In the Media: The Blogs Must Be Crazy

[Fremde Frau]

D: Victor the Crab, I... I hate you. You've now given me new nightmares. But let me share mine with you: that, in Stephen's last episode (which should be an hour-long special), he'll say goodbye at the end, and Jon will wave goodbye, as well, and we'll think that he's saying goodbye to Stephen and goodbye to us only for the winter break, but he's actually saying goodbye to us forever. And they'll clarify it later via Twitter: "The king is dead. Long live the king." And everyone will think that it's referring to "Stephen" and Larry, until the show opens up next year with Jessica at the desk. Thing is, Jon is so familiar with and tired of the hyperbolic media cycle that I don't know if he'd want to downplay retirement almost to invisibility, or if he'd accept the inevitable and offer us a direct goodbye, "Thanks for watching me all of these years. Stay tuned for your new host. Here it is, your moment of Zen (which will be Jessica usurping his office)."

 

Anyway, I'm clinging to your interpretations as long-time viewers. I feel a not-slight sense of panic at the thought of both "Stephen" and Jon disappearing from TV before I've even had a chance to fall from my current state of infatuation into a milder, sustainable state of comfort love. Honestly, I feel somewhat like a kid in a new toy store, finding an Ollie doll, a Jon doll, and a Stephen doll, and as I'm sitting there playing with them, a clerk comes up to me and says, "Actually, we were just about to take the Stephen doll off the shelf. Oh, and we're no longer making the Jon doll. But please enjoy this limited edition Ollie doll, as it may be a premium-only item next year."

 

stacey, that's a good point. Jon looks 80, so I keep forgetting that he's only (almost) 52. BOOM.

[dubbel zout]

Jon could always work a reduced schedule. I'm sure Comedy Central wants TDS to go on for as long as possible, and if that means giving Jon more time off, that's an accommodation it's likely willing to make.

Edited November 16, 2014 by dubbel zout

[solotrek]

Just to chime in real quick I agree with trow125, "The Minority Report" is going to be depending on TDS. As an EP of the show, Jon's certainly going to have an investment both professionally and personally. Also he has family members working at Busboy Productions so that's another consideration of seeing Minority Report succeed before fully stepping away from TDS. TDS is bringing in 2 new correspondents for next year, which doesn't sound necessarily like something Jon would do if he were leaving next year.

 

Also right now, this is Colbert's goodbye tour. No way Jon would announce anything, it's like getting engaged at someones wedding or "wearing white on the brides big day".  If anything definitive were to be announced, it'll be next year. I wouldn't want Jon to make any sort of announcement now anyways, it's obviously been an insanely fatiguing year with Rosewater and TDS. It's like any decision I make after night rotations, they're all bad except my food choices.

[Fremde Frau]

Okay, you guys have convinced me!

 

I do hope they bring back the Toss for Larry. They have a different dynamic than Jon does with Stephen, but I love it, and their desk pieces are my favorites of all of the contributor pieces. As a pair, they always seem to be ready and willing to go over the line of comfort to make the point--and not in the sense of cringe humor, like Sam's or Jason's, but addressing real social tensions. On top of that, they seem to have respect and affection for each other. Well, clearly Jon has respect for Larry since he wanted him to host his own show, but I get the sense that there's a professional and personal trust going both ways. (Of course, I am basing this on nothing but my subjective interpretations of how they interact once their segments end and the camera pulls away. I really know nothing.)

 

Here's the Stern interview.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOmpew0RwEk

Edited November 18, 2014 by Fremde Frau

[nowandlater]

After listening to today's interview, I watched this from 19 years ago. It's great to see how they've both evolved.

 

 

 

Also this:

 

[Fremde Frau]

Great finds, nowandlater! Wow, baby Jon is so different... and yet, so familiar.

 

Here is the second part of Jon's Fresh Air interview.

