Salon.com > The Daily Show http://www.salon.com Tue, 02 Jul 2013 20:52:44 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 Must-see morning clip: Jon Stewart calls into “The Daily Show” http://www.salon.com/2013/06/28/must_see_morning_clip_jon_stewart_calls_into_the_daily_show/ http://www.salon.com/2013/06/28/must_see_morning_clip_jon_stewart_calls_into_the_daily_show/#comments Fri, 28 Jun 2013 13:01:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13339766 In an earnest moment on "The Daily Show," host Jon Stewart, currently on hiatus to direct "Rosewater," his first feature film, dialed into the show via Skype from the Middle East. "I don't watch it all the time because it's too weird," said Stewart, donning a full beard. "It's like watching someone have sex with your wife's desk. But I miss you guys like crazy, I love you guys, I can't wait to see you, this has been exciting and invigorating but weird as hell."

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/06/28/must_see_morning_clip_jon_stewart_calls_into_the_daily_show/feed/ 3 Must-see morning clip: Where is Edward Snowden? http://www.salon.com/2013/06/25/must_see_morning_clip_where_is_edward_snowden/ http://www.salon.com/2013/06/25/must_see_morning_clip_where_is_edward_snowden/#comments Tue, 25 Jun 2013 13:30:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13336257 The whereabouts of Edward Snowden, the "NSA contractor/hero/villain/revealer of all our nation's secrets," as "The Daily Show" interim host John Oliver aptly notes, are unknown.

Snowden left Hong Kong earlier this week, where he had been staying in "a safe place" when he was charged with espionage by the US government. Snowden then reportedly flew to Moscow, and from Moscow to Havana, Cuba. But when journalists boarded a flight they suspected that he was on, there was no Snowden. The media then reported on the fact that Snowden was nowhere to be seen. "They were literally reporting on nothing," joked Oliver.

"Stop guessing," where he is, exclaims Oliver. "News is not a game show!"

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/06/25/must_see_morning_clip_where_is_edward_snowden/feed/ 0 Samantha Bee faces down the gay lobby http://www.salon.com/2013/06/18/samantha_bee_faces_down_the_gay_lobby/ http://www.salon.com/2013/06/18/samantha_bee_faces_down_the_gay_lobby/#comments Tue, 18 Jun 2013 15:55:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13329608 Samantha Bee goes where others in the lamestream media won't dare in a Monday segment for "The Daily Show," exposing the epidemic of gay bullying against conservative Christians who want to deny LGBT people basic rights express themselves freely in the United States.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/06/18/samantha_bee_faces_down_the_gay_lobby/feed/ 21 Must-see morning clip: “The Daily Show” on the return of Sarah Palin http://www.salon.com/2013/06/18/must_see_morning_clip_the_daily_show_on_the_return_of_sarah_palin/ http://www.salon.com/2013/06/18/must_see_morning_clip_the_daily_show_on_the_return_of_sarah_palin/#comments Tue, 18 Jun 2013 13:32:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13329525 Human poptart Sarah Palin is getting major airtime on Fox News again, but that doesn't mean we have to pay attention to her, says "The Daily Show" interim host John Oliver. His bold proposal: "We can just [bleep] ignore her. I promise America, it will feel so good. It'll be like we give our brains an enema together."

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/06/18/must_see_morning_clip_the_daily_show_on_the_return_of_sarah_palin/feed/ 3 Jon Stewart who?: John Oliver’s “Daily Show” is almost too good http://www.salon.com/2013/06/14/john_oliver_on_the_daily_show_is_almost_too_good/ http://www.salon.com/2013/06/14/john_oliver_on_the_daily_show_is_almost_too_good/#comments Fri, 14 Jun 2013 23:25:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13327060 Starting this past week, and for the next three months, “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart” will be “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart” with John Oliver. Oliver, the show’s longtime foppish-haired British correspondent, had no time to ease into his new desk chair -- the unfolding NSA and PRISM scandals made sure of that. On his first day on the job, Oliver had to tackle a prototypically perfect and meaty “Daily Show” story, one full of hypocrisy, absurdity and real stakes. Sitting in his boss’s seat, he delivered a classic “Daily Show” rant that ended, as the best ones do, with a gut punch: “We’re not saying anyone broke any laws, we’re just saying it’s a little bit weird that you didn’t have to.”

