Daily show one word

The Daily Show
Show logo since 2023
Also known as	Other titles: The Daily Show with Craig Kilborn (1996–1998) The Daily Show with Jon Stewart (1999–2015) A Daily Show with Jon Stewart (2008) The Daily Show with Trevor Noah (2015–2022) The Daily Social Distancing Show with Trevor Noah (2020–2021)
Genre	Late-night talk show News/political satire
Created by	Madeleine Smithberg Lizz Winstead
Written by	See List of The Daily Show writers
Directed by	David Paul Meyer (2018–present) Other directors: Andy Barsh (1996–1997) Scott Preston (1997–2000) Chuck O’Neil (2000–2017) Paul Pennolino (2017–2020)
Presented by	Craig Kilborn Jon Stewart Trevor Noah
Starring	See Lists of The Daily Show correspondents
Theme music composer	Bob Mould
Opening theme	«Dog on Fire», performed by They Might Be Giants, arranged by Timbaland and King Logan
Country of origin	United States
No. of episodes	3,765 (as of December 8, 2022) (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer	Jill Katz (2015–present) Jennifer Flanz (2013–present) Other producers: Rory Albanese (2008–2013) Steve Bodow (2013–2019) Timothy Greenberg (2014–2016) Ben Karlin (2004–2006) David Javerbaum (2007–2008) Josh Lieb (2008–2010) Adam Lowitt (2013–2017) Madeleine Smithberg (1996–2003) Jon Stewart (1999–2015) Trevor Noah (2015–2022)
Production location	NEP Studio 52, New York City (2005–2020, 2022–present) Other locations: Hudson Hotel, New York City (1996–1998) NEP Studio 54, New York City (1998–2005) Noah’s apartment, New York City (COVID-19 pandemic; 2020–2021) Paramount Global Headquarters, One Astor Plaza (COVID-19 pandemic; 2021–2022)
Running time	22 min. (1996–2020) 45 min. (2020–present)
Production companies	Comedy Partners (1996–present) MTV Entertainment Studios (2021–present) Busboy Productions (1999–2015) Mad Cow Productions (1996–2002) Ark Angel (2015–2022)
Release
Original network	Comedy Central
Picture format	NTSC (1996–2009) HDTV 1080i (2010–present)
Original release	July 22, 1996 – present
Related
The Jon Stewart Show The Colbert Report The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore The Opposition with Jordan Klepper

The Daily Show (TDS) is an American late-night talk and satirical news television program. It airs each Monday through Thursday on Comedy Central with release shortly after on Paramount+. The Daily Show draws its comedy and satire form from recent news stories as well as political figures, media organizations, and often uses self-referential humor.^[1]

The half-hour-long show premiered on July 22, 1996, and was first hosted by Craig Kilborn until December 17, 1998. Jon Stewart then took over as the host from January 11, 1999, until August 6, 2015, making the show more strongly focused on political satire and news satire, in contrast with the pop culture focus during Kilborn’s tenure. Stewart was succeeded by Trevor Noah, whose tenure began on September 28, 2015. Under the different hosts, the show has been formally known as The Daily Show with Craig Kilborn from 1996 to 1998, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart from 1999 until 2015, and The Daily Show with Trevor Noah from 2015 to 2022. The Daily Show is the longest-running program on Comedy Central (counting all three tenures), and has won 24 Primetime Emmy Awards.^[2]

The program has been popular among young audiences. The Pew Research Center suggested in 2010 that 74% of regular viewers were between 18 and 49, and that 10% of the audience watched the show for its news headlines, 2% for in-depth reporting, and 43% for entertainment; compared with respectively 64%, 10% and 4%, who said the same of CNN.^[3]

Critics chastised Stewart for not conducting sufficiently hard-hitting interviews with his political guests, some of whom he may have lampooned in previous segments. Stewart and other Daily Show writers responded to such criticism by saying that they do not have any journalistic responsibility and that as comedians, their only duty is to provide entertainment. Stewart’s appearance on the CNN show Crossfire picked up this debate, where he chastised the CNN production and hosts for not conducting informative and current interviews on a news network.^[4]

In September 2022, Noah announced he would step down as the host of The Daily Show.^[5] His last episode as host was on December 8, 2022. Currently, a new permanent host has not been chosen.

Format[edit]

Opening segment[edit]

Originally, during Trevor Noah’s tenure as host, each episode begins with announcer Drew Birns announcing the date and the introduction, «From Comedy Central’s World News Headquarters in New York, this is The Daily Show with Trevor Noah«.^[6][7] Previously, the introduction was «This is The Daily Show, the most important television program, ever.» The host then opens the show with a monologue drawing from current news stories and issues. Previously, the show had divided its news commentary into sections known as «Headlines», «Other News», and «This Just In»; these titles were dropped from regular use on October 28, 2002, and were last used on March 6, 2003. Some episodes will begin with a 1–3 minute intro on a small story (or small set of stories) before fully transitioning into the main story of the night.

Correspondent segments[edit]

The monologue segment is often followed by a segment featuring an exchange with a correspondent, either at the anchor desk with the host or reporting from a false location in front of a greenscreen showing stock footage. They typically present absurd or humorously exaggerated takes on current events against the host’s straight man. Some correspondent segments involve the show’s members travelling to different locations to file comedic reports on current news stories and conduct interviews with people related to the featured issue.

Correspondents are typically introduced as the show’s «senior» specialist in the story’s subject, and can range from relatively general (such as Senior Political Analyst) to absurdly specific (such as Senior Religious Registry Correspondent). The cast of correspondents is quite diverse, and many often sarcastically portray extreme stereotypes of themselves to poke fun at a news story, such as «Senior Latino Correspondent», «Senior Youth Correspondent» or «Senior Black Correspondent».

While correspondents stated to be reporting abroad are usually performing in-studio in front of a greenscreen background, on rare occasions, cast members have recorded pieces on location. For instance, during the week of August 20, 2007, the show aired a series of segments called «Operation Silent Thunder: The Daily Show in Iraq» in which correspondent Rob Riggle reported from Iraq.^[8] In August 2008, Riggle traveled to China for a series of segments titled «Rob Riggle: Chasing the Dragon», which focused on the 2008 Beijing Olympics.^[9]

Jason Jones traveled to Iran in early June 2009 to report on the Iranian elections, and John Oliver traveled to South Africa for the series of segments «Into Africa» to report on the 2010 FIFA World Cup. In March 2012, Oliver traveled to Gabon, on the west African coast, to report on the Gabonese government’s decision to donate $2 million to UNESCO after the United States cut its funding for UNESCO earlier that year. On July 19, 2016, Roy Wood Jr. reported live from the Republican National Convention and talked about Donald Trump’s African-American support.^[10][11]

Topics have varied widely; during the early years of the show, they tended toward character-driven human interest stories such as Bigfoot enthusiasts. Since Stewart began hosting in 1999, the focus of the show has become more political and the field pieces have come to more closely reflect current issues and debates.^[12] Under Kilborn and the early years of Stewart, most interviewees were either unaware or not entirely aware of the comedic nature of The Daily Show. However, as the show began to gain popularity—particularly following its coverage of the 2000 and 2004 presidential elections—most of the subjects now interviewed are aware of the comedic element.^[13]

Recurring segments[edit]

Some segments have recurred periodically throughout different tenures, such as «Back in Black» (segments hosted by comedian Lewis Black) & «Your Moment of Zen». Since the 2003 invasion of Iraq, a common segment of the show has been dubbed «Mess O’ Potamia», focusing on the United States’ policies in the Middle East, especially Iraq.^[14] Elections in the United States were a prominent focus in the show’s «Indecision» coverage throughout Stewart & Noah’s time as host (the title «InDecision» is a parody of NBC News’ «Decision» segment). Since 2000, under Stewart’s tenure, the show went on the road to record week-long specials from the cities hosting the Democratic and Republican National Convention.^[15] For the 2006 U.S. midterm elections, a week of episodes was recorded in the contested state of Ohio.^[16] The «Indecision» & «Democalypse» coverage of the 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2014, 2016 elections all culminated in live Election Night specials.^[17]

With Noah as host, one new recurring segment has been «What the Actual Fact», with correspondent Desi Lydic examining statements made by political figures during speeches or events. Under Noah, the continuation of «Democalypse» and «Indecision» also took place with live shows after the Republican National Convention and Democratic National Convention.^[18] For the first time, under Noah, the show also went live after all three U.S. presidential debates in 2016.^[19]

Interviews[edit]

In the show’s third act, the host conducts an interview with a celebrity guest. Guests come from a wide range of cultural sources, and include actors, musicians, authors, athletes, pundits, policy experts and political figures.^[20] During Stewart’s tenure, the show’s guests tended away from celebrities and more towards non-fiction authors and political pundits, as well as many prominent elected officials.^[14] In the show’s earlier years it struggled to book high-profile politicians. (In 1999, for an Indecision 2000 segment, Steve Carell struggled to talk his way off Republican candidate John McCain’s press overflow bus and onto the Straight Talk Express).^{[citation needed]}
However its rise in popularity, particularly following the show’s coverage of the 2000 and 2004 elections, made Stewart according to a Rolling Stone (2006) article, «the hot destination for anyone who wants to sell books or seem hip, from presidential candidates to military dictators». Newsweek labeled it «the coolest pit stop on television».^[21][22]

Prominent political guests have included U.S. President Joe Biden,^[23] former Presidents Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama,^[24] former British Prime Ministers Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, former Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, former Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, former Bolivian President Evo Morales, Jordanian King Abdullah II, former Estonian Prime Minister Taavi Roivas, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and former Mexican President Vicente Fox.^[25]

The show has played host to former and current members of the Administration and Cabinet as well as members of Congress. Numerous presidential candidates have appeared on the show during their campaigns, including John McCain, John Kerry, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.^[26]

Closing segment[edit]

In a closing segment, there is a brief segue to the closing credits in the form of the host introducing «Your Moment of Zen», a humorous piece of video footage without commentary that has been part of the show’s wrap-up since the series began in 1996.^[27] The segment often relates to a story covered earlier in the episode, but occasionally is merely a humorous or ridiculous clip. Occasionally, the segment is used as a tribute to someone who has died.^[28]

Sometimes, before the «Your Moment of Zen», this segment is used for quick promotions. The host might promote the show that follows right after their broadcast, such as promoting the show @midnight. This time has also been used to promote films, books or stand-up specials that are affiliated with the host.^[29][30][31]

In October 2005, following The Colbert Report‘s premiere, a new feature (sometimes referred to as the toss) was added to the closing segment in which Stewart would have a short exchange with «our good friend, Stephen Colbert at The Colbert Report«, which aired immediately after. The two would have a scripted comedic exchange via split-screen from their respective sets. In 2007, the «toss» was cut back to twice per week, and by 2009 was once a week before gradually being phased out. It was used on the 2014 mid-term election night and again just before the final episode of The Colbert Report on December 18, 2014, and returned upon the premiere of The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore. Stewart then regularly tossed to Wilmore at the end of his Monday night episodes. Under Noah, the «toss» has been used for The Opposition with Jordan Klepper and Lights Out with David Spade.

Studio[edit]

The host sits at his desk on the elevated island stage in the style of a traditional news show. The show initially used New York PBS station WNET’s facilities until late 1998, when it moved a few blocks to NEP Studio 54. The Colbert Report would claim NEP Studio 54 in 2005.^[32][33] On July 11, 2005, the show premiered in its new studio, NEP Studio 52, at 733 11th Avenue, a few blocks west of its former location.^[34]
The set of the new studio was given a sleeker, more formal look, including a backdrop of three large projection screens. The traditional guests’ couch, which had been a part of the set since the show’s premiere, was done away with in favor of simple upright chairs. The change was initially not well-received, spawning a backlash among some fans and prompting a «Bring Back the Couch» campaign. The campaign was mentioned on subsequent shows by Stewart and supported by Daily Show contributor Bob Wiltfong.^[35][36] The couch was eventually featured in a sweepstakes in which the winner received the couch, round-trip tickets to New York, tickets to the show, and a small sum of money.^[37]

On April 9, 2007, the show debuted a new set. The projection screens were revamped (with one large screen behind Stewart, while the smaller one behind the interview subject remained the same), a large, global map directly behind Stewart, a more open studio floor, and a J-shaped desk supported at one end by a globe. The intro was also updated; the graphics, display names, dates, and logos were all changed.^[38]

On September 28, 2015, the show debuted a new set alongside the debut of Trevor Noah’s tenure. According to Larry Hartman, Noah took a lot of inspiration from Stewart’s set.^[39] A second on-stage ‘jumbo-tron’ was added and the colours of the set were made lighter. The graphics, intro, theme music, lower thirds, logo, etc. were also all revamped.^[40] On July 19, 2016, the set and graphics were given another change to reflect Democalypse 2016 and denote The Daily Show’s RNC and DNC coverage (which was taped in the conventions’ respective cities).^[41] The new temporary sets had a Washington theme, and was meant to show that Washington is «a little broke» and needs «repair».^[42] Though the studio was reverted to its former self after the election week in 2016, the changes to the graphics were kept.