[trow125]

This is slightly off topic but I thought some folks here would be interested in reading the latest scoop on "The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore" (formerly known as "The Minority Report"). Latest plan is for the show to debut on Jan. 19. My guess is that the "TDS" holiday break will be the last 2 weeks of December (last show of 2014 Dec. 18, first show of 2015 Jan. 5). No idea what will air in the post-TDS slot before TNSwLW debuts.

 

Also: the latest TDS podcast is out, and while I haven't listened to it yet, it sounds good: 

Correspondent Jason Jones and producers Ian Berger and Ramin Hedayati talk about what drives the show to celebrate pizza with such passion and what makes an ideal New York slice. Senior Pizza Correspondent Jessie Kanevsky leads us deep into Brooklyn to sample her favorite slice.

 

I hope they mention Jon's loathing of the practice of eating pizza with a fork!

[Fremde Frau]

That's too bad about the name of the show.

[The Luvly Junkie]

Eh, I kinda expected that the name will change (not that I hated it). I guess Jonny-bun didn't want to mix the show's name with the movie of the same name with Tom Cruise.

[trow125]

It does make kind of a nice symmetry, though... "The Daily Show" / "The Nightly Show." Ties the two even closer together.

It'll be interesting to see how it does in the ratings after Colbert takes over "Late Show" -- I don't think it's been announced when exactly that will be. Perhaps not until Fall 2015. Despite Jon's love for Stephen, I'm sure he'll do everything he can to make "TDS" + "TNS" into a package deal for viewers so they don't switch over to CBS at 11:30.

Edited November 20, 2014 by trow125

[Fremde Frau]

That's a good point about symmetry, trow125.

 

Were this a few years into TNS instead of its vulnerable freshman season, it would be hilarious if Jon and Larry were doing a Toss on Stephen's first night, and Stephen hijacked it somehow. Given the circumstances, I know it would only be detrimental to one show or the other, so it won't happen. Still, I'd love for them to somehow work in a joke between the three shows, once both of the new shows have found their feet. Maybe on Jon's last night, whenever he finally retires.

[Grace284]

Hm. That's nondescript. I mean, I get it, but it's not very grabby. I have to admit Larry is my least favourite correspondent so I'll be tuning into other things, but I hope it works out for him.

[attica]

My internet home page this morning has a bit up comparing the faces of celebs with their lookalikes. First in the pile is Jennifer Lawrence and a young Helen Mirren. I suspect Jon pitched the story to them to justify himself....

[Fremde Frau]

I remember when he was first going on about it with her, everyone thought it was absurd. Then, a few months later I think, blogs were posting this video of Helen Mirren in Herostratus (probably NSFW), and people started talking about how they are similar, after all. I'm not sure if that's an argument for the power of suggestion or if Jon just saw it before anyone else did.

[trow125]

The World Needs a Smart Gossip Site, and I’m Just the Person to Run It by Jessica Williams

[attica]

I would marry that site, I think. Flove.

[Bastet]

The upcoming episode of Pit Bulls & Parolees (Sat. 3/14 at 10 EDT) was filmed during the time Tia Torres was invited to appear on TDS.  The only preview available so far is pretty short, so I'm not sure how much of the episode will be taken up by that storyline, but heads up that it may involve some behind-the-scenes TDS info/footage. 

[attica]

In the most recent ep of that HBO docu-series on Robert Durst, a number of young-Jon TDS clips were shown, where he was having fun with the NYC papers' coverage of the Galveston acquittal.

[dusang]

The World Needs a Smart Gossip Site, and I’m Just the Person to Run It by Jessica Williams

 

I feel deceived and betrayed that jmz.com is not active.  (Although there are actually lots of sites that do exactly what she's talking about.)

[ApathyMonger]

Wyatt Cenac is hosting a new show on Pivot: http://deadline.com/2015/03/pivot-unveils-new-original-series-sets-season-premiere-dates-for-four-series-1201391363/

 

 

Pivot’s unscripted projects in development include Untitled Alex Gibney, an investigative food series described as a cross between broadcast journalism and activism; Untitled Wyatt Cenac, which will feature Cenac giving a unique take on topical issues, and Untitled Mark Bittman, a food investigative project that looks at the interconnectedness of our food economy and its effects on real people.