A week into his tenure, Oliver is, if anything, doing too good a job. On Thursday, when regular guest Fareed Zakaria sat down for an interview he told Oliver he was “staging a brilliant slow-motion coup against Jon Stewart,” which is true not because there’s any chance Oliver won’t give the gig back in three months, but because his stint makes it clear that ‘The Daily Show with Jon Stewart” would be more accurately called “The Daily Show with a Bunch of Very Talented and Clever Writers.” (I'm still in awe of this gun phone bit.) Oliver won’t end up with his name in the title, but it will be hard to forget that it’s the writers who are the power behind the “Daily Show” throne.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/06/14/john_oliver_on_the_daily_show_is_almost_too_good/feed/ 126 Must-see morning clip: John Oliver takes over “The Daily Show” http://www.salon.com/2013/06/11/must_see_morning_clip_john_oliver_takes_over_the_daily_show/ http://www.salon.com/2013/06/11/must_see_morning_clip_john_oliver_takes_over_the_daily_show/#comments Tue, 11 Jun 2013 13:16:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13322756 John Oliver made his debut as interim host of "The Daily Show" on Monday, taking a beat to note Jon Stewart's absence and "acknowledge for a moment that this is weird" before diving into news of the Obama administration's massive surveillance program.

So much for easing into the job.

"Are you f--cking kidding me? Jon's been gone one day! We had such a fun, gentle first show planned for you! ... Jon Stewart is barely out the door and it turns out that not only is the government taping everyone's phone calls, but that's only the tip of the sh--tberg," Oliver said, sounding every bit as righteously angry as Stewart would have -- only, you know, British.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/06/11/must_see_morning_clip_john_oliver_takes_over_the_daily_show/feed/ 5 We need a break from Jon Stewart http://www.salon.com/2013/06/07/do_we_need_a_break_from_jon_stewart_too/ http://www.salon.com/2013/06/07/do_we_need_a_break_from_jon_stewart_too/#comments Fri, 07 Jun 2013 22:41:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13319788 Jon Stewart departed "The Daily Show" last night in favor of guest host John Oliver -- Stewart will return in September after spending the summer directing a movie. His break is coming none too soon.

As he prepares to shoot his film (a Middle East-set drama called "Rosewater"), Stewart's continued to rely on the same tics -- goofy accents, for instance -- he has since taking over the show in 1999, and seemingly has struggled to find ways to cover Barack Obama's second term. Earlier this week, he led the show with a sequence about the Iraq War culminating in a joke about George W. Bush's "Mission Accomplished" banner. Timely -- for a time traveler from the days when we were all waiting for the fall of Speaker Dennis Hastert and looking forward to seeing "Wedding Crashers." (The joke also includes Stewart's most maddening accent, one where he imitates "The Simpsons"'s Professor Frink to goose audience laughter.)

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/06/07/do_we_need_a_break_from_jon_stewart_too/feed/ 151 John Oliver promises most “memorable interview in the history of television” http://www.salon.com/2013/06/07/john_oliver_promises_most_memorable_interview_in_the_history_of_television/ http://www.salon.com/2013/06/07/john_oliver_promises_most_memorable_interview_in_the_history_of_television/#comments Fri, 07 Jun 2013 20:35:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13320199 Not long after Jon Stewart bid a temporary farewell to "The Daily Show" last night, interim host John Oliver stepped in and announced some tongue-in-cheek changes to the satirical news program. "It's still going to be everything you love about 'The Daily Show,' just without the thing that you love most about it," he wrote in GQ.

Among the promises, he says he'll deliver the most "memorable interview in the history of television":

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/06/07/john_oliver_promises_most_memorable_interview_in_the_history_of_television/feed/ 4 Jon Stewart’s “Daily Show” send-off http://www.salon.com/2013/06/07/jon_stewarts_daily_show_send_off/ http://www.salon.com/2013/06/07/jon_stewarts_daily_show_send_off/#comments Fri, 07 Jun 2013 13:30:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13319698 "The Daily Show" host Jon Stewart took a break from the comedy last night to address his summer hiatus, during which he will direct "Rosewater," a film based on journalist Maziar Bahari's experience being detained and tortured in Iran.

Stewart, who also wrote the screenplay for the film, has a special tie to Bahari's story: Bahari landed in Iranian jail a week after his participation in a 2009 "Daily Show" segment on Iran.