After a stretch of episodes filmed from Trevor Noah’s apartment due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the show returned to a smaller studio at One Astor Plaza, the corporate headquarters of ViacomCBS in Times Square. The new studio had no audience, and a smaller, more intimate atmosphere with muted colors. In April 2022, The Daily Show returned to NEP Studio 52 with a revamped set, combining elements of the Times Square studio with a revamped version of its previous layout.^[43]

Production[edit]

The show’s writers begin each day with a morning meeting where they review material that researchers have gathered from major newspapers, the Associated Press, cable news television channels and websites, and discuss headline material for the lead news segment. Throughout the morning they work on writing deadline pieces inspired by recent news, as well as longer-term projects. By lunchtime, Noah — who describes his role as that of the captain of a team^[44] — has begun to review headline jokes. The script is submitted by 3 pm, and at 4:15 there is a rehearsal. An hour is left for rewrites before a 6 pm taping in front of a live studio audience.^[6][22]

The Daily Show typically tapes four new episodes a week, Monday through Thursday, forty-two weeks a year.^[45] The show is broadcast at 11 PM Eastern/10 PM Central, a time when local television stations show their news reports and about half an hour before most other late-night comedy programs begin to go on the air. The program is rerun several times the next day, including a 7:30 PM Eastern/6:30 PM Central prime time broadcast.^[46]

History[edit]

Craig Kilborn’s tenure (1996–1998)[edit]

The Daily Show was created by Lizz Winstead and Madeleine Smithberg^[47] and premiered on Comedy Central on July 22, 1996, having been marketed as a replacement for Politically Incorrect (a successful Comedy Central program that had moved to ABC earlier that year).^[48] Madeleine Smithberg was co-creator of The Daily Show as well as the former executive producer. A graduate of Binghamton University, she was an executive producer of Steve Harvey’s Big Time and a talent coordinator for Late Night with David Letterman.^[47]

Aiming to parody conventional newscasts, it featured a comedic monologue of the day’s headlines from anchor Craig Kilborn (a well-known co-anchor of ESPN’s SportsCenter), as well as mockumentary style on-location reports, in-studio segments and debates from regular correspondents Winstead, Brian Unger, Beth Littleford, and A. Whitney Brown.^[49]

Common segments[edit]

Common segments included «This Day in Hasselhoff History» and «Last Weekend’s Top-Grossing Films, Converted into Lira», in parody of entertainment news shows and their tendency to lead out to commercials with trivia such as celebrity birthdays.^[50] Another commercial lead-out featured Winstead’s parents, on her answering machine, reading that day’s «Final Jeopardy!» question and answer.^[51] In each show, Kilborn would conduct celebrity interviews, ending with a segment called «Five Questions» in which the guest was made to answer a series of questions that were typically a combination of obscure fact and subjective opinion.^[52] These are highlighted in a 1998 book titled The Daily Show: Five Questions, which contains transcripts of Kilborn’s best interviews.^[53] Each episode concluded with a segment called «Your Moment of Zen» that showed random video clips of humorous and sometimes morbid interest such as visitors at a Chinese zoo feeding baby chickens to the alligators.^[54] Originally the show was recorded without a studio audience, featuring only the laughter of its own off-camera staff members. A studio audience was incorporated into the show for its second season, and has remained since.^[55]

Differences between Kilborn’s version and Stewart’s version[edit]

The show was much less politically focused than it later became under Jon Stewart, having what Stephen Colbert described as a local news feel and involving more character-driven humor as opposed to news-driven humor.^[12] Winstead recalls that when the show was first launched there was constant debate regarding what the show’s focus should be. While she wanted a more news-driven focus, the network was concerned that this would not appeal to viewers and pushed for «a little more of a hybrid of entertainment and politics».^[56] The show was slammed by some reviewers as being too mean-spirited, particularly towards the interview subjects of field pieces; a criticism acknowledged by some of the show’s cast.^{[by whom?]} Describing his time as a correspondent under Kilborn, Colbert says, «You wanted to take your soul off, put it on a wire hanger, and leave it in the closet before you got on the plane to do one of these pieces.»^[57] One reviewer from The New York Times criticized the show for being too cruel and for lacking a central editorial vision or ideology, describing it as «bereft of an ideological or artistic center… precocious but empty.»^[58]

Craig Kilborn’s departure[edit]

There were reports of backstage friction between Kilborn and head writer Lizz Winstead. Winstead had not been involved in the hiring of Kilborn, and disagreed with him over what direction the show should take. «I spent eight months developing and staffing a show and seeking a tone with producers and writers. Somebody else put him in place. There were bound to be problems. I viewed the show as content-driven; he viewed it as host-driven», she said.^[59] In a 1997 Esquire magazine interview, Kilborn made a sexually explicit joke about Winstead. Comedy Central responded by suspending Kilborn without pay for one week, and Winstead quit soon after.^[60]

In 1998, Kilborn left The Daily Show to replace Tom Snyder on CBS’s The Late Late Show. He claimed the «Five Questions» interview segment as intellectual property, disallowing any future Daily Show hosts from using it in their interviews.^[61] Correspondents Brian Unger and A. Whitney Brown left the show shortly before him, but the majority of the show’s crew and writing staff stayed on.^[62] Kilborn’s last show as host aired on December 17, 1998, ending a 386-episode tenure. Reruns were shown until Jon Stewart’s debut four weeks later.^[63] Kilborn made a short appearance on Jon Stewart’s final edition of the Daily Show saying «I knew you were going to run this thing into the ground.»^[64]

Jon Stewart’s tenure (1999–2015)[edit]

Shift in content[edit]

Comedian Jon Stewart took over as host of the show, which was retitled The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, on January 11, 1999.^[65] Stewart had previously hosted Short Attention Span Theater on Comedy Central,^[66] two shows on MTV (You Wrote It, You Watch It and The Jon Stewart Show), as well as a syndicated late-night talk show, and had been cast in films and television.^[67] In taking over hosting from Kilborn, Stewart initially retained much of the same staff and on-air talent, allowing many pieces to transition without much trouble, while other features like «God Stuff», with John Bloom presenting an assortment of actual clips from various televangelists, and «Backfire», an in-studio debate between Brian Unger and A. Whitney Brown, evolved into the similar pieces of «This Week in God» and Stephen Colbert and Steve Carell’s «Even Stevphen». After the change, a number of new features were developed. The ending segment «Your Moment of Zen», previously consisting of a random selection of humorous videos, was diversified to sometimes include recaps or extended versions of news clips shown earlier in the show.^[27] The show’s theme music, «Dog on Fire» by Bob Mould, was re-recorded by They Might Be Giants shortly after Stewart joined the show.^[68][69]

Stewart served not only as host but also as a writer and executive producer of the series. He recalls that he initially struggled with the Kilborn holdover writers to gain control of the show and put his own imprint on the show’s voice, a struggle that led to the departure of a number of the holdover writers.^[70] Instrumental in shaping the voice of the show under Stewart was former editor of The Onion Ben Karlin who, along with fellow Onion contributor David Javerbaum, joined the staff in 1999 as head writer and was later promoted to executive producer. Their experience in writing for the satirical newspaper, which uses fake stories to mock real print journalism and current events, would influence the comedic direction of the show; Stewart recalls the hiring of Karlin as the point at which things «[started] to take shape». Describing his approach to the show, Karlin said, «The main thing, for me, is seeing hypocrisy. People who know better saying things that you know they don’t believe.»^[13]

Under Stewart and Karlin The Daily Show developed a markedly different style, bringing a sharper political focus to the humor than the show previously exhibited. Then-correspondent Stephen Colbert recalls that Stewart specifically asked him to have a political viewpoint, and to allow his passion for issues to carry through into his comedy.^[71] Colbert says that whereas under Kilborn the focus was on «human interest-y» pieces, with Stewart as host the show’s content became more «issues and news driven», particularly after the beginning of the 2000 election campaign with which the show dealt in its «Indecision 2000» coverage.^[12][72] Stewart himself describes the show’s coverage of the 2000 election recount as the point at which the show found its editorial voice. «That’s when I think we tapped into the emotional angle of the news for us and found our editorial footing,» he says.^[73] Following the September 11th attacks, The Daily Show went off the air for nine days. Upon its return, Stewart opened the show with a somber monologue, that, according to Jeremy Gillick and Nonna Gorilovskaya, addressed both the absurdity and importance of his role as a comedian. Commented Stewart:

They said to get back to work, and there were no jobs available for a man in the fetal position. …We sit in the back and we throw spitballs – never forgetting the fact that it is a luxury in this country that allows us to do that. …The view from my apartment was the World Trade Center. Now it’s gone. They attacked it. This symbol of American ingenuity and strength and labor and imagination and commerce and it is gone. But you know what the view is now? The Statue of Liberty. The view from the south of Manhattan is now the Statue of Liberty. You can’t beat that.^[74]

— Jon Stewart, Thursday, September 20, 2001, broadcast

Gillick and Gorilovskaya point to the September 11 attacks and the beginning of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq as the point at which Jon Stewart emerged as a trusted national figure. Robert Thompson, the director of the Bleier Center for Television and Popular Culture at Syracuse University, recalled of this period, «When all the news guys were walking on eggshells, Jon was hammering those questions about WMDs.»^[74]

Broadening the role of the correspondent[edit]

During Stewart’s tenure, the role of the correspondent broadened to encompass not only field segments but also frequent in-studio exchanges. Under Kilborn, Colbert says that his work as a correspondent initially involved «character driven [field] pieces—like, you know, guys who believe in Bigfoot.» However, as the focus of the show has become more news-driven, correspondents have increasingly been used in studio pieces, either as experts discussing issues at the anchor desk or as field journalists reporting from false locations in front of a green screen. Colbert says that this change has allowed correspondents to be more involved with the show, as it has permitted them to work more closely with the host and writers.^[12]

Popularity and critical respect[edit]

The show’s 2000 and 2004 election coverage, combined with a new satirical edge, helped to catapult Stewart and The Daily Show to new levels of popularity and critical respect.^[75] Since Stewart became host, the show has won 23 Primetime Emmy Awards and three Peabody Awards, and its ratings steadily increased. In 2003, the show was averaging nearly a million viewers, an increase of nearly threefold since the show’s inception as Comedy Central became available in more households.^[76] By September 2008, the show averaged nearly two million viewers per night.^[77] Senator Barack Obama’s interview on October 29, 2008, pulled in 3.6 million viewers.^[78]

In the political spectrum[edit]

The move towards greater involvement in political issues and the increasing popularity of the show in certain key demographics have led to examinations of where the views of the show fit in the political spectrum. Adam Clymer, among many others, argued in 2004 that The Daily Show was more critical of Republicans than Democrats under Stewart.^[79] Stewart, who voted Democratic in the 2004 presidential election,^[80] acknowledged that the show had a more liberal point of view, but that it was not «a liberal organization» with a political agenda and its duty first and foremost was to be funny. He acknowledged that the show is not necessarily an «equal opportunity offender», explaining that Republicans tended to provide more comedic fodder because «I think we consider those with power and influence targets and those without it, not.»^[81] In an interview in 2005, when asked how he responded to critics claiming that The Daily Show is overly liberal, Stephen Colbert, also a self-proclaimed Democrat,^[82] said in an interview during the Bush Administration, when the Republicans held a majority in the House and Senate: «We are liberal, but Jon’s very respectful of the Republican guests, and, listen, if liberals were in power it would be easier to attack them, but Republicans have the executive, legislative and judicial branches, so making fun of Democrats is like kicking a child, so it’s just not worth it.»^[83]

Stewart was critical of Democratic politicians for being weak, timid, or ineffective. He said in an interview with Larry King, prior to the 2006 elections, «I honestly don’t feel that [the Democrats] make an impact. They have forty-nine percent of the vote and three percent of the power. At a certain point you go, ‘Guys, pick up your game.'»^[84] He has targeted them for failing to effectively stand on some issues, such as the war in Iraq, describing them as «incompetent» and «unable… to locate their asses, even when presented with two hands and a special ass map.»^[85]

Karlin, then the show’s executive producer, said in a 2004 interview that while there is a collective sensibility among the staff which, «when filtered through Jon and the correspondents, feels uniform,» the principal goal of the show is comedy. «If you have a legitimately funny joke in support of the notion that gay people are an affront to God, we’ll put that motherfucker on!»^[86]

