"Rustbelt Midwest Swing State F@#kfest": Taking a break from talking about Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, Jon Stewart took on two other Democrats. This time, the targets were Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann and Detroit's Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and their wacky sex scandals. We saw that these folks' sexual escapades (sexcapades?) were mild compared to the Eliot Spitzer-esque craziness we have grown accustomed to, once again proving that Midwest states are the land of "under the shirt, over the bra" scandals.It was also nice to see the return of R. Kelly impersonations. Obviously, I still haven't gotten over "Trapped in the Closet". Plus, those text messages were spectacular. Who needs comedy writers when shows can just read dangerously unsexy sex scandal text messages and sing things like "Ben's Chili Bowl."
"John Ollie's Ticket to the Pollies": Oh, my word. My last review was right: That really was Cojo taking over the red carpet with John Oliver, covering the political consultants' Pollie Awards. That was kind of a cute pairing, but Cojo/Oliver is no Wilmore/Oliver. Despite its general mockability and the lovely production of the report, this wasn't as funny as I expected. Perhaps the attack ad gods had already done a good enough job of ridiculing themselves by having this ceremony in the first place.
The night's guest was Newsweek International's Fareed Zakaria, promoting his new book, The Post-American World. Everyone loves Fareed Zakaria! It's quite possible that the only person that has been on The Daily Show more than him is John McCain, who is pushing thirteen appearances, if I accurately recall. This interview was unusually positive for the cynical landscape of the show. Zakaria shared the good news that the booming economies and stability of other countries doesn't necessarily mean America is being left in the dust, but means we have new buddies to support us in times of need. Does that make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside about our dying businesses and salad-worthy currency? Also, I absolutely loved Zakaria's closing words in this interview: "Buy this book. It will make you even more positive. And handsome."
Moment of Zen: Kwame Kilpatrick is coming back, no matter what.
The Cheers episode Ken Levine's still writing in his head
Giveaway Tuesday: Fastlane - The Complete Series
Giveaway Monday: The X-Files: Revelations on DVD
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
5-07-2008 @ 12:10PM
jam said...
Fareed Zakaria is seriously getting more and more charming each time he goes on the world's number one fake news show. He almost makes me want to watch television news.
He has such awesome comedic chemistry, or, comedistry (google came up with nothing on 'comedistry'. woot, did I just coin a new word?), with Jon, like his 100% legal immigrant status. I sure hope they take him up on his request to have even more appearances on the show.
The other guest that I really enjoy and that I associate for some reason with Fareed Zakaria is Reza Aslan. I suppose its the hip edgy insightful interviews they always have. Here's to hoping they have him on again sometime.
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5-07-2008 @ 1:26PM
Annie said...
I agree.
And Reza Aslan is probably the hottest religious scholar alive. I'm just sayin'.