TVSquad

Hurrah! The Daily Show is back from its two week break. Sometimes I wonder if political figures purposely plan their big announcements to occur during Daily Show hiatuses (why am I tempted to use "hiati"?). It certainly felt that way this time around.

"R. Party: Trapped in the Closet": The biggest (or, at least, the most fun) news: Larry Craig's very gay scandal. As if the initial issue wasn't damaging enough, Senator Craig is now attempting to withdraw his guilty plea. Mmm... Scandal. It's so good. When Jon turned to the correspondent in the stall, I thought, "Oh wow. That sounds like Rob Corddry. But no. No, it can't be. But then again the delivery is alarmingly un-crappy... Maybe it's just John Oliver with a weird accent" but it was Rob Corddry! This was the part where I quietly cheered to myself and got some weird looks from the people walking around me.

So, the story was that Senior Public Restroom Correspondent Rob Corddry has been trapped in a bathroom stall since 2006, explaining his long absence. What does he have to share? "Beware of Crocs because they are soliciting incredibly depraved gay sex". Note taken, Mr. Corddry. This piece was incredibly funny. It made me long for the days of Helms, Corddry, Carell, and Colbert. The glory days, if you will. Corddry's delivery of the "perfectly drinkable water" water bit was perfect. This is how you do fake correspondent frustration, folks, this is how you do it. I'm pretty sure this appearance is a one-time thing, but I honestly wouldn't mind having Corddry come back and put on his correspondent suit again. At least it'll keep him from making another The Winner. ZING!

Of course, it wouldn't be Daily Show unless they took this gay scandal thing as far as it could possibly go. Cue the weird "Trapped in the Closet" moment. They actually brought in a singer to accompany Jon? How weird. I still can't decide whether I liked it or not. On one hand, it was really funny (especially the "men's room... men's room... men's room..." echoing), but it was also way too elaborate of a gag.

Ha-HA!... Gag.

"Mess O' Potamia": Iraq still sucks. Bush visited. He doesn't know what he's doing. Blah blah blah. Rob Riggle, you just sucked out all the magic that Rob Corddry instilled just a few minutes ago. There's something about his delivery that still feels so completely... off. Corddry, won't you please take Riggle under your wing and teach him a thing or two?

The night's guest was Jeff Garlin, writer, director and star of I Want Someone To Eat Cheese With. I think he may have done the film's catering, make-up, and body doubling as well. The interview was a real lovefest from the beginning. Jeff and Jon started things with a big hug and the entire interview was punctuated by intense giggling. There wasn't much talk about the film itself (although the opening clip with Amy Sedaris was really weird), but I think I've learned more about the Daily Show gift basket than I've ever wanted to know. The bits with the Comedy Central t-shirt and the plastic-wrapped plastic water bottle were fantastic. Unsurprisingly, Wikipedia immediately locked Jeff's entry to prevent vandalism. Constant vigilance!

Jon/Stephen: Stephen Colbert spent his two-week break having fun on his speedboat. Moment of Zen: 1999 Larry Craig liked talking about nasty, bad, naughty boys...

I was surprised that there was absolutely no mention of Alberto Gonzalez's upcoming departure. I mean, seriously... The show has spent so much time on the crap he's done, I thought for sure they'd jump on that news. No mention of Tony Snow's resignation either. But then again, I guess gay sex scandals will always get top priority.