On September 15, 2003, Senator John Edwards became the first candidate to announce that they were running for president on the show, causing Jon Stewart to jokingly inform him that their show was «fake» and he might have to re-announce elsewhere.^[87] On November 17, 2009, Vice President Joe Biden appeared on the show, making him the first sitting vice president to do so.^[88] On October 27, 2010, President Barack Obama became the first sitting U.S. president to be interviewed on the show, wherein Obama commented he «loved» the show.^[89] Obama took issue with Stewart’s suggestion that his health care program was «timid.»^[90]

After the United States Senate failed to pass and the media failed to cover the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act, which would provide health monitoring and financial aid to sick first responders of the September 11 attacks, Stewart dedicated the entire December 16, 2010, broadcast to the issue. During the next week, a revived version of the bill gained new life, with the potential of being passed before the winter recess.^[91][92] Stewart was praised by both politicians and affected first responders for the bill’s passage. According to Syracuse University professor of television, radio and film Robert J. Thompson, «Without him, it’s unlikely it would’ve passed. I don’t think Brian Williams, Katie Couric or Diane Sawyer would’ve been allowed to do this.»^[93]

Writers’ strike[edit]

Due to the 2007–08 Writers Guild of America strike, the show went on hiatus on November 5, 2007. Although the strike continued until February 2008, the show returned to air on January 7, 2008, without its staff of writers. In solidarity with the writers, the show was referred to as A Daily Show with Jon Stewart rather than The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, until the end of the strike.^[94] As a member of the Writers Guild of America, Stewart was barred from writing any material for the show himself which he or his writers would ordinarily write.^[95] As a result, Stewart and the correspondents largely ad-libbed the show around planned topics.^[96]

In an effort to fill time while keeping to the strike-related restrictions, the show aired or re-aired some previously recorded segments, and Stewart engaged in a briefly recurring mock feud with fellow late-night hosts Stephen Colbert and Conan O’Brien.^[97] The strike officially ended on February 12, 2008, with the show’s writers returning to work the following day, at which point the title of The Daily Show was restored.^[98]

Stewart’s absence in 2013[edit]

Starting in June 2013, Jon Stewart took a twelve-week break to direct Rosewater, a drama about a journalist jailed by Iran for four months. Show writer John Oliver replaced Stewart at the anchor desk for two months, to be followed by one month of reruns.^[99] Oliver received positive reviews for his hosting,^[100][101] leading to his departure from the show in December 2013^[102] for his own show Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, which debuted April 27, 2014, on HBO.^[103]

Jon Stewart’s departure[edit]

On February 10, 2015, Stewart announced that he would be leaving the show later in the year. Comedy Central indicated in a statement that The Daily Show would continue without Stewart, saying it would «endure for years to come».^[104]

Stewart’s final episode aired on August 6 as an hour-long special in three segments. The first featured a reunion of a majority of the correspondents and contributors from throughout the show’s history as well as a pre-recorded «anti-tribute» (mocking Stewart) from various frequent guests and «friends» of the show. This included Bill O’Reilly, Hillary Clinton, John McCain, Lindsey Graham, Chris Christie, John Kerry, and Chuck Schumer.^[105] The second segment featured a pre-recorded tour of the Daily Show production facility and studio introducing all of the show’s staff and crew. The final segment featured a short farewell speech from Stewart followed by the final «Moment of Zen» (being ‘his own’ moment of zen): a performance of «Land of Hope and Dreams» and «Born to Run» by Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band.^[106]

Trevor Noah’s tenure (2015–2022)[edit]

On March 30, 2015, it was announced that Trevor Noah would replace Stewart as host of The Daily Show.^[108] Shortly after his announcement, it was revealed that Amy Schumer, Louis C.K., Amy Poehler, and Chris Rock were all considered for the job.^[109][110] His first show was on September 28, 2015,^[111] with comedian Kevin Hart as his first guest. Noah’s premiere episode was simulcast by Viacom on Comedy Central, the Nick at Nite block on Nickelodeon, Spike, MTV, MTV2, mtvU, VH1, VH1 Classic, BET, Centric, CMT, TV Land, Logo TV, and the NickMom block on the Nick Jr. Channel.^[112][113]

On September 14, 2017, it was announced that Comedy Central had extended Trevor Noah’s contract as host of The Daily Show for five years, through 2022.^[114]

Ratings declined by about 37 percent at the start of Noah’s tenure. They gradually increased from there, only to fall to the lowest ratings in 15 years in 2020.^[115]

On September 29, 2022, during a taping of the show, Noah announced that he would step down as the host of The Daily Show so he could focus on his standup career and touring.^[5] On October 2, 2022, it was confirmed that the show will continue on Comedy Central after Noah leaves.^[116] On October 12, 2022, it was announced that Noah’s final episode would air on December 8.^[117] On October 18, 2022, it was announced that Comedy Central may replace Noah with more than one comedian.^[118]

Differences between Stewart’s version and Noah’s version[edit]

In addition to changes in the tone of the show, Noah has also implemented stylistic changes to the show, with an updated set,^[119] new graphics^[120] and his monologue sometimes taking place while standing in front of a screen as opposed to sitting at the desk. Noah also increased the usage of more millennial-based references, impersonations and characterizations for his comedy on the show, due to his younger demographic and his ability to speak in multiple accents and eight languages.^[121]

The debut of The Daily Show with Trevor Noah brought along three new correspondents: Roy Wood Jr., Desi Lydic and Ronny Chieng.^[122]

Additional correspondents were added in 2017. Michael Kosta became the Senior Constitutional Correspondent and Senior American Correspondent on July 11, 2017.^[123] Dulcé Sloan became the Senior Fashion Correspondent on September 7, 2017.^[124]

In January 2016, The Daily Show with Trevor Noah started to use a modified version of the show’s previous theme, remixed by Timbaland and King Logan.^[125]

Noah also avoided talking too much about Fox News, as Stewart was previously known for. «The Daily Show was based on an emerging 24 hour news cycle, that’s everything it was, that’s what inspired The Daily Show. Now you look at news and it’s changed. It’s no longer predicated around 24 hour news. There are so many different choices. Half of it is online now. Now you’ve got the Gawkers, the BuzzFeeds. The way people are drawing their news is soundbites and headlines and click-bait links has changed everything. The biggest challenge is going to be an exciting one I’m sure is how are we going to bring all of that together looking at it from a bigger lens as opposed to just going after one source—which was historically Fox News,» Noah said at a press conference before the show’s debut.^[126]

Stewart visits The Daily Show with Trevor Noah; Jordan Klepper guest hosts[edit]

On December 8, 2015, former host Jon Stewart returned to The Daily Show for the first time in an extended-length show to return attention to extending the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act, otherwise referred to as 9/11 First Responders Bill, which Stewart explained had been blocked by Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell for political reasons.^[127][128] On October 20, 2016, Noah was unable to host a scheduled taping of The Daily Show due to illness,^[129] so correspondent Jordan Klepper guest hosted.

On November 16, 2017, Stewart once again returned to The Daily Show, in part as a parody of the robocalls of fake Washington Post reporter «Bernie Bernstein» and to promote Night of Too Many Stars on HBO.

[edit]

In March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the show suspended production. On March 18, 2020, Comedy Central began to release webisodes of The Daily Show produced remotely from Noah’s home, entitled The Daily Social Distancing Show. This format moved to television beginning March 23.^[130][131] Following the cancellation of Lights Out with David Spade, The Daily Show expanded into a 45-minute format beginning April 27, 2020.^[132] In July 2020, Comedy Central head Chris McCarthy told Vulture that there were plans to possibly extend the show to an hour-long format by the end of the year.^[133]

In May 2020, The Daily Show won the 2020 Webby Award for Humor in the category Social.^[134]

The at-home format continued until June 2021, when the show went on an extended hiatus for the summer. The Daily Show returned on September 13, 2021, with the show re-located to studios at ViacomCBS’s headquarters at One Astor Plaza in Times Square (its existing studio was being occupied by fellow Comedy Central program Tha God’s Honest Truth).^[135] Comedy Central stated that the show planned to preserve the «intimacy and creative elements» of the home-based episodes.^[136][137] The program continued to be filmed with no studio audience; while there were plans to reinstate an audience,^[135] this was delayed due to concerns regarding Omicron variant.^[135]

In March 2022, it was announced that The Daily Show would go on a hiatus from March 18 to accommodate Noah’s hosting of the Grammy Awards on April 3. On April 11, the show returned to Studio 52 with an audience and a redesigned studio.^[138][43]

Weekly guest hosts (2023)[edit]

On December 6, 2022, Comedy Central announced that until the next iteration of the show, The Daily Show would feature weekly celebrity guest hosts including Al Franken, Wanda Sykes, Leslie Jones, Hasan Minhaj, Sarah Silverman, Chelsea Handler, John Leguizamo, Marlon Wayans, Kal Penn, and D.L. Hughley, as well as both current and former correspondents.^[139] The show returned from hiatus on January 17 with Leslie Jones guest hosting through January 19.^[140][141] Jones was followed by Sykes, Hughley, Handler, and Silverman, each hosting a week through February 16.^[142]

Correspondents, contributors and staff[edit]

The show’s correspondents have two principal roles: experts with satirical senior titles that Noah interviews about certain issues, or hosts of field reporting segments which often involve humorous commentary and interviews relating to a current issue. The current team of correspondents collectively known as «The World’s Fakest News Team» (formerly known as «The Best F#@king News Team Ever») includes Ronny Chieng, Michael Kosta, Desi Lydic, Dulcé Sloan, Roy Wood Jr. and Jaboukie Young-White.^[143] Contributors appear on a less frequent basis, often with their own unique recurring segment or topic.^[143] Current contributors are Lewis Black, Neal Brennan, and Gina Yashere.^[144] Ben Karlin says that the on-air talent contribute in many ways to the material they perform, playing an integral role in the creation of their field pieces as well as being involved with their scripted studio segments, either taking part early on in the writing process or adding improvised material during the rehearsal.^[45]

The show has featured a number of well-known comedians throughout its run and is notable for boosting the careers of several of these. In 2006, The Onion editor-in-chief Scott Dikkers described it as a key launching pad for comedic talent, saying that «I don’t know if there’s a better show you could put on your resume right now.»^[145] Steve Carell, who was a correspondent between 1999 and 2005 before moving on to a movie career and starring television role in The Office, credits Stewart and The Daily Show with his success.^[146] In 2005, the show’s longest-serving correspondent, Stephen Colbert, became the host of the spin-off The Colbert Report, earning critical and popular acclaim.^[147] Colbert would host the program until he was chosen to replace David Letterman as host of CBS’s Late Show in 2015.^[148] Ed Helms, a former correspondent from 2002 to 2006, also starred on NBC’s The Office and was a main character in the 2009 hit The Hangover.^[149]

After filling in as host during Stewart’s two-month absence in the summer of 2013,^[150] John Oliver went on to host his own show on HBO, Last Week Tonight with John Oliver. In 2016, former correspondent Samantha Bee launched her own late-night talk show Full Frontal with Samantha Bee.^[151] Bee’s husband Jason Jones, also a former correspondent, serves as executive producer for the show.^[152] Hasan Minhaj, the last correspondent hired during Stewart’s tenure as host, left the show in 2018 to host Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj on Netflix.^[153]

In June 2010, actress-comedian Olivia Munn began a tryout period on the show as a correspondent. Her credentials were questioned by Irin Carmon of the website Jezebel, who suggested that Munn was better known as a sex symbol than as a comedian.^[154] Carmon’s column was denounced by Munn and the Daily Show‘s female writers, producers, and correspondents, 32 of whom posted a rebuttal on the show’s website in which they asserted that the description of the Daily Show office given by the Jezebel piece was not accurate.^[155][156] Munn appeared as a Daily Show correspondent in a total of 16 episodes, from June 2010 to September 2011.^[157]

Wyatt Cenac had a tumultuous tenure on the show, revealing in a July 2015 interview on WTF with Marc Maron, that his departure stemmed in part from a heated argument he had with Jon Stewart in June 2011 over a bit about Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain.^[158][159] However, Cenac did return for Stewart’s final episode to bid him farewell and the two exchanged an intentionally awkward conversation.^{[160][161][162][163]}

Guest hosts[edit]