Stewart replayed "Minarets of Menace," a segment for which "we actually tried to get a correspondent into Iran because they had been nicknamed the axis of evil," Stewart explained. "We wanted to see who these evil people were," he said in jest. In the segment, correspondent Jason Jones interviewed Bahari about life in Iran:

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/06/07/jon_stewarts_daily_show_send_off/feed/ 1 Aasif Mandvi: We still need a South Asian leading man http://www.salon.com/2013/05/27/aasif_mandvi_we_still_need_a_south_asian_leading_man_partner/ http://www.salon.com/2013/05/27/aasif_mandvi_we_still_need_a_south_asian_leading_man_partner/#comments Mon, 27 May 2013 17:00:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13308385 Asia Society Many of you know Aasif Mandvi as the "Daily Show's" longtime "Senior Asian Correspondent," "Senior Middle East Correspondent," "Senior Foreign Looking Correspondent" and "Senior Muslim Correspondent." But Mandvi, who was born in Mumbai and raised first in England and then in Florida, is also an accomplished dramatic actor. He recently played the lead role of a Pakistani-American lawyer in the play "Disgraced," which earlier this year won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. This summer, he turns once again to comedy, appearing with Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson in "The Internship," which opens in theaters June 7. We spoke to Mandvi via email.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/05/27/aasif_mandvi_we_still_need_a_south_asian_leading_man_partner/feed/ 4 Must-see morning clip: Bill O’Reilly visits “The Daily Show” http://www.salon.com/2013/05/23/must_see_morning_clip_bill_oreilly_visits_the_daily_show/ http://www.salon.com/2013/05/23/must_see_morning_clip_bill_oreilly_visits_the_daily_show/#comments Thu, 23 May 2013 13:24:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13306729 Jon Stewart's frenemy, Fox News anchor and prolific book writer Bill O'Reilly, stopped by "The Daily Show" on Wednesday to plug his "fifth book this month," "Keep it Pithy: Useful Observations in a Tough World" and discuss the current scandals brewing around the White House.

"So for five years, you're always on DEFCON 1, red alert" said Stewart of "The O'Reilly Factor's" historically sensationalist coverage of President Obama. "You finally have a few things that really look worth investigating," said Stewart. "Is it joy, is it sexual arousal? What is the feeling over there?"

O'Reilly then offered up some "educated speculation" on why the IRS profiled Tea Partiers as Stewart continued to gently mock Fox News, the "organization of Sauron."

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/05/23/must_see_morning_clip_bill_oreilly_visits_the_daily_show/feed/ 3 Must-see morning clip: Toronto’s eccentric and allegedly crack-smoking mayor http://www.salon.com/2013/05/22/must_see_morning_clip_torontos_eccentric_and_allegedly_crack_smoking_mayor/ http://www.salon.com/2013/05/22/must_see_morning_clip_torontos_eccentric_and_allegedly_crack_smoking_mayor/#comments Wed, 22 May 2013 13:42:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13305498 Jon Stewart profiles eccentric Rob "Taco Mayor" Ford, the Toronto mayor who has allegedly been videotaped smoking a crack pipe and has a propensity for referring to Toronto's Asian population as "those oriental people":

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/05/22/must_see_morning_clip_torontos_eccentric_and_allegedly_crack_smoking_mayor/feed/ 2 Must-see morning clip: Barackalypse Now http://www.salon.com/2013/05/21/must_see_morning_clip_barackalypse_now/ http://www.salon.com/2013/05/21/must_see_morning_clip_barackalypse_now/#comments Tue, 21 May 2013 13:36:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13304419 On Sunday, the White House sent out "whoever this guy is" (senior advisor to the president, Dan Pfeiffer) for damage control to address the various scandals plaguing the Obama administration. Jon Stewart was not impressed:

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/05/21/must_see_morning_clip_barackalypse_now/feed/ 0 Must-see morning clip: George Packer on the decline of American institutions http://www.salon.com/2013/05/17/must_see_morning_clip_george_packer_on_the_decline_of_american_institutions/ http://www.salon.com/2013/05/17/must_see_morning_clip_george_packer_on_the_decline_of_american_institutions/#comments Fri, 17 May 2013 13:25:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13301378 New Yorker writer George Packer stopped by "The Daily Show" to discuss his new book, "The Unwinding: An Inner History of the New America," which aims to create a portrait of the power of American people and institutions over a generation. Jon Stewart describes it as "a non-fiction book that reads like a documentary film."

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/05/17/must_see_morning_clip_george_packer_on_the_decline_of_american_institutions/feed/ 4 Must-see morning clip: President Obama heard about IRS, DoJ scandals from the news http://www.salon.com/2013/05/15/must_see_morning_clip_president_obama_heard_about_irs_doj_scandals_from_the_news/ http://www.salon.com/2013/05/15/must_see_morning_clip_president_obama_heard_about_irs_doj_scandals_from_the_news/#comments Wed, 15 May 2013 13:17:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13299223 Between news of the IRS targeting the Tea Party, the on-going hearings on Benghazi and the Department of Justice spying on AP reporters, President Barack Obama is knee-deep in scandals. How did the nation's leader learn about these alleged abuses of government power? From the news. Says an incredulous Jon Stewart:"I wouldn't be surprised if President Obama learned Osama bin Laden had been killed when he saw himself announcing it on television!"