[ApathyMonger]

The newest episode of The Daily Show Podcast Without Jon Stewart was just released and it's a "Farewell to Jason Jones" episode.

 

I didn't realise he was leaving so soon.

[Victor the Crab]

Boo-fucking-hoo! Todd Wilemon wants to sue TDS because he claims they made him look bad after telling them, in an interview last year, that he was opposed to Obamacare, and that the poor should stop being poor. This immediately cost him his job as a NYSE managing director.

 

I'd be sure this dolt signed a waiver that excuses TDS of all legal action should something happen to him as a result of being interviewed and what he said to them. Cry me a fucking river, asshole!

[ChelseaNH]

It sounds like he's suing his former employer, and his TDS appearance was the impetus for his termination.

[Victor the Crab]

The latest issue of Vanity Fair has a story about NBC News' recent woes. Among the topics covered, it paints a very damning picture of Brian Williams. That he's only interested in the anchor's chair from a celebrity's point of view and not in the trust the position carries that others before him took seriously. And that he - the managing editor of NBC's news department - was less interested in the important stories of the day and more concerned about fluff pieces that get people's attention more.

 

I hope Jon takes a good look into this story and thinks long and hard about what kind of a "great newsman" his pal "BriWi" is. Williams would be right at home in the vacuous emptiness at CNN, which might happen if he doesn't return to his anchor's chair according to the story.

[ruby24]

Well, none of that surprises me though, given how desperate he was to be a celebrity, wanting to be on SNL and talks shows all the time and then become the actual host of The Tonight Show, etc. It's obvious he doesn't care that much about the news itself. I don't know how Jon couldn't see that, but then again he also indulges Bill O'Reilly.

[solotrek]

I don't know how Jon couldn't see that, but then again he also indulges Bill O'Reilly.

 

From everything I've read and heard, he's actually good friend with BriWi. So regardless of BriWi's major work issues, that's not what their friendship is about. I mean, he's going to have Fareed on his show next week (and he's had him since the plagiarism reports came out) and that man has about as much integrity (maybe less) as Briwi and BillO.

[Victor the Crab]

Jon was friends with Anthony Weiner before either of them became household names in their respective fields. And it showed when Jon had Weiner on his show as a guest years ago. Jon's attitude towards him seems to have changed after the entire dickpic fiasco and the way Weiner handled it after he got caught for the second time.

 

Perhaps Jon's attitude towards Brian Williams will change as well given how evidence reveals how little Williams seriously took his roll as NBC news anchor. A very important roll to be sure.

[Victor the Crab]

I was just watching the HBO documentary Herblock: The Black & The White, about the life work of Washington Post editorial cartoonist Herbert Block. I recommend it to anyone interested in political satire. Especially as they had both Jon and Lewis on discussing his work. In fact, near the end, they drew a parallel between what Herblock did and what Jon is doing on TDS.

 

This is the main trailer of the documentary:

 

[peeayebee]

Thanks. I'll add that to my list of stuff I need to watch when I get the time.

[kassygreene]

Waaaah.  I wish I'd known before yesterday - Watchathon has ended.  I'll have to wait for the next HBO free weekend.

[solotrek]

An interesting interview with Jon at The Guardian.

 

“It’s not like I thought the show wasn’t working any more, or that I didn’t know how to do it. It was more, ‘Yup, it’s working. But I’m not getting the same satisfaction.’” He slaps his hands on his desk, conclusively. “These things are cyclical. You have moments of dissatisfaction, and then you come out of it and it’s OK. But the cycles become longer and maybe more entrenched, and that’s when you realise, ‘OK, I’m on the back side of it now.’”

 

If anything, it was the prospect of the upcoming US election that pushed him to leave the show. “I’d covered an election four times, and it didn’t appear that there was going to be anything wildly different about this one,” he says.