• Stephen Colbert, 11 episodes (January 24, 2001, Feb 20 & 22, 2001, Mar. 26–27, 2001, Apr 3 & 5, 2001, May 2–3, 2001, March 6, 2003, and July 6, 2004)
• Steve Carell, 7 episodes (February 21, 2001, Mar. 27–29, 2001, Apr 2 & 4, 2001, and May 1, 2001)
• Nancy Walls, 2 episodes (February 21, 2001, and March 29, 2001)
• Vance DeGeneres, 2 episodes (Feb. 26–27, 2001)
• Mo Rocca, 1 episode (February 27, 2001)
• Rob Corddry, 1 episode (February 9, 2006)
• John Oliver, 33 episodes (June 10, 2013, to August 15, 2013, and November 13, 2014)
• Samantha Bee and Jason Jones, 1 episode (October 7, 2014)
• Jordan Klepper, 1 episode (October 20, 2016)

After Trevor Noah’s departure from The Daily Show at the end of 2022, the program engaged a series of guest hosts beginning in January 2023, each of which hosted four episodes. A permanent replacement is as of February 2023 not expected to start until well into the second half of the year.^[164]

• Leslie Jones, 4 episodes (January 16–19, 2023)^[165]
• Wanda Sykes, 4 episodes (January 23–26, 2023)^[165]
• D.L. Hughley, 4 episodes (January 30 – February 2, 2023)^[165]
• Chelsea Handler, 4 episodes (February 6–9, 2023)^[165]
• Sarah Silverman, 4 episodes (February 13–16, 2023)^[165]
• Hasan Minhaj, 4 episodes (February 27 – March 2, 2023)^[164]
• Marlon Wayans, 4 episodes (March 6–9, 2023)^[164]
• Kal Penn, 4 episodes (March 13–16, 2023)^[164]
• Al Franken, 4 episodes (March 20–23)^[164]
• John Leguizamo, 4 episodes (March 27–30)^[164]
• Roy Wood Jr., 4 episodes (April 3–6)

Reception[edit]

Ratings[edit]

Television ratings from 2008 show that the program generally drew 1.45 to 1.6 million viewers nightly, a high figure for cable television.^[167] By the end of 2013 The Daily Show’s ratings hit 2.5 million viewers nightly.^[168] In demographic terms, the viewership is skewed to a relatively young and well-educated audience compared to traditional news shows. A 2004 Nielsen Media Research study commissioned by Comedy Central put the median age at 35. During the 2004 U.S. presidential election, the show received more male viewers in the 18- to 34-year-old age demographic than Nightline, Meet the Press, Hannity & Colmes and all of the evening news broadcasts.^[169]

For this reason, commentators such as Howard Dean and Ted Koppel posited that Stewart served as a real source of news for young people, regardless of his intentions.^[170][171] In 2016, a New York Times study of the 50 TV shows with the most Facebook Likes found that The Daily Show was «most popular in cities and other more liberal-leaning areas along the coasts. Peak popularity is in San Francisco; it’s least popular in Alabama».^[172]

As a news source[edit]

The show’s writers reject the idea that The Daily Show has become a source of news for young people. Stewart argues that Americans are living in an «age of information osmosis» in which it is close to impossible to gain one’s news from any single source, and says that his show succeeds comedically because the viewers already have some knowledge about current events. «Our show would not be valuable to people who didn’t understand the news because it wouldn’t make sense,» he argues. «We make assumptions about your level of knowledge that… if we were your only source of news, you would just watch our show and think, ‘I don’t know what’s happening.'»^[173]

A 2006 study published by Indiana University tried to compare the substantive amount of information of The Daily Show against prime time network news broadcasts, and concluded that when it comes to substance, there is little difference between The Daily Show and other news outlets. The study contended that, since both programs are more focused on the nature of «infotainment» and ratings than on the dissemination of information, both are broadly equal in terms of the amount of substantial news coverage they offer.^[174]

As the lines between comedy show and news show have blurred, Jon Stewart has come under pressure in some circles to engage in more serious journalism. Tucker Carlson and Daily Show co-creator Lizz Winstead have chastised Stewart for criticizing politicians and newspeople in his solo segments and then, in interviews with the same people, rarely taking them to task face-to-face. In 2004, Winstead expressed a desire for Stewart to ask harder satirical questions, saying, «When you are interviewing a Richard Perle or a Kissinger, if you give them a pass, then you become what you are satirizing. You have a war criminal sitting on your couch—to just let him be a war criminal sitting on your couch means you are having to respect some kind of boundary.»^[175] She has argued that The Daily Show‘s success and access to the youth vote should allow Stewart to press political guests harder without fearing that they will not return to the show.^[176] In 2010, Winstead had changed her views, commenting that since 2004, Stewart did some of the hardest-hitting interviews on TV.^[177] Stewart said in 2003 that he does not think of himself as a social or media critic and rejects the idea that he has any journalistic role as an interviewer.^[178]

During Stewart’s appearance on CNN’s Crossfire, Stewart criticized that show and said that it was «hurting America» by sensationalizing debates and enabling political spin. When co-host Carlson argued that Stewart himself had not asked John Kerry substantial questions when Kerry appeared on The Daily Show, Stewart countered that it was not his job to give hard-hitting interviews and that a «fake news» comedy program should not be held to the same standards as real journalism. «You’re on CNN!» Stewart said, «The show that leads into me is puppets making crank phone calls! What is wrong with you?»^[179] Media critic Dan Kennedy says that Stewart came off as disingenuous in this exchange because «you can’t interview Bill Clinton, Richard Clarke, Bill O’Reilly, Bob Dole, etc., etc., and still say you’re just a comedian.»^[176]

A 2004 study into the effect of The Daily Show on viewers’ attitudes found that participants had a more negative opinion of both President Bush and then Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry. Participants also expressed more cynical views of the electoral system and news media.^[180] Political scientists Jody Baumgartner and Jonathan Morris, who conducted the study, state that it is not clear how such cynicism would affect the political behavior of the show’s viewers. While disillusionment and negative perceptions of the presidential candidates could discourage watchers from voting, Baumgartner and Morris say it is also possible that discontent could prompt greater involvement and that by following the show, viewers may potentially become more engaged and informed voters, with a broader political knowledge.^[181]

Rachel Larris, who has also conducted an academic study of The Daily Show, disputes the findings of Baumgartner and Morris. Larris argues that the study measured cynicism in overly broad terms, and that it would be extremely hard to find a causal link between viewing The Daily Show and thinking or acting in a particular way.^[182] Bloggers such as Marty Kaplan of The Huffington Post argue that so long as Stewart’s comedy is grounded in truth, responsibility for increased cynicism belongs to the political and media figures themselves, not the comedian who satirizes them.^[183]

Stewart himself says that he does not perceive his show as cynical. «It’s so interesting to me that people talk about late-night comedy being cynical,» he says. «What’s more cynical than forming an ideological news network like Fox and calling it ‘fair and balanced’? What we do, I almost think, is adorable in its idealism.»^[184] Stewart has said that he does not take any joy in the failings of American government, despite the comedic fodder they provide. «We’re not the guys at the craps table betting against the line,» he said on Larry King Live. «If government suddenly became inspiring… we would be the happiest people in the world to turn our attention to idiots like, you know, media people, no offense.»^[84]

In July 2009, Time magazine held an online poll entitled «Now that Walter Cronkite has passed on, who is America’s most trusted newscaster?»^[185] Jon Stewart won with 44% of the vote, 15 points ahead of Brian Williams in second place with 29%.^[186] Stewart downplayed the results on the show stating «It was an Internet poll and I was the ‘None of the above’ option».^{[citation needed]}

In December 2013, TV Guide ranked Jon Stewart’s run on the show at #53 on its list of the 60 Best Series of All Time.^[187]

Effectiveness[edit]

In late 2004, the National Annenberg Election Survey at the University of Pennsylvania ran a study of American television viewers and found that fans of The Daily Show had a more accurate idea of the facts behind the 2004 presidential election than most others, including those who primarily got their news through the national network evening newscasts and through reading newspapers.^[188] However, in a 2004 campaign survey conducted by the Pew Research Center those who cited comedy shows such as The Daily Show as a source for news were among the least informed on campaign events and key aspects of the candidates’ backgrounds while those who cited the Internet, National Public Radio, and news magazines were the most informed. Even when age and education were taken into account, the people who learned about the campaigns through the Internet were still found to be the most informed, while those who learned from comedy shows were the least informed.^[189]

In a survey released by the Pew Research Center in April 2007, viewers who watch The Daily Show tend to be more knowledgeable about news than audiences of other news sources. Approximately 54% of The Daily Show viewers scored in the high knowledge range, followed by Jim Lehrer’s program at 53% and Bill O’Reilly’s program at 51%, significantly higher than the 34% of network morning show viewers. The survey shows that changing news formats have not made much difference on how much the public knows about national and international affairs, but adds that there is no clear connection between news formats and what audiences know.^[190] The Project for Excellence in Journalism released a content analysis report suggesting that The Daily Show comes close to providing the complete daily news.^[191]

Episodes[edit]

Awards and nominations[edit]

Under host Jon Stewart, The Daily Show rose to critical acclaim. It has received two Peabody Awards for its coverage of the 2000^[192] and 2004 presidential elections.^[193] Between 2001 and 2015, it has been awarded 24 Primetime Emmy Awards in the categories of Outstanding Variety, Music, or Comedy Series (winner for 10 consecutive years from 2003 to 2012) and Outstanding Writing for a Variety, Music, or Comedy Program, and a further seven nominations. The show has also been honored by GLAAD,^[194] the Television Critics Association, and the Satellite Awards. America (The Book): A Citizen’s Guide to Democracy Inaction, the 2004 bestseller written by Stewart and the writing staff of The Daily Show, was recognized by Publishers Weekly as its «Book of the Year», and its abridged audiobook edition received the 2005 Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album.^[195]

In September 2010, Time magazine selected the series as one of «The 100 Best TV Shows of All-TIME».^[196] In 2015, the show received its third Peabody Award^[197] for the show’s «lasting impact on political satire, television comedy and even politics itself.»^[198] At the 69th Emmy Awards in 2017, The Daily Show with Trevor Noah added yet another emmy award to the show’s many Emmy’s.

Global editions[edit]

The Daily Show airs on various networks worldwide; in addition, an edited version of the show called The Daily Show: Global Edition was produced each week specifically for overseas audiences until mid-2020. It has been airing outside of the U.S. on CNN International and other overseas networks since September 2002.^[199] This edition runs for a half-hour and contains a selection of segments, including one guest interview from the preceding week’s shows, usually from the Monday or Tuesday episode. Noah provides an exclusive introductory monologue in front of an audience, usually about the week’s prevalent international news story, and closing comments without an audience present.^[200] When aired on CNN International, the broadcast is prefaced by a written disclaimer: «The show you are about to watch is a news parody. Its stories are not fact checked. Its reporters are not journalists. And its opinions are not fully thought through.»^{[citation needed]}

Since February 27, 2017, The Daily Show with Trevor Noah has been regularly simulcast on Black Entertainment Television.

Between 2001 and 2006, Westwood One broadcast small, ninety-second portions of the show to various radio stations across America.^[201]

In Canada, The Daily Show is aired on The Comedy Network (a cable channel similar to Comedy Central), in simulcast with the Comedy Central airing, as well as on the CTV broadcast network at 12:05 a.m. local time, following late local newscasts.

In the United Kingdom and Ireland, the digital television channel More4 used to broadcast episodes of The Daily Show Tuesday through Friday evenings with the Global Edition, which is uncensored, airing on Mondays; regular episodes air the evening following their U.S. airing. More4 was the first international broadcaster to syndicate entire Daily Show episodes, though they made edits to the program due to content, language, length or commercial references. The program was also available to watch via the internet video on demand service 4oD. However, the ‘toss’ to The Colbert Report was usually included even though it was aired on FX, another channel.^[202] In addition, the placement of commercial breaks followed the UK format, with one break midway through the show rather than several short breaks at various points. When The Daily Show was on hiatus, either re-runs or alternative content were aired. Since January 2011, only the Global Edition is broadcast.^[203]
In July 2012 Comedy Central announced that The Daily Show would be shown on Comedy Central Extra in the same format as previously on More4, with episodes shown 24 hours after airing in the U.S.^[204] The show aired on the channel from July 2012 to April 2015.

