TVSquad

"Strait of Hormuz Incident": There was almost a huge showdown at sea when US warships received a transmission from Iranian gunboats saying, "I'm coming at you! You will explode in two minutes!" Poorly worded, but still pretty scary. Jon attempted to translate the Iranian side of the transmission by dragging in hapless Aasif Mandvi. Even though Mandvi and Dorito-munching Rob Riggle were only onscreen for, like, two minutes, it was still nice to see correspondents sticking around.

In some less angry news, President Bush and his new BFFs, Israeli President Peres and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, had a nice vacay together. Of course, no vacation is complete without severe ass-kissing and a little girl singing a foreign version of "Over the Rainbow" while distributing roses. By the way, I've learned that I will always laugh just a little too hard whenever Jon does that stupid high-pitched "Hellooo!" or, in this case, "Shalooom!" Oh, it gets me every time.

"Our Dead Planet": And then came John Oliver with the show's first pre-taped segment since the return. He did some guerilla reporting on our increasingly hot planet... sort of. Man, those graphics people are really pushing the hardcore flashiness, yeah? They've got flaming skulls, scary type, and a tiny, dancing Jason Jones. Although this report was funny, it felt a bit messy. I think it could have benefited from one, solid interview. Then again, we must remember that none of this could have been pre-written or prepared beforehand. Given the circumstances, it was a nice report. Oliver rarely fails to deliver, so I expect some goodness as the series progresses.

The night's guest was Lou Dobbs Tonight's Lou Dobbs, promoting his book, Independents Day: Awakening the American Spirit. Of course, Jon couldn't have let this go without making fun of Dobbs and his CNN gang for their New Hampshire primary messiness, and rightfully so. Also, we learned that Jon has discovered the best way to eat up time is to show clips, even during interviews.

Jon/Stephen: No toss to round up our week! Super sad. Moment of Zen: Israeli President Peres loves Madonna and family, Sharon Stone, and his Daily Show DVD, evidently.

TCR: Stephen Colbert is really killing me with all this dancing. In this episode, he did some lip-syncing to Prince, accompanied by excessive twirling. A few weeks ago, I heard murmurings of Colbert walking around DC with his portrait on his back, but it sounded incredibly outlandish and I was too lazy 40-minute train ride to see if it was true. I am totally kicking myself now.