Before we jump right into things, let's take a moment to think about just how amazing these past two weeks of Daily Show have been. The program has always been pretty solid, but both the Democratic National Convention and the Republican National Convention have provided beautiful fodder for both Jon and the correspondents, who seem to have finally hit their stride. This particular group of correspondents works best when they're all teamed up, and it really showed during convention coverage. From Jason Jones and Samantha Bee sucking face in front of hapless interviewees to Rob Riggle and Wyatt Cenac grillin' up some arugula in an elitist parking lot. TDS is taking another break next week and, boy, do they deserve it.larry wilmore-related stories
The Daily Show: September 5, 2008 - VIDEOS
Before we jump right into things, let's take a moment to think about just how amazing these past two weeks of Daily Show have been. The program has always been pretty solid, but both the Democratic National Convention and the Republican National Convention have provided beautiful fodder for both Jon and the correspondents, who seem to have finally hit their stride. This particular group of correspondents works best when they're all teamed up, and it really showed during convention coverage. From Jason Jones and Samantha Bee sucking face in front of hapless interviewees to Rob Riggle and Wyatt Cenac grillin' up some arugula in an elitist parking lot. TDS is taking another break next week and, boy, do they deserve it.Continue reading The Daily Show: September 5, 2008 - VIDEOS
The Daily Show: August 29, 2008 - VIDEOS
"The Heart of Hopeness": Barack Obama delivered his acceptance speech the other night, to a stadium full of insanely excited Democrats. John Oliver filed a report live from the site of Obama's speech. Man, John has really been putting himself on the line this week, being incredibly annoying in front of so many overexcited people. I mean, chanting "Osama!" at a massive crowd of Obama lovers is almost a sure to bring about a beating, but he totally lucked out with some relatively mild verbal confrontation. Other great moments included dancing to Jeremiah Wright's "white friends" song and making his move on hot strangers. As we would see later in the episode, it seems like the Democratic National Convention brought out the friskiness in the correspondents.
Continue reading The Daily Show: August 29, 2008 - VIDEOS
The Daily Show: August 26, 2008 - VIDEOS
"Guess Who's Coming to Denver?": The Daily Show is back! They'll be in Denver for the whole Democratic National Convention, workin' their shiny new set. It's pretty much just Jon's "j" desk and a whole lot of big screens hanging in the back. The gang was in full form, and I believe this was the most I've laughed at the show in a while. Perhaps it only feels that way because the show has been gone for a week and a Monday. Thank goodness they returned, because I was starting to get the shakes.Continue reading The Daily Show: August 26, 2008 - VIDEOS
The Daily Show: August 5, 2008 - VIDEOS
Continue reading The Daily Show: August 5, 2008 - VIDEOS
Larry Wilmore: The TV Squad Interview
Almost as soon as I arrived in Beverly Hills for the press tour on July 13, I had an assignment: find a power brick for my laptop, which I had left behind in New Jersey. One frantic and sweaty trip to Radio Shack later, I was ready for my next assignment: a brief interview with The Daily Show's Senior Black Correspondent, Larry Wilmore.Wilmore was on hand to promote Make 'Em Laugh, a wide-ranging PBS documentary series on the history of modern comedy that's set to air in 2009 (it was announced that day that Billy Crystal is hosting the series). Right after the interview, Wilmore was on a panel with two other documentary participants: original SNL writer Anne Beatts (whom I also interviewed) and comedian Richard Lewis.
I only had a few minutes with Wilmore, so I quickly moved on from the special to ask him about how he got the Daily Show gig after a career spent behind the scenes as a writer and producer (The PJs, The Bernie Mac Show). I also asked him what it's like to work on a show that's so influential on the political and news scene. The interview is after the jump.
Continue reading Larry Wilmore: The TV Squad Interview
The Daily Show: July 21, 2008 - VIDEOS
"Obama Quest: The Legend Begins": I guess the political comedy world has decided that the go-to digs on Barack Obama will be about the pressures of his golden boy image. Unfortunately, I can't say my middle school days were spent quite the same way, dealing with people making fun of how awesome I am. There are definitely worse ways to be mocked, is what I'm saying. Anyway, Mr. Obama has made his way to the Middle East for the first time, providing the Daily Show graphics department with the opportunity to make the most freakin' epic clip to accompany the report. Awesome. This trip also gave the media a chance to eagerly await a major cross-cultural faux pas. As it turns out, Obama has fangirls and fanboys all over the world.Continue reading The Daily Show: July 21, 2008 - VIDEOS
The Daily Show: June 16, 2008 - VIDEOS
"Baracknophobia": The mainstream media likes to blame the blogosphere and Grandma's e-mail forwards for spreading ridiculous rumors about Barack Obama. I guess they've forgotten all that "Barack Obama is a secret Muslim" stuff that they've been spitting for the past year or so. And no, Obama wasn't sworn in with a Qur'an. Michelle Obama has been getting noise from the media for sounding mean too. I'll admit, it was kind of a sick burn when she made Stephen Colbert sing to her only to tell him that Obama's voice is better. I thought that clip of Fox News accusing Obama of plagiarizing Mario Cuomo was too ridiculous to be true, so I decided to dig up some footage that hadn't been cut up by TDS. Nope, still ridiculous.Continue reading The Daily Show: June 16, 2008 - VIDEOS
The Daily Show: May 29, 2008 - VIDEOS
John McCain wasn't the only one to have his medical history thrown into the spotlight. Barack Obama's doctor analyzed his health and released a one-page report on how muscular and lean he is. No, it's not nearly as long-winded nor as sexy as McCain's crazy 1,200 page report.Still-President Bush (I think I will start referring to him as such, as well) paid a visit to the US Air Force Academy's graduation and had a little fun with some soldiers on this celebratory day. I'm surprised there weren't any MySpace poses in this collection of poses from the day. This would be so much more endearing if there wasn't always that underlying tone of evil in everything he does. I'm just sayin'.