The Global Edition of the week of July 20, 2011, was not aired in the UK as it included a segment mocking Rupert Murdoch’s appearance before the House of Commons Culture, Media and Sport Committee in relation to the News International phone hacking scandal.^[205] Parliamentary rules ban parliamentary proceedings from being broadcast in a satirical context.^[205] Stewart dedicated a segment of the show on August 2, 2011, to lampooning the censorship of the episode in Britain.^[206] In May that year, The Daily Show mocked the ban on using footage of the Royal Wedding in a satirical context with an animated video that showed Paddington Bear, Gollum and Adolf Hitler as guests at the wedding, and depicted its attendants engaging in various forms of violent and sexual behavior.^[207] Stewart later discussed the ban with guest Keira Knightley.^[208]

The Daily Show used to be aired in India on Comedy Central India.^[209]

The Daily Show aired on Australian Pay TV channel, The Comedy Channel, weeknights at 6:30pm. Free-to-air digital channel ABC2 began broadcasting the show without commercial breaks in March 2010, but discontinued in January 2011 when The Comedy Channel obtained exclusive rights;^[210] episodes were also available on the network’s online service ABC iView shortly after airing.^[211] The Comedy Channel (as well as ABC2 during 2010) used to air the show together with The Colbert Report, and both air the Global Edition on Mondays and the regular edition Tuesday through Friday. The Global Edition was previously shown weekend late nights on SBS before moving to Network TEN. The show now airs on 10 Shake (owned by Comedy Central parent ViacomCBS).

In North Africa and the Middle East, the Daily Show was broadcast on Showtime Arabia starting in 2008 and ending in 2015. When the show transitioned under Noah, OSN decided to wait a bit before airing the new show.^[212] Now, the Global Edition of Noah’s show is broadcast on OSN’s Comedy Central HD channel.^[213] Episodes are often edited if they contain topics deemed inappropriate for the region.

Episodes of the U.S. version are also available online the next day at Comedy Central’s official Daily Show website, although this service is not available in all countries. However, clips for UK and Ireland viewers became available on the UK Comedy Central website in December 2011.^[214]

The Daily Show: Nederlandse Editie[edit]

An official Dutch version of the show called The Daily Show: Nederlandse Editie (The Daily Show: Dutch Edition) premiered on the Dutch Comedy Central on January 31, 2011. The program is similar to the original, except with Dutch news and a Dutch view on international news. The show is hosted by comedian Jan-Jaap van der Wal, who was a team captain on Dit was het nieuws, the Dutch edition of Have I Got News For You.^[215] The first episode featured a guest appearance by Jon Stewart (recorded at the New York studio), who gave his official blessing for the show.^[216] This is also the first and still only franchise of The Daily Show. The ‘Dutch Edition’ didn’t make it past the test run of 12 episodes due to lack of viewers.

Spin-offs[edit]

The Colbert Report[edit]

A spin-off, The Colbert Report, was announced in early May 2005. The show starred former correspondent Stephen Colbert, and served as Comedy Central’s answer to the programs of media pundits such as Bill O’Reilly. Colbert, Stewart, and Ben Karlin developed the idea for the show based on a series of faux television commercials that had been created for an earlier Daily Show segment. They pitched the concept to Comedy Central chief Doug Herzog, who agreed to run the show for eight weeks without first creating a pilot.^[217] The Colbert Report premiered on October 17, 2005, and aired following The Daily Show for nine years. Initial ratings satisfied Comedy Central and less than three weeks after its debut the show was renewed for a year.^[218] The Colbert Report was produced by Jon Stewart’s production company, Busboy Productions.

In 2014 it was announced that Colbert would leave Comedy Central to host The Late Show with Stephen Colbert on CBS in 2015, following the retirement of David Letterman.^[219] The final episode of The Colbert Report aired on December 18, 2014.

The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore[edit]

On May 9, 2014, it was announced that Larry Wilmore had been selected to host a show on Comedy Central to serve as a replacement for The Colbert Report. On January 19, 2015, Wilmore began hosting The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore, a late-night panel talk show. It was produced by Busboy Productions. On August 15, 2016, Comedy Central announced that Wilmore’s show had been cancelled. The show ended on August 18, 2016, with a total of 259 episodes.^[220]

The Opposition with Jordan Klepper[edit]

On April 4, 2017, Comedy Central announced a brand-new spinoff to occupy the 11:30 p.m. time slot which had not had an original show since the canceling of The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore. The Daily Show’s senior correspondent Jordan Klepper was enlisted as host, with Klepper, Stuart Miller, and Trevor Noah serving as executive producers.^[221] The show intends to «satirize the hyperbolic, conspiracy-laden noise machine that is the alternative-media landscape on both the right and left.»^[222]

The show aired from September 25, 2017, to June 28, 2018. Comedy Central announced that Klepper would be hosting a new primetime weekly talk show, Klepper, which debuted in 2019.

Books[edit]

• The Daily Show’s Five Questions from Comedy Central, published in 1998, is a book written by Craig Kilborn and other writers of The Daily Show that contains new material from the «Five Questions» segment.
• America (The Book): A Citizen’s Guide to Democracy Inaction, published in 2004, is a book written by Jon Stewart and other writers of The Daily Show that parodies and satirizes American politics and worldview.
• Earth (The Book): A Visitor’s Guide to the Human Race, published in 2010, is a book written by Jon Stewart and other writers of The Daily Show and is similar in style to America (The Book), but focuses on planet and human culture instead of the history of America.
• The Daily Show (The Book): An Oral History as Told by Jon Stewart, the Correspondents, Staff and Guests, published in 2016, is a book written by Chris Smith, a contributing editor at New York Magazine, and other members of the Daily Show family. The book chronicles the 16 years of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.
• The Donald J. Trump Presidential Twitter Library, published in 2018, is a book written by Trevor Noah and other writers of The Daily Show that parodies and satirizes President Donald Trump’s usage of his Twitter account.

Unofficial spin-offs[edit]

The Daily Show’s satirical format has inspired international versions unaffiliated with Comedy Central.

• In Algeria,The Daily Show broadcast of Comedy Central Algeria Presented by Abdelkarim Derraji,The Algerian Comedian on Social Media It premiered in June 2021.
• In Iran, the Persian-language satire program Parazit (meaning «static») was directly inspired by The Daily Show with the hosts even making a guest appearance on the January 20, 2011, episode of The Daily Show.^[223] Parazit was later succeeded by OnTen debuting on May 11, 2012.
• In Germany, the heute-show has aired on ZDF since 2009.^[224] The name is derived from the main ZDF news program heute (which means «today»).
• In Egypt, the show Al Bernameg was modeled after The Daily Show as well. Host Bassem Youssef even imitated Jon Stewart’s mannerisms, such as using his mug as a comedic prop.^[225] Youssef has appeared as a guest on The Daily Show multiple times.
• In India, On Air With AIB was modeled after The Daily Show, SNL, and Last Week Tonight.
• In Indonesia, Republik Mimpi was modeled after The Daily Show and Spitting Image^[226]
• In Iraq, Albasheer Show is a reduced version (with no celebrity interviews) and is hosted by the Iraqi journalist/comedian Ahmad Al-Basheer; commenting and criticizing local political issues.^{[citation needed]}
• In Israel, the Daily Show was one of the main inspirations for Eretz Nehederet, a popular Israeli satire.^[227]
• In Portugal, during the 2009 legislative election campaign, Portuguese comedy group Gato Fedorento hosted Gato Fedorento Esmiúça os Sufrágios, a satirical news show modeled after The Daily Show’s election coverage segments, which attracted immediate public attention after securing the key political candidates as guests.^[228]
• In Croatia, Montirani proces, a short-lived satirical program, heavily inspired by The Daily Show, ran for only six episodes in 2016,^[229] before being controversially cancelled by the newly appointed conservative administration of the Croatian Radiotelevision.^[230]
• In Armenia: ArmComedy is an Armenian comedy show first aired in March 2012. It is aired thrice a week on ArmNews TV channel. Started as a satirical news website it later evolved into a web series on CivilNet Internet TV channel. After two years creators of the show were invited to expand to network television. «^[231] ArmComedy became the «first satiric news show in Armenia dripped in political humor and wit, reporting the real news with a different perspective.».^[232] Every episode of ArmComedy is written and hosted by Armenian comedians Narek Margaryan and Sergey Sargsyan. It has been dubbed in press as «Armenia’s version of The Daily Show».^[233]
• In Ukraine, ChistoNEWS is a Ukrainian comedy show first aired in March 2012.
• In the United Kingdom, The Mash Report is a British version of the format, hosted by Nish Kumar.
• In Belgium, De ideale wereld, Will be hosted by Ella leyers next season.

See also[edit]

• The Daily Show: Indecision 2000
• The Daily Show: Indecision 2004
• The Daily Show: Indecision 2006
• Comedy Central’s Indecision 2008
• Jon Stewart–Jim Cramer conflict
• Inside Washington
• List of The Daily Show episodes
• List of The Daily Show writers
• Real Time with Bill Maher
• Washington Week
• Who Made Huckabee?

References[edit]

Further reading[edit]

• Baym, Geoffrey. «The Daily Show and the reinvention of political journalism». Paper presented at the annual Pre-APSA Conference on Political Communication, Chicago, September 1, 2004.
• Goodnow, Trischa. (ed.). The Daily Show and Rhetoric: Arguments, Issues, and Strategies. (Lexington Books, 2011) ISBN 978-0-7391-5003-0.
• Holt, Jason. (ed.). The Daily Show and Philosophy: Moments of Zen in the Art of Fake News. (Wiley-Blackwell, 2007) ISBN 978-1-4051-6314-9.
• Jones, Jeffrey P. Entertaining Politics: New Political Television and Civic Culture. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2005.
• Rocca, Mo. «Report from Philly: What’s Wrong with Rabble Rousing? A Correspondent for ‘The Daily Show with Jon Stewart’ Tried His Best to Ruffle Feathers at the Convention. A Web Exclusive by Mo Rocca». Newsweek. August 14, 2000.
• Smith, Chris. The Daily Show (The Book): An Oral History as Told by Jon Stewart, the Correspondents, Staff and Guests. New York: Grand Central Publishing, 2016, ISBN 978-1-4555-6538-2.

External links[edit]

• Official website
• The Daily Show at IMDb
• The Daily Show with Trevor Noah‘s channel on YouTube
• The Daily Show at The Interviews: An Oral History of Television

The Daily Show (titled The Daily Show with Jon Stewart since 1999 to 2015) is an American late-night satirical television program airing each Monday through Thursday on Comedy Central and, in Canada, The Comedy Network. The half-hour long show premiered on July 21, 1996, and was hosted by Craig Kilborn until December 1998. Jon Stewart took over as host in January 11, 1999 to August 6, 2015, making the show more strongly focused on politics and the national media, in contrast with the pop culture focus during Kilborn’s tenure. It is currently the longest-running program on Comedy Central, and has won 18 Primetime Emmy Awards.

When news breaks, we fix it. taglines.

Quotes[edit]

All quotes by Jon Stewart, except as noted

1999–2000[edit]

• The Jews celebrate Passover by eating unpalatable food to remind them what will happen to their people if they ever leave New York City. The traditional meal often includes gefilte fish. For those of you who don’t know what gefilte fish is, it strongly resembles a ball of tuna fish that has been passed nasally. It’s not good. During Passover, the angel of death passed over the Jews—an event that, up until the late 1950s, was re-enacted every year by Ivy League colleges and suburban country clubs.
  • Other News—Yeast of Burden. The Daily Show official website. (1999-03-31). Retrieved on 2009-04-09.

• Big election tomorrow! But y’know, I was thinking this weekend, as I was running the New York Marathon, um, how much like an election it is. This 22.6 mile, grueling race through all five boroughs—many, many cultures—and, uh, much like our own elections, always won by either a Kenyan or a Moroccan.
  • Intro—Marathon. The Daily Show official website. (2000-11-06). Retrieved on 2009-04-09.

2001–2004[edit]

• What we’ve been telling [young people] for the last ten years, I think, is: «Buy Coke.» […] But I do think that the message of this country has been over the past ten years, it’s been—not just Play, but Buy. And Consume. And it has been Consume, and I think in the corporate oligarchy that we’ve established that is—that was what we were dealing with. We were dealing with trying to raise a generation of people who would like to buy our products. […] Can I tell you something though? Spending time at colleges and spending time with these people—I never thought that this was an apathetic generation, and I never thought that this was a group of people that would not answer a call to arms. And I personally feel extremely hopeful about that because of the experiences I’ve had with them. They’re a smart group and there’s a hell of a lot of ’em.
  • Interview with Jeff Greenfield. The Daily Show official website. (2001-09-26). Retrieved on 2009-04-04.

• I keep seeing, over these past couple of weeks, people trying to make cultural pronouncements about what these terrible events will mean for our culture. The one I keep seeing is that Irony has passed. That it is The Death of Irony. Graydon Carter, the editor of Vanity Fair—one of the foremost, by the way, magazine authorities on irony. I don’t know if you’ve seen their Young Hollywood issue, but they don’t mean it. Uh, but I was thinking… maybe we should wait to make pronouncements about what will happen to us culturally until the fire [at Ground Zero] is completely put out—don’t you think? I mean, it’s still smoking down there. Maybe we shouldn’t necessarily decide what’s the rest of History of Man going to be. No? And why did Irony have to die? Why couldn’t puns have died? Or would that have been too devastating for Mr. Al Yankovic? No, no… apparently, only the kind of humor I’m fond of is dead. Thanks, Graydon.
  • Irony is Dead. The Daily Show official website. (2001-09-27). Retrieved on 2009-04-04.

