TVSquad

I cannot remember the last time The Daily Show had such a completely random plug for an irrelevant product. Don't get me wrong, I'm more than cool with the B-52s, but having Fred Schneider come in to jazz up Scott McClellan's audio book was strange. Did the writers come up with this joke and then ask, "Wouldn't it be awesome if we got James Earl Jones to read this? And if not him, the B-52s guy?" or did they have to work around some way to have a B-52s plug in there? Curious. They could have just used their fake R. Kelly to sing it, since that is already a running joke. Also, when Jon Stewart called out for "Schneider", I was expecting Rob Schneider. An appearance from him may have made a little more sense, as he doesn't seem to have anything better to do when he's not doing bit roles for Adam Sandler, anyway.



"Indecision 2008": As we all know, Michigan and Florida were a bit naughty and now they don't have a say in the nominations. Of course, that didn't keep the DNC's Rules and Bylaws Committee from breaking down the rules to figure out a way to have their votes reinstated. I cannot believe Jon missed the opportunity to say, "Have you ever thought about what 'shall' really means... on weed?"

The night's guest was Scott McClellan, former White House Press Secretary and author of the new tell-all What Happened: Inside the Bush White House and Washington's Culture of Deception, which can really only be read the way Jon did, with slight tinniness and anxiety, like, "What haaaappened?" They really wasted no time jumping into this interview, starting around ten minutes into the show. McClellan didn't look too nervous. He was super-smiley, actually, but not in that way that made me want to punch him in the face. Surprising, I know.

This was the best interview in a long while. Jon seemed like he really knew the points he wanted to get across, but didn't shy away from joking around. I loved everything, from asking McClellan, "How would you destroy you?" to rolling those clips of McClellan's former buddies looking sad and brokenhearted. McClellan also managed to work fairly well with the remarks and didn't look as uncomfortable as I thought he was going to be. He always looked sweaty and nervous behind that White House podium, after all. Is this truly the real McClellan or is he just working super-extra hard to sell this book? Also, the audience didn't over-clap, going seal-crazy every time the host made a decent point. Well done, audience! I hope they all got cookies for good behavior.





Moment of Zen: Hillary Clinton loves Puerto Rico, but not enough to actually put effort into her accent. Seriously, that super-brief "Te quiero, Puerto Rico" sounded jauntier than the accents of barely conscious jocks that took my high school's Spanish I for an easy A.

Next time: David Sedaris! David! Sedaris!