[ChiCricket]

http://www.mediaite.com/tv/jon-stewart-finally-explains-why-hes-leaving-the-daily-show/

 

Jon Stewart Finally Explains Why He’s Leaving The Daily Show
by Andrew Kirell 
<snip> wary of the absurdities of our daily news culture. For instance, the Hillary Clinton email scandal “is absolutely everything that it’s supposed to be about,” he said, reportedly with a groan. As the interviewer wrote of his attitude towards this and other political stories, “it managed to be at once depressing and completely unsurprising.”
    Stewart also said that leaving right before a major election was the best way to ensure the show has a smooth transition. You don’t want to leave when the cupboard’s bare,” he said. So I think it’s a better introduction when you have something providing you with assisted fuel, like a presidential campaign. But really, the value of this show is so much deeper than my contribution.”
<snip>
And whether he’ll miss the cable news networks he gets paid to skewer: “Watching these channels all day is incredibly depressing,” he said. “I live in a constant state of depression. I think of us as turd miners. I put on my helmet, I go and mine turds, hopefully I don’t get turd lung disease.”

The Guardian also asked whether he’d ever watch Fox News again: “All right, let’s say that it’s a nuclear winter, and I have been wandering, and there appears to be a flickering light through what appears to be a radioactive cloud and I think that light might be a food source that could help my family. I might glance at it for a moment until I realize, that’s Fox News, and then I shut it off. That’s the circumstance.”

Edited April 20, 2015 by ChiCricket

[solotrek]

An interview Jon did today with BBC Radio 4. Promoting Rosewater's DVD/BluRay release and also talking about leaving TDS and the 2016 campaign hell hole.

Edited April 22, 2015 by solotrek

[stormy]

Not only is the 2016 campaign a hell hole, it's now going to be boring as hell without Jon.

Besides, just hearing former Gov Howard Dean use the term "Jon Stewartize" on MSNBC today, made me realize the Daily Show might as well be taken off the Comedy Central schedule altogether.

[Gulftastic]

It's already gone from Comedy Central UK. We used to get it 24 hours later than the Murrcans but this week saw the end of that. They bizarrely stopped it on Wednesday's episode. I'd have thought they'd at least aired the full week's worth. I had to resort to the internets to see Sam Bee's farewell episode.

 

I also though that if they wanted to drop the show, they might at least wait till Jon's final show, which would give them a natural cut-off point. Idiots.

[attica]

David Steinberg's great interview series Inside Comedy begins its 4th season this week on Showtime. First up is Jon and Stephen!

[solotrek]

I don't think this was posted, but Jon moderated the Women in the World Summit in NYC on April 23rd.

 

A conversation with three top women in film about hot-button issues through the female lens gives an inside look at gender inequality in the film industry. Meryl Streep, Ava DuVernay and Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy give Jon Stewart the scoop at the Women in the World Summit in New York City.

 

[ApathyMonger]

It's already gone from Comedy Central UK. We used to get it 24 hours later than the Murrcans but this week saw the end of that. They bizarrely stopped it on Wednesday's episode. I'd have thought they'd at least aired the full week's worth. I had to resort to the internets to see Sam Bee's farewell episode.

 

I also though that if they wanted to drop the show, they might at least wait till Jon's final show, which would give them a natural cut-off point. Idiots.

 

Just noticed this. Doesn't seem to be any word from the channel either; nothing on their website, and there's dozens of tweets to them about it that they've just ignored. https://twitter.com/search?f=realtime&q=%20%40ComedyCentralUK%20%20daily&src=typd

[LADreamr]

David Steinberg's great interview series Inside Comedy begins its 4th season this week on Showtime. First up is Jon and Stephen!

Damn, I hate that Time Warner overcharges so much that I can't afford to add Showtime. They have such good stuff lately, and this seems like a great show.