• If, god forbid, some coordinated terrorist attack leads to the deaths of the first seven people in line to succeed the President—the Vice President, Speaker of the House, the President pro tem of the Senate, the Secretaries of State, Treasury, and Defense, and the Attorney General—if, god forbid, that were to happen, would you really want the guy who took over to be the one who was in charge of their security? And that’s tonight’s «Nnnggehhh…!»
  • On a motion to move the Secretary of Homeland Security to eighth on the presidential line of succession (July 15, 2003)

• Yes, Yes. All rise for the honorable Justice Chick with Dick!
  • In response to Dennis Kucinich’s statement that he would consider nominating a trans person to the Supreme Court. (July 22, 2003) [1]

• So to all those naked prisoners out there: Unpile!
  • Reaction to Bush’s claim that he has never ordered torture.
  • Finding Memo. The Comedy Central official website. (2004-06-23). Retrieved on 2009-04-12.

• So, to sum up, it’ll take two thirds of both houses and three quarters of the states to approve an amendment saying that two straight parents are better than one straight parent, which is still better than two gay parents, which is equal to a guy screwing a turtle.
  • The Boys in the Ban. The Daily Show. Comedy Central (2004-07-14).

• On a personal note, I’m a comedian who makes fun of what I believe to be the absurdities of our government. Tomorrow when you go to the polls, make my life difficult. Make the next four years really hard, so that every morning all we can do is come in and go, «Madonna is doing some Kaballah thing, you wanna do that?» I’d like that. I’m tired.
  • Speaking to his audience the night before the 2004 U.S. presidential election.

Monologue on September 20, 2001[edit]

At the beginning of the first episode of The Daily Show to air after September 11th, 2001, Stewart gave a personal monologue about the impact of the attacks on himself and the show.
View video of the monologue at The Daily Show’s official website (requires Marcromedia Flash). Read a fan’s transcript.

• The show in general we feel like is a privilege. Even the idea that we can sit in the back of the country and make wise cracks… which is really what we do. We sit in the back and throw spitballs—but never forgetting that it is a luxury in this country that allows us to do that. That is, a country that allows for open satire, and I know that sounds basic and it sounds like it goes without saying. But that’s really what this whole situation is about. It’s the difference between closed and open. The difference between free and… burdened. And we don’t take that for granted here, by any stretch of the imagination.

• And our show has changed. I don’t doubt that. And what it has become I don’t know.

• I just wanted to tell you why I grieve—but why I don’t despair.

• One of my first memories was of Martin Luther King being shot. I was five and if you wonder if this feeling will pass… [choked up]… When I was five and he was shot, here’s what I remember about it: I was in school in Trenton and they turned the lights off and we got to sit under our desks… and we thought that was really cool. And they gave us cottage cheese, which was a cold lunch because there were riots, but we didn’t know that. We just thought, «My God! We get to sit under our desks and eat cottage cheese!» And that’s what I remember about it. And that was a tremendous test of this country’s fabric and this country has had many tests before that and after that.

• The reason I don’t despair is that… this attack happened. It’s not a dream. But the aftermath of it, the recovery, is a dream realized. And that is Martin Luther King’s dream.

• Whatever barriers we put up are gone. Even if it’s just momentary. We are judging people by not the color of their skin, but the content of their character. You know, all this talk about «These guys are criminal masterminds. They’ve gotten together and their extraordinary guile and their wit and their skill…» It’s, it’s—it’s a lie. Any fool can blow something up. Any fool can destroy. But to see these guys, these firefighters and these policemen and people from all over the country, literally with buckets, rebuilding… that’s extraordinary. And that’s why we have already won… they can’t… it’s light. It’s democracy. They can’t shut that down.

• The view… from my apartment… was the World Trade Center… And now it’s gone. And they attacked it. This symbol of… of American ingenuity and strength… and labor and imagination and commerce and it’s gone. But you know what the view is now? The Statue of Liberty. The view from the south of Manhattan is the Statue of Liberty. You can’t beat that.

2005–2009[edit]

• Like, the Afghanistan war, man did I dig that. I’d like to go again.
  • Interview with Colin Powell (June 8, 2005)

• Please stop calling people «Hitler» when you disagree with them. It demeans you, it demeans your opponent, and, to be honest, it demeans Hitler. That guy worked too many years, too hard, to be that evil, to have any Tom, Dick, and Harry come along and say, «hey, you’re bein’ Hitler.» No, you know who was Hitler? Hitler!
  • Regarding countless comparisons to Hitler from the left and the right (June 16, 2005)

• By the way, if that baby in there turns out to be Jesus… somebody owes somebody an apology.
  • Referring to Samantha Bee’s then-unborn child after she appeared, eight months pregnant, on the show to illustrate how much time had elapsed since she’d performed a year-old joke cited by Bill O’Reilly as evidence of the show’s anti-Christian agenda (December 7, 2005)

• But apparently, we liberal, secular fags here at Comedy Central have fired a devastating year-old, six-second-long joke that doesn’t barely even make any sense to us anymore across the bow of Christianity. When you think of liberals, your thoughts naturally turn to others who are fighting against Christmas, like the Puritans, the first white Americans, who banned Christmas celebrations for twenty-two years in Boston because they deemed all of them unseemly. Godless pricks. Mr. O’Reilly also objects, obviously, to the use of the phrase «happy holidays» as anti-Christian — although for some people, there is also a celebration of the New Year, so Christmas and the New Year are actually two holidays, so there is a plural, which in the English language necessitates the use of the letter S. Now I suppose you could say, «Merry Christmas and a happy New Year, but YOU PROBABLY HAVE SHIT TO DO! You shorten it to «happy holidays»! Not everyone who says that is anti-Christian! But — for those of you who don’t feel like you want to be idiots walking around starting on November 27th saying «Merry Christmas» to people — ehhh, knock yourself out. But you know what, it’s okay. If Bill O’Reilly needs to have an enemy, needs to feel persecuted, you know what? Here’s my Kwanzaa gift to him. You ready? All right. [a festive Christmas border appears around the frame] I’m your enemy. Make me your enemy. I, Jon Stewart, hate Christmas. Christians. Jews. Morality! And I will not rest until every year, families gather to spend December 25th together at Osama’s Homobortionpot’n’commiejizzporium. [border disappears] You’re welcome.
  • Response to O’Reilly’s accusation (December 7, 2005)

• [whispering] Thank you, Jesus!
  • Reaction to the Dick Cheney hunting incident (February 13, 2006)

• Now, this situation certainly has its humorous aspects… very easy to make fun of an incident such as this, very easy… unbelievably easy… the kind of easy that makes you want to return your check…
  • On covering the story of Dick Cheney’s hunting accident (February 13, 2006)

• Mr. Whittington is doing fine, but based on this development, we’re gonna downgrade the condition of the story from «Incredibly hilarious» to «Still funny, but, mmm, a little sad.»
  • Response to the news that Harry Whittington had suffered a mild heart attack while recovering from being shot in the face by Dick Cheney, February 14, 2006

• Finally, a guy who says what people who aren’t thinking are thinking.
  • About Glenn Beck, on The Daily Show (16 November 2006)

• Divorce isn’t caused because 50% of marriages end in gayness.
  • Debating gay marriage with Bill Bennett (June 6, 2006)

• So this weekend, I’m home, it’s Saturday night, I’m spending my Saturday night as I spend all my Saturday nights — I’m just flipping through the C-SPANs. C-SPAN 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, ’cause I’m trying to find this show on the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act that I wanted to watch. Did you know that it was almost called the Hawley-Smoot Tariff Act? It’s really quite an interesting story. Anyway, I come across this horribly frightening image. [picture of President Bush standing next to impersonator Steve Bridges] The President of the United States of America, who is now apparently reproducing asexually. He is somehow cloning himself via spores in an effort to create a mammoth, 10,000-strong Bush army, and, uh, I was scared to death. Turns out it’s a bit at what’s called the White House Correspondents’ Dinner. It’s the dinner where the White House press corps and the government consummate their loveless marriage. So anyway, it’s the saddest thing I’ve ever seen in my life, the two Bushes dueling and making the jokes like, «I’m stupid!» «No, you’re stupid!» — very very amusing… but then I see this young fella on the screen. [picture of Stephen Colbert, greeted with huge applause] Captivating. Captivating. Delivered a twenty-minute keynote address that I can only describe as «ballsalicious.» Uh… it really was something to behold. Apparently he was under the impression that they’d hired him to do the thing he does on television every night! Anyway, I’m sure he’ll be talking about it at 11:30, but boy, we’ve never been prouder of our Mr. Colbert, and, uh… holy shit.
  • Reaction to Stephen Colbert’s address at the 2006 White House Correspondents’ Association dinner, May 1, 2006

• Six, six, oh six… Day of the devil? Or regular numerical sequence?! [thunder claps and lightning flashes ominously]
  Here’s the thing about all the hype on the news and the marketing tie-ins, etc.: it’s not 6/6/6, it’s 6/6/06. It’s not even 6/6/06, it’s 6/06/2006. You think god’s gonna send the Four Horsemen based on a typo?! It’s not happening. Forty years ago was 6/6/66, then you might have had something right there. That would’ve been the time. The only it was really 6/6/6 was June 6 in the year 6, which, at the time, wasn’t even called 6. All I’m saying is if you think we’re all going to Hell today, I can’t even imagine where you think we’re going on July 11th. Yes, yes, it is prophesied in the Book of Leviticus that the beefs shall be jerkied and the gulps shall be big.
  • (June 6, 2006)

• In their bathrobes! Gambling in their bathrobes! Yes, because casinos have such high standards. Ever been to a casino? You can play naked if you want. You can masturbate at the roulette table. Just keep giving them money.
  • In response to a senator’s criticism that people can gamble online in their bathrobes (July 12, 2006)

• Well, I don’t like this bad blood between us, Robert. If you’re watching — and I know you’re not — I think it’s time we buried the hatchet. We need to get together and talk. We’ll meet on neutral ground. You’re on Fox, I’m on Comedy Central; how ’bout the Food Network? This Rachael Ray seems like a peacemaker. We can work this out, because I know that you’re a good person, deep down in your… [gestures wordlessly at his chest] the thing that they replaced your heart with that pumps the… I know you have redeeming qualities! I see your redeeming qualities. For example, when you’re on television, you let others shine while you generously absorb all light and oxygen. When you leave an area, it stops raining. And I know that in the past I’ve referred to you as a douchebag. But that’s not an «air of grandeur,» that’s just mean! And sophomoric! [earnestly] And I only said those things to you because I sincerely believe… you are a terrible person.
  • Reaction to Robert Novak publicly stating that he’d never seen any of Stewert’s criticisms of him on The Daily Show, that he intended never to watch the show, and that Stewart was a «self-righteous comedian taking on airs of grandeur»

• Jon Stewart: I’m joined now by Senior Comparative Presidential Historian, John Oliver. Uh, Bush and Lincoln? Clearly the pundits are trying to make that comparison. Is this a fair comparison?
  John Oliver: It’s not a comparison at all, Jon. It’s an opening bid. The first salvo by the President in the negotiation over where he’ll rank among his predecessors. Obviously, he’s starting high. He knows he’s not going to GET Lincoln; it’s just part of the game. Bush opens with Lincoln; America comes back with «Harding.» Bush says, «Harding? You’re killing me here! I’m at least Eisenhower!» America says, «I’m sorry, we can’t go any higher than Hoover.» And so on and so forth, until we all settle on something in the low «Van Buren» range.
  Jon Stewart: Are there any similarities, historically, between Bush and Lincoln?
  John Oliver: There are some, Jon. Both men presided over civil wars. One ours and historically inevitable; one someone else’s and ridiculously evitable. Both men suspended the writ of habeas corpus, although Lincoln did mention it publicly. And, of course, both weren’t afraid of the grand gesture: we all remember Lincoln on the deck of the USS Monitor hailing the end of Civil War combat operations three years before the South actually surrendered.
  • About the media coverage surrounding President Bush’s plan to send 20,000 more troops into Iraq (January 10, 2007)

• Jon Stewart: But John, pardon me but that sounds like Bullshit!
  John Oliver: Bullshit? Or is it Bull-fact?
  • April 2007

• Let me make one thing perfectly clear to you: this is not writing. I have absolutely no idea how this sentence I’m currently saying is going to finish. When and if it does, I can only hope it makes some kind of coherent ceramic pineapple.
  • John Oliver, referring to the writer’s strike (January 7, 2008)

• You know, I’m sorry. Normally we have all the writers. We’ve got a big group of people kicking that soundbite around, but right now it’s just me. So… let me see if I can, just quickly, whip something up here; erm… erm… ooh! I’ve got something. FUCK YOU!
  • Response to Mitt Romney’s concession speech wherein he declares that allowing the Democrats to win would be a «surrender to terror» (February 7, 2008)

• These guys are the ’27 Yankees of dodging questions. The ’55 Dodgers of yanking Congress’ chain. […] Jon, this is once in a generation bullshit.
  • John Oliver, on government response at Congressional Hearings (July 22, 2008)

• [ Michelle Obama ]’s a Democrat. She must prove she loves America. As opposed to Republicans, who everyone knows love America—they just hate half the people living in it! [audience applauds] Apparently they’re all here tonight.
  • Michelle Obama’s Patriotism. The Daily Show official website (2008-08-26). Retrieved on 2009-04-04.