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/05/15/must_see_morning_clip_president_obama_heard_about_irs_doj_scandals_from_the_news/feed/ 1 Obama’s Cronkite moment http://www.salon.com/2013/05/14/obamas_cronkite_moment/ http://www.salon.com/2013/05/14/obamas_cronkite_moment/#comments Tue, 14 May 2013 13:01:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13298039 If President Obama has lost Jon Stewart, has he lost his base? It's a question worth considering after "The Daily Show" host tore into the president Monday night for a series of scandals and controversies that seem to be piling up by the hour this week. In a shouty, expletive-laden segment, Stewart said the IRS scandal will be fodder to the right-wing conspiracy theories he's been battling for years and that it single-handedly "shifted the burden of proof from the tin foil-behatted to the government:"

“Well, congratulations, President Barack Obama, conspiracy theorists who generally can survive in anaerobic environments have just had an algae bloom dropped on their f--king heads, thus removing the last arrow in your pro-governance quiver: skepticism about your opponents.”

By the time Stewart got around to the Department of Justice taking AP reporters' phone records, he couldn't even muster the energy for outrage, mumbling blankly, "mother f--cker."

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/05/14/obamas_cronkite_moment/feed/ 142 Jon Stewart trolls Donald Trump http://www.salon.com/2013/05/03/jon_stewart_trolls_donald_trump/ http://www.salon.com/2013/05/03/jon_stewart_trolls_donald_trump/#comments Fri, 03 May 2013 17:53:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13288962 In a segment on Wednesday night's "The Daily Show," comedian Jon Stewart mocked the notoriously thin-skinned birther Donald Trump, who recently proved to America that he is not the spawn of an orangutan:

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/05/03/jon_stewart_trolls_donald_trump/feed/ 42 Must-see morning clip: Veterans still waiting for medical benefits http://www.salon.com/2013/05/03/must_see_morning_clip_veterans_still_waiting_for_medical_benefits/ http://www.salon.com/2013/05/03/must_see_morning_clip_veterans_still_waiting_for_medical_benefits/#comments Fri, 03 May 2013 13:28:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13288641 Jon Stewart delivers a progress report on "The Daily Show's" on-going coverage of veterans awaiting benefits and realizes that "the enemy is paper":

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/05/03/must_see_morning_clip_veterans_still_waiting_for_medical_benefits/feed/ 2 John Oliver to guest-host “Daily Show” starting June 10 http://www.salon.com/2013/05/01/john_oliver_to_guest_host_daily_show_starting_june_10/ http://www.salon.com/2013/05/01/john_oliver_to_guest_host_daily_show_starting_june_10/#comments Wed, 01 May 2013 17:45:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13286815 Jon Stewart will go on an eight-week hiatus (previously reported as 12) from hosting "The Daily Show" beginning Monday, June 10, Comedy Central has announced.

Stewart is taking a break from hosting the show to direct his first film, “Rosewater,” an adaptation of BBC journalist Maziar Bahari’s harrowing memoir of imprisonment in Iran, for which Stewart also wrote the screenplay. Stewart is slated to return on Tuesday, Sept. 3.

John Oliver, who has been a "Daily Show" correspondent for the past seven years, will guest-host in Stewart's place. "Don’t worry, it’s still going to be everything that you love about ‘The Daily Show,’ just without the thing that you love the most about it,” said Oliver in a press release. Guests for Oliver’s first week include Seth Rogen, Armando Iannucci, Fareed Zakaria and a musical performance by Mavis Staples.

Although die-hard "Daily Show" fans will miss Stewart's comedic genius this summer, the show is still in good hands. Below are some of John Oliver's most memorable segments:

"Even Better Than the Real Thing"

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/05/01/john_oliver_to_guest_host_daily_show_starting_june_10/feed/ 3 Must-see morning clip: Jon Stewart on Syria’s chemical weapons http://www.salon.com/2013/05/01/must_see_morning_clip_jon_stewart_on_syrias_chemical_weapons/ http://www.salon.com/2013/05/01/must_see_morning_clip_jon_stewart_on_syrias_chemical_weapons/#comments Wed, 01 May 2013 13:30:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13286578 Jon Stewart attempts to understand if Syria has crossed the "red line" of consequences for the U.S., but can't seem to get a straight answer:

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