Continue reading The Daily Show: May 29, 2008 - VIDEOS
The Daily Show: May 28, 2008 - VIDEOS
Hey, hey, hey. Comedy Central's press site has updated Daily Show cast photos. This time, Aasif Mandvi has been included and Samantha Bee has been totally Photoshop'd to bits. I mean, I'm just assuming someone was trying to hide her growing baby bump and that Bee doesn't actually look so proportionately awkward and walk like a fembot. Be sure to take a look at those hi-res photos up close. It's time to update your TDS desktop anyway. I don't want to see anymore Dan Bakkedahl, okay?Continue reading The Daily Show: May 28, 2008 - VIDEOS
How I Met Your Mother: Everything Must Go - VIDEO
(S03E19) I'm going to be speaking to Carter Bays and Craig Thomas tomorrow afternoon, and I think that one of the first questions I'm going to ask them is if Britney Spears is going to be a recurring guest on the show. It's starting to look that way, based on what we saw tonight; the way things ended, I can just imagine crazy Abby popping up once or twice per season, just to make Ted's life miserable. And since Brit Brit established the role, I'd imagine she'd come back and reprise it.And that's not altogether a bad thing. Once she becomes part of the fabric of the show, the episodes will be less about her presence and more about the story. Somehow (heh), Brit pulls off the nutty stalker role well enough, and maybe her acting will get a bit more refined the more she appears. At least I hope it does.
Why am I prattling on about Britney? Because there isn't much more about this episode that really stood out.
Gallery: How I Met Your Mother
Continue reading How I Met Your Mother: Everything Must Go - VIDEO
The Daily Show: February 13, 2008 - VIDEO
Wednesday marked the return of both "The" and the Daily Show (and Colbert Report) writers! Whoo! Whoo! The strike shows have been marked by visible host exhaustion, wacky clock-gobblers (heh) in the form of elaborate feuds, and lots of John Oliver. Sure, the change in pace and style was sort of interesting, but having the writers back means that we don't have to worry about forced improvisation or Jon and Stephen falling asleep partway through a taping.Continue reading The Daily Show: February 13, 2008 - VIDEO
A Daily Show: January 24, 2008 - VIDEO
"Indecision 2008": Daily Show usually focuses its mockery upon the political figures in the news, but when Jon starts riffing on the pundits and mass media, spectacular things happen. This night, Jon took on the media's exaggerations of Mitt Romney and Bill Clinton's so-called outbursts. Apparently, any sort of upward inflection is considered to be scary and abrasive. Also, I have learned that any jokes that have visual references to Pompeii are a-okay with me.Continue reading A Daily Show: January 24, 2008 - VIDEO
Daily Show correspondents love candidates and costumes
The Daily Show correspondents and analysts and very busy and important, so viewers will probably never get a chance to see the everyone show off their comedic chops at the same time. So, pore over this his GQ blog post, because it's probably going to be the closest thing we'll get to a display of their group genius. In the article, the correspondents share their thoughts on various presidential candidates and some of their strangely hot wives. They also seem to have spent quite a bit of time thinking about the magic weight loss of both Mike Huckabee and Subway's Jared (Samantha Bee: "They've both got one pair of giant pants somewhere in their closet that they pull out every so often: Now three of me can fit in these pants!"). I don't think this is an excerpt from a larger, soon to be in-print piece, but I'm still holding out a little hope.
Continue reading Daily Show correspondents love candidates and costumes
The Daily Show: October 1, 2007
"Clusterf@#k to the White House": How in the hell did Jon manage to work in a Perez Hilton joke in there? Why does it feel like the whole world is suddenly talking about that guy again? I don't get it. Anyway, Baltimore's Morgan State University hosted a GOP debate and virtually no one showed up. What does this call for? Yes! Another Larry Wilmore and John Oliver collaboration! Finally.
Continue reading The Daily Show: October 1, 2007
The Daily Show: September 27, 2007
Time for one of the best ironic Bush moments in recent weeks! Yep, it's the president's very educational slip-up. Maybe it's the sleep deprivation, but I spent most of the episode quietly chuckling at Jon's "'Childrens do learn'? Oh, does they?!" Damn sleep deprivation."Straight Outta Congress": Congress is taking on the popular language of the hip-hop genre. Congress and hip-hop! The two go hand-in-hand, like trout and peanut butter. Anyway, this was the first time in a long time that I've heard anybody say "the H-word". And Jon mocking the NWA question was absolutely beautiful.
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