• Nineteen people flew into the towers. It seems hard for me to imagine that we could go to war enough to make the world safe enough that nineteen people wouldn’t want to do harm to us. So it seems like we have to rethink a strategy that is less military-based.
  • [http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=185186&title=Tony-Blair-Pt.-2/ Interview with Tony Blair, (September 18, 2008)

• I think that’s our biggest problem right there.
  • On George Bush’s comment that he «doesn’t think America has any problems»
  • Interview with Tony Blair (September 18, 2008)

• Guantanamo Bay isn’t a prison, it’s a leadership camp! ^{[citation needed]}

• See, all of this «real America» and «fake America» can get a little hard to figure out. For instance, you may live in a small town, where they make good people, but you live in a gay state, like Massachusetts—are you real or are you fake? Or you may live in a big city, but still have a healthy mistrust of Muslims. So for those of you who are confused as to whether or not you’re a real American, it’s actually quite simple. Let me see if I can help you out here. [pulls out a dry-erase board and writes the following equation] Just multiply your town’s population (P) by the average price of a local cup of coffee (picture of coffee cup), plus its number of art-house movie theaters (house), times the number of streets named for Martin Luther King, Jr. (MLK); then divide by the number of pieces of identification you need to buy a Sudafed in your town (pill), times the number of people who wear trucker hats in your town minus the actual number of truckers (trucker hat), multiply that by 1 over the houses of worship—not counting synagogues, of course (cross)—minus the number of bars in your town. That’s supposed to be a bottle. If the answer equals less than 10, congratulations, odds are very good that you’re a real American.
  • Reaction to Sarah Palin’s comments on how small towns are «real America» (October 20, 2008)

• I kinda had just read the statement that Sarah Palin had made about the Pro-America parts of the country and I think I might have said, in response to that, I think I might have said, uhh, FUCK YOU and uhh that’s just my way of saying it’s a profanity to say and I was answering with a profanity. But it’s not really fair, and it makes it seem like I’m just addressing Governor Palin about this and I’m not. It’s really this whole theme, that there is more American areas or some people love the country and some people don’t. So I guess what I meant to say was Fuck all y’all!
  • Second reaction to Palin’s comments (October 20, 2008)

• [in response to John McCain’s use of air quotes with regards to women’s health in the third presidential debate] Thank you, John McCain, for finally exposing the seedy underbelly of the women’s «health» scam… Let’s face it: women loooove abortions, and will do anything to get one – the later the better. «Hemorrhages,» «severe uterine infections,» «dying,» blah blah blah blah. And while we’re at it, enough with the whining about “rape,” “incest,” and «incest rape.» We’re on to you, ladies. Those aren’t the golden ticket to the Abortion Factory, okay? Listen, John McCain has finally put the concerns of women where they belong: in derisive air quotes! And this transcends politics, Jon. Reasonable people can disagree about abortion, but still agree on the unimportance of women’s health. It’s about equality. And I’m sure if John McCain was raped, and has a baby growing in his penis, he would want it publicly discussed in the same level of abstraction without concern for his specific «life.» Or…»penis.»
  • Samantha Bee, John McCain’s Air Quotes (October 28, 2008)

• I have great fondness and affection for John McCain, I would have voted for him, if he had made it, against Gore, quite frankly, in 2000. The guy that I see now, putting air quotes around women’s health, and doing all the things that he does, I don’t know what that is. And if that’s a strategy that’s disingenuous from how he really thinks, then my opinion of him is even lower.
  • Interview with Bill Kristol, October 30, 2008 [2]

• If you don’t stick to your values when they’re being tested, they’re not values—they’re hobbies. You know, one of the genius moves of The Founders was not writing The Bill of Rights on the back window of a dusty van.
  • Reaction to clip of Bill O’Reilly disagreeing with Barack Obama’s inaugural speech statement that America does not need to compromise its values in order to protect itself. Fox News Fear Imbalance. The Daily Show official website. (2009-01-22). Retrieved on 2009-03-29.

• Jon Stewart: It’s a new era, Gitmo. We, in America, are done sacrificing civil liberties to fight the War on Terror. President Obama said so.
  Gitmo: Yay! Gitmo love President Obama! Gitmo finally see Promise of America! It’s a new beginning for all of us! Yay! […] You know Gitmo and all of Gitmo’s friends still want to kill you—you know that, right? We want to destroy your way of life.
  Jon Stewart: Yeah, we get it, Gitmo. But with these abuses we’re doing that for you.
  Gitmo: You’re not safe. Don’t you want to be safe?
  Jon Stewart: Gitmo, there is no safe! No matter what we do, there is no guarantee of our safety. That is the price of a free society. So—finally—we’re going to do what’s right.
  Gitmo: I’m very scary.
  Jon Stewart: Gitmo, this has nothing to do with you! You can’t define us. It’s about not letting fear do that. […] We can safeguard ourselves well using smart and legal tactics.
  • Gitmo’s World — Death to America. The Daily Show official website. (2009-01-22). Retrieved on 2009-03-29.

• It’s nice to see that even in retirement Dick Cheney is still making the time to scare the shit out of people. So many people retire and just stop doing the thing they love. But not him. Yes, apparently less than two weeks after riding off into the sunset—which he has to do, because he’s allergic to sun—Dick Cheney wanted to make clear that if anything happens now, it’s the new guy’s fault. […]
  Ooh, I have a question. What if we’re hit again by a guy who’s really sad because his whole family was killed in Iraq—who’s responsible for that? Or what if someone got pissed off at us because his brother was potato sacked and bound and kept in a cage without a lawyer for seven years on an island in the Caribbean—who’s responsible for that? Or! If Al-Qaeda on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border had time to reconstitute and devise another attack because we pulled all our resources into invading a country that had nothing to do with 9/11—who’s responsible for that? I’m gonna go with, hold on… who’s responsible for that? I’m gonna have to go with… Obama.
  Y’know, over the years we have tried very hard to make Dick Cheney look evil, but in kind of a cute way. Y’know, kinda funny, cartoonish, lot of Darth Vader jokes, funny pictures, man-sized safe, then we did that funny wheelchair mock-up. It was all really funny and we called the segment You Don’t Know Dick; it was kinda light-hearted and all that, but you know what? Fuck it. He no longer deserves any satirical protection, any glib patina of sugar-coating. We are now officially changing the name of his segment. [New animated titles for Why Are You Such a Dick? play.]
  • Why Are You Such A Dick?. The Daily Show official website. (2009-02-05). Retrieved on 2009-04-12.

• People always talk to me about, «Who are your influences? What makes you do what you do?» I can say, I draw a line—I do what I do because of Bruce Springsteen, and I’ll tell you why: You introduced me to the concept of The Other Side. You introduced me to the concept of: you go through the tunnel and you take a chance, and you can work to get away from your circumstance. And by working to get away from your circumstance you can make something better of yourself, but there’s no guarantee. […] But you know what? The joy of it is chasing that dream, and that was my inspiration for leaving New Jersey and goin’ to New York. And bless you, my friend. You’re the Man. So I just wanted to thank you personally from the bottom of my heart for giving me something to put into the dashboard as I drove a U-Haul van through the Holland Tunnel.
  • Interview with Bruce Springsteen, March 19, 2009

• [quietly] I guess there’s one more thing I want to say to him… uh, if you’re heading out from uptown, take 42nd Street west to 9th Avenue, make a left, go down four blocks, Lincoln Tunnel’s on your right, and you know what? [taking E-ZPass out of his pocket] Here’s my E-ZPass, get the fuck out of here.
  • Conclusion to a segment about Rush Limbaugh’s announcement that he was moving himself and his show out of New York City to escape its high taxes, April 1, 2009

• IOWA?! Iowa says banning gay marriage is unconstitutional? This was last year’s Iowa Gay Pride parade. [Shows clip from «The Straight Story», with Alvin Straight riding a lawn mower on a country road] They are the aortic valve of the heartland of America. They are now officially more progressive than California.
  • Queer Eye for the Hawkeye. The Daily Show. Comedy Central (2009-04-06).

• Michelle Bachmann (clip): We’re gonna fight for our freedom.
  Sean Hannity (clip): Absolutely. Against tyranny.
  Jon Stewart: Yes, «tyranny». A/k/a our democratically elected President. You know what guys, meet me at camera 3 for a second — I think you might be confusing tyranny with losing. And I feel for you because ah… I’ve been there. A few times. In fact, one of them was a bit of a nailbiter. But see, when the guy that you disagree with gets elected, he’s probably going to do things you disagree with. He could cut taxes on the wealthy, remove government’s oversight capability, invade a country that you thought should not be invaded, but that’s not tyranny. That’s democracy. See, now you’re in the minority. It’s supposed to taste like a shit taco. And by the way, if I remember correctly when disagreement was expressed about that president’s actions when y’all were in power I believe the response was «why do you hate America?», «watch what you say», «love it or leave it», «suck on my truck nuts».
  • Baracknophobia — Obey. The Daily Show. Comedy Central (2009-04-07).

• To say that comedians have to decide whether they’re comedians or social commentators, uh… comedians do social commentary, through comedy. That’s how it’s worked for thousands of years. I have not moved out of the comedians box, into the news box. The news box is moving towards me.
  • «Bernie Golberg Fires Back», April 20th 2010 Segment of the Daily Show.

• Sarcasm — I get it now! See at the time I thought your jokey manner was just the way you were sublimating your shame over the discomfort you feel deep in your soul after extinguishing the last smoldering embers of any of your program’s journalistic bona fides!
  • Reacting to Starbucks-sponsored MSNBC show Morning Joe’s taking Stewart to task for not getting their “sarcasm” over their praise of Starbucks coffee. Morning Joe’s Sarcastic Starbucks Sponsorship, June 8, 2009

• However you felt about the man, whatever your opinions are, I believe we—as a people—should make a rule that once you die … whatever derisive nickname that we used for you, it dies with you. So can we stop calling him ‘Jacko’ now? … After you die, can a brother get a ‘Mr. Jackson’?
  • Intro — RIP Jacko Nickname. The Daily Show official website. (2009-06-29).

• I guess it’s an efficiency thing. You don’t want to waste tax-payer money giving it to someone who advises fake prostitutes how to commit imaginary crimes, you want to give it to Halliburton because they’re committing real gang rape.
  • Rape-Nutd. The Daily Show official website. (2009-10-14). Retrieved on 2009-10-17.

Interview with Mike Huckabee (December 9, 2008)[edit]

Stewart and Huckabee discussed fiscal and social conservatism; the second part of the interview focused on their differing views on same-sex marriage.
Mike Huckabee, Part 2. The Daily Show official website (2008-12-09). Retrieved on 2009-04-09.

• This gets to the crux of it. I think it’s the difference between what you think gay people are and what I do. And I live in New York City, so I’m going to make a supposition that I have more experience being around them. And I’ll tell you this: Religion is far more of a choice than homosexuality. […] We protect religion and talk about a lifestyle choice. That is absolutely a lifestyle choice. Gay people do not choose to be gay. At what age did you decide not to be gay?

• You talk about the Pro-Life movement being one of the great shames of our nation. I think, if you want number two, I think—I think it’s that. I think it’s absolute—it’s a travesty that people have forced someone who is gay to make their case that they deserve the same basic rights.

• You keep talking about it would be redefining a word. And it feels like semantics is cold comfort when it comes to humanity.

• I think you are looking at sexuality and not attributes, and I think it’s odd because the conservative mantra is a meritocracy. And I think what you’re suggesting is the fact that being gay parents makes you not as good as others. And I would suggest that a loving, gay family with a financially secure background beats the hell out of Britney Spears and Kevin Federline any day of the week.