[solotrek]

Denis Leary ‏@denisleary 3h3 hours ago

Me and Jon Stewart Aug 4 Daily Show.  Will there be tears? Will they be Jon's? Tune in.

One of Jon's guests for his last week. I figured he'd show up very close to the end. If BriWi weren't in his own special self made hell, he would have been one too I bet.

Edited May 6, 2015 by solotrek

[ABay]

But will Stephen be on, that's what I want to know.

[ktwo]

One of Jon's guests for his last week. I figured he'd show up very close to the end. If BriWi weren't in his own special self made hell, he would have been one too I bet.

IIRC, that's the week that BriWi's suspension ends and he is supposed to return to NBC if they end up having him back. Hmmmm.

[Victor the Crab]

IIRC, that's the week that BriWi's suspension ends and he is supposed to return to NBC if they end up having him back. Hmmmm.

 

God, I hope not. At this point, Williams' is damaged goods. Besides, there's an investigation going on involving any more lies he spewed in past. And so far, no good for him.

[mariah23]

I don't where to put this, but Jon may be talking about this Tuesday.  Also, Mike Huckabee just screwed his presidential chances (if he had any)

 

http://thinkprogress.org/election/2015/05/22/3662192/mike-huckabee-makes-excuses-duggar-family-hiding-years-hiding-sexual-abuse/

[solotrek]

Wow, I never knew about this:

Jon Stewart, Iraq War Critic, Runs a Program That Helps Veterans Enter TV

 

 

“Jon said he wanted to help, but wanted to do more than just drop his name,” said Sid Goodfriend, who runs the program.

Instead, the staff of “The Daily Show” developed an intense five-week immersion program to give veterans a crash course in their business, with behind-the-scenes looks at areas including talent booking and editing.

They put out word to veterans’ groups but did not mention that the boot camp was at “The Daily Show,” an attempt to weed out fans and focus instead on veterans who really wanted to work in the industry.

 

[The Luvly Junkie]

And if giving veterans an entertainment outlet wasn't enough, Jon does the GiveThem20 challenge for the VET immersion team (and calls out Ollie-Scone):

 

[Wax Lion]

I think it's amazing that Jon is running a program to help veterans find jobs.

 

However... what the @#$% is up with the way people are writing about it. So far I've seen the NYT and EW bring up Jon's criticism of the Iraq war as if that makes this surprising. I mean this is the intro to EW's article:
 

Jon Stewart may be a fervent critic of the Iraq War—remember Mess-o-potamia?—but he’s willing to put politics aside to help veterans land in show business.

 

Seriously? The fuck? Does EW think Jon is some cartoon 60's liberal spitting on soldiers for being sent to a war they may have complicated feelings over?

 

Jon's coverage hasn't ignored that the war mongers are quick to scream "Support the troops!" whenever the necessity of was was brought up but when it comes to putting some money or effort into supporting military veterans those people are suddenly gone or, even better, denying that there are any problems to address (see Bill O'Reilly going after John Edwards for talking about homelessness among veterans). Jon has been pretty focused on veterans actual needs instead of making them into strawmen.

 

ETA: Apparently, I was so annoyed I didn't know the difference between writing and righting.

Edited May 27, 2015 by Wax Lion

[dusang]

And if giving veterans an entertainment outlet wasn't enough, Jon does the GiveThem20 challenge for the VET immersion team (and calls out Ollie-Scone):

 

 

I would probably have to train for 20 straight push-ups.  Well done, Jon.  Intrigued to see if Ollie does it too!!

[The Luvly Junkie]

I'm just gonna lay it out: September 28. Who's ready for some Trevor Noah*? IMO I'm not sure if a 1-month gap will be enough to prepare him for hosting, but knowing his credentials and experience I'm sure Comedy Central didn't make a terrible mistake choosing him. Just please, CC. Don't fuck up that decision. Please.

 

*Also, a pinch of booty gyration. :P

 

[solotrek]

Looks like Lewis Black will be sticking around with Trevor Noah's Daily Show.