UNFAIRLY portray one side as being more reasonable than the other, that's just examining the truth of what's happening!

Who cares about truth or reality? We want truthiness. And reality has a well-known liberal bias. Didn't somebody we use to know say that once? Or maybe it was his cousin.

[Muffyn]

Because Stephen didn't say it, I'll say it for him, "My apologies to Doris Kearns Goodwin."

[zxy556575]

I didn't find anything amusing about drunk Stephen, or exhausted Stephen bringing up/joking about how tired he was. It's his job to make it look easy.

[ruby24]

I also think the historic nature of the DNC made it a little tougher to do something like cynically trash it altogether, especially on the night of Hillary's nomination. The Bernie or Bust people booing and trying to disrupt things would have been what provided the most material. It's not like the speaker's attacks on Trump all week weren't totally and completely (and sadly) true, unlike the crazy over the top chants of "lock her up" that made the RNC seem like the Salem Witch Trials.

Stephen did seem tired and exhausted though.

[KerleyQ]

On 7/30/2016 at 1:04 PM, Slovenly Muse said:

 

To be fair, it must be really difficult to be satirizing these two parties/conferences in a "neutral" or bipartisan way. There's this idea that in order to seem fair and balanced, you have to mock both sides equally.

 

This reminds me of people complaining during the 2008 election that comedy shows, especially, SNL, weren't being "fair" in the distribution of their jokes.  But, I mean, come on...President Obama generally doesn't put much out there that lends itself to satire. And, if you're a comedian, and you're looking at the group of Obama/Biden/McCain/Palin, where is the bulk of your satire going to come from?  The unhinged airhead, or the guy who manages to maintain his dignity 99% of the time?   Same thing here.  There's only so much you can do with regard to Hillary's two most lampoon-able traits - her years long desire to be POTUS (that can sometimes be made to look desperate) and her often awkward attempts to portray herself as "just regular old folks like the rest of you."  Trump, on the other hand, offers up a buffet of shit to make fun of on an hourly basis.  

I'm kind of dreading the idea that we might get an appearance here by Trump at some point during the next few months.  I don't think the network would give Stephen the freedom to fully call him out if he says anything stupid or blatantly untrue.  I'd pay PPV event level money to see the Stephen who said he'd ask Trump "how does Putin's dick taste" interviewing Trump.