CNBC Criticism and Jim Cramer Interview (March 2009)[edit]

On March 12, 2009, television personality Jim Cramer appeared as a guest on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. The host of CNBC’s Mad Money, Cramer appeared in response to host Jon Stewart’s highly-publicized week-long criticism of CNBC.

• If I’d only followed CNBC’s advice, I’d have a million dollars today. Provided I’d started with a hundred million dollars.… That is amazing! I mean these CEOs saying their own businesses are doing OK! I mean, it makes sense to take these CEOs word for it. For instance, I know O.J. Simpson. He told me he didn’t kill anyone and he should know, he was there!
  • Reaction to clip of Maria Bartiromo interviewing John Thain for CNBC.

• Between the two of them, I can’t decide which one I’d rather see in jail.
  • Reaction to clip of a CNBC reporter asking Allen Stanford if it’s «fun being a billionaire?» After the CNBC clip aired, the SEC said Stanford and his accomplices were running a massive Ponzi scheme.
  • CNBC Financial Advice. The Daily Show official website. (2009-03-04). Retrieved on 2009-04-09.

• Isn’t the Dow Jones Industrial Average just a short twitch numerical representation of a bunch of guesses about other people’s assumptions about the financial well-being of an arbitrarily chosen group of 30 out of TENS OF THOUSANDS OF POSSIBLE COMPANIES? NO! YOU’RE WRONG! It is a real-time cause-and-effect precision barometer of how the President is doing! It’s been that way for years!
  • The Dow Knows All. The Daily Show official website. (2009-03-04). Retrieved on 2009-04-09.

• You don’t have to make comedian sound like a venereal disease. He’s a comedian. He’s gonorrhea. […] And variety show? You make me sound like some kind of buffoon, just flapping my arms to crazy sound effects. [Montage of sound effects from Mad Money plays.] Yeah! Like that guy! Whoever he is.
  • Reaction to clip of Jim Cramer’s appearance on The Today Show discussing Stewart’s criticism.

• I don’t know about the markets. That’s why I don’t make the claim to any authority. That’s why my network doesn’t have the slogan «In Stewart We Trust.» They don’t want people to think I’m God. Now of course, I probably wouldn’t have a problem if Cramer’s slogan was Cramer: He’s right sometimes or He’s like a dartboard that talks or You feel lucky, punk? Well, do you?
  • Reaction to clip of Jim Cramer on Morning Joe with Joe Scarborough.

• Although to be fair, cherry picking isn’t quite what we do. Cherries are sweet and delicious. What we do is more turd mining. And I’ll thank you to give our work the respect it deserves!

• Dora: Doesn’t Jim Cramer understand that it’s not about individual mistakes he’s made, it’s about him creating a false sense of urgency that helped hyperinflate the bubble!
  Stewart: I mean, that was kinda the point.
  Boots: Do you want me to throw feces on him?
  Stewart: No, Boots. That’s OK. […]
  Dora: And Joe Scarborough is accusing you of being a cherry-picking ideologue? […] Why is everyone being such a pendejo? […] It means jackass in Spanish. […]
  Stewart: Hooray for the pendejos!
  • Basic Cable Personality Skirmish ’09. The Daily Show official website. (2009-03-10). Retrieved on 2009-04-12.

• It’s the inevitable consummation of this largely manufactured battle between a man who makes people laugh for a living and whatever people think I do. In a televised, two-part hatefuck that is, by all measure, bound to disappoint anyone that’s been following it. Catch the fever!
  • On his scheduled interview with Jim Cramer.
  • Jim Cramer Battle. The Daily Show official website. (2009-03-11). Retrieved on 2009-04-12.

• Mr. Cramer, don’t you destroy enough dough on your own show? Boom goes the dynamite! [Laughs.] How weird is our world when Jim Cramer’s on TV baking pie and Martha Stewart is the one who went to jail for Securities fraud? That’s weird.
  • Reaction to clip of Jim Cramer on The Martha Stewart Show earlier that day beating cold pie dough with a rolling pin after being asked by Martha Stewart to «pretend it’s Jon Stewart.»
  • Bern After Pleading. The Daily Show official website. (2009-03-12). Retrieved on 2009-04-12.

• CNBC sells itself as financial experts. And they have the access to the CEOs. And yet, they didn’t catch any of this. And here they are blaming people who don’t have the financial expertise and saying that they’re part of the problem. […] It seems like the banks and those that cheerlead them turned an arithmetic problem into a geometric one. They took a linear debt issue and by turning it into derivatives and securities and all that, now it’s a gigantic problem. So, shouldn’t we yell at them?
  • Jim Cramer Unedited Interview Part 1. The Daily Show official website. (2009-03-12). Retrieved on 2009-04-12.

• So, let me tell you why I think this thing has caught some attention. It’s the gap between what CNBC advertises itself as and what it is. And the help that people need to discern this.

• Look, we’re both snake oil salesman to a certain extent, but we do label the show as snake oil here. Isn’t there a problem selling snake oil as vitamin tonic?

• I want the Jim Cramer on CNBC to protect me from that Jim Cramer.
  • Referring to the video from TheStreet.com of Jim Cramer discussing how to manipulate the market.

• When you talk about the regulators [going after market manipulation], why not the financial news networks? That’s the whole point of this. CNBC could be an incredibly powerful tool of illumination for people that believe that there are two markets. One that has been sold to us as long-term: Put your money in 401Ks, put your money in pensions and just leave it there, don’t worry about it, it’s all doing fine. And then there’s this other market, this real market that’s occurring in a back room where giant piles of money are going in and out, and people are trading them, and it’s transactional, and it’s fast but it’s dangerous, it’s ethically dubious and it’s hurting that long-term market. And so what it feels like—and I’m speaking purely as a layman—it feels like we are capitalizing your adventure by our pension, and our hard-earned—and that it is a game that you know, that you know is going on, but that you go on television as a financial network and pretend isn’t happening.

• I can’t rationalize the brilliance and knowledge that you have about the intricacies of the market with the crazy bullshit I see you do each night.
  • Jim Cramer Unedited Interview Part 2. The Daily Show official website. (2009-03-12). Retrieved on 2009-04-12.

• I understand you want to make finance entertaining, but it’s not a fucking game. And I, I—when I watch that, I get—I can’t tell you how angry it makes me. ‘Cause what it says to me is: You all know. You all know what’s going on and you can draw a straight line from those shenanigans to the all that stuff that was being pulled at Bear, and at AIG. And all of this derivative market stuff that is this weird Wall Street side bet. […] You knew what the banks were doing and yet were touting it for months and months. The entire network was. So now to pretend that this was some sort of crazy, once-in-a-lifetime tsunami that no one could have seen coming is disingenuous at best and criminal at worst.

• The CEO of a company lied to you. But isn’t that financial reporting?

• It’s very easy to get on this after the fact. The measure of the network and the measure of the man is—CNBC could act as […] nobody’s asking for them to be a regulatory agency. But whose side are they on? It feels like they have to reconcile: is their audience the Wall Street traders that are doing this for constant profit on a day-to-day, short-term—these guys at these companies were on a Sherman’s March through their companies, financed by our 401Ks, and all the incentives of their companies were for short-term profit. And they burned the fucking house down with our money and they walked away rich as hell. And you guys knew that that was going on.

• As Carly Simon would say, this song ain’t about you.

• Honest or not, in what world is a 35:1 leveraged position sane?

• When are we going to realize in this country that our wealth is work? That we’re workers, and by selling this idea of, «Hey man, I’ll teach you how to be rich»—how is that any different than an infomercial?

• There’s a market for cocaine and hookers!
  • Responding to Jim Cramer saying there’s a market for CNBC’s shows.

• What is the responsibility of the people who cover Wall Street? Who are you responsible to? The people with the 401Ks and the pensions and the general public or the Wall Street traders—and by the way, this casts aspersion on all of Wall Street when that’s unfair, as well! The majority of those guys are good guys. They’re working their asses off, they’re really bright guys. I know a lot of ’em, they’re just trying to do the right thing and they’re gettin’ fucked in this thing, too!

• I’m under the assumption, and maybe this is purely ridiculous, but I’m under the assumption that you don’t just take their word at face value. That you actually then go around and try to figure it out. So, I again—you now become the face of this and that is incredibly unfortunate. Because you are not the face of it, you shouldn’t be the face of it. You are the person that was I-don’t-know-what enough to stand up and go, «Hey, that’s wasn’t fair!» Which, it’s not because this show isn’t fair. And you can tell Doucheborough that it’s not supposed to be fair. […] That’s not our job.

• Stewart: As is very clear from the tape that you have on the internet, there is the letter of the law and the intent of the law. And I think, clearly, that it would be a great service to the American public if there was an organization out there—not just the SEC, but a news organization that was trying to maintain the intent of this and force companies to still have growth and profit, but not in a way that burns down the entire field. Y’know, my mother is 75. And she bought into the idea that long-term investing was the way to go. And guess what?
  Cramer: It didn’t work.
  Stewart: [nods] So maybe we could remove the «financial expert» and In Cramer We Trust and get back to the fundamentals in reporting, as well, and I can go back to making fart noises and funny faces.
  Cramer: I think we make that deal right here. [Stewart and Cramer shake hands.]
  • Jim Cramer Unedited Interview Part 3. The Daily Show official website. (2009-03-12). Retrieved on 2009-04-09.

• That was our show! […] I hope that was as uncomfortable to watch as it was to do.
  • Closing of the March 12, 2009 show before the Moment of Zen.

2010-2015[edit]

• Jessica: What does the word «tyrant» mean to you as opposed to what it means to everybody else?
  Larry Kilgore: «Tyrant» means to me somebody like Hitler or Lincoln who comes in and murders the people for their own political gain.
  Jessica: You think Lincoln’s a tyrant?
  Larry: Yes, ma’am.
  Jessica: That’s not something you normally hear.
  Larry: No it is not, but Lincoln and Hitler are very similar, but most Americans aren’t aware of it.
  Jessica: I’m sorry, I’m confused.
  Larry: Hitler was the one that killed six million Jews. Lincoln was the one that killed six hundred thousand Americans.
  Jessica: Was Lincoln the one that gave a lot of liberties to people as well?
  Larry: [long pause] Not that I know of.
  Jessica: «[who is African American]» No liberties that you can think of?
  Larry: No, ma’am.
  • Jessica Williams interviewing Texas secessionist Larry Kilgore (February 21, 2013)

• So now, instead of being spied on by the Executive Branch, it turns out we’re being spied on by all the branches. I think— I think you’re misunderstanding the perceived problem here, Mr. President. No one is saying that you broke any laws. We’re just saying, it’s a little bit weird that you didn’t have to.
  • John Oliver, responding to clips of the Executive Branch’s PRISM surveillance program, the Judicial Branch’s FISA court’s 100% approval of NSA’s 1,789 surveillance requests in 2012, and President Obama’s assertion that Congress has been «continually briefed about these are conducted», end of first segment, 0:09:50 ff (June 10, 2013)

• You shouldn’t have talking points about a person before that person can talk!
  • John Oliver, criticizing MSNBC and Fox News efforts to use UK newborn Prince George of Cambridge to discuss unrelated U.S. controversies, second segment, 0:12:40 ff (August 5, 2013)

• So what I’m getting from Fox is this: Exploiting government largess, while reprehensive and morally corrupting for an individual, is A-OK for corporations. So, maybe this’ll help: Don’t think about food stamps, and Head Start, and programs like that as feeding and helping a small child. Think about it as investing in a promising start-up with a liquidity problem.
  • End of 1st segment (March 13, 2014)

• I think we drum good people out of politics who are defined by the single worst thing they’ve ever done, as opposed to the context of their public lives, and I think we make it much, much easier for people who have no business holding office to enter the process, because when you’re not talking about ideas and world views and agendas, when you’re talking about character and personality, it makes it very easy for someone to float through the process without ever having to explain themselves or demonstrate what they know.
  • Matt Bai, October 13 2014, end of third segment; discussing his book All the Truth Is Out: The Week Politics Went Tabloid

• If comedy is tragedy plus time, I need more fucking time. But I would really settle for less fucking tragedy.
  • The Eric Garner Grand Jury Decision, December 4, 2014

• Maybe a more nuanced alert system could allow for more productive intervention beyond “You have ten seconds to disperse”. Or we can agree to keep ignoring the roots of how systemically, historically disenfranchised many African American communities still are, only paying attention to them when we fear their periodic, fiery ball of anger threatens to enter our airspace, and once again breathing a blissful sigh of forgetful relief when it’s another near miss.
  • Baltimore on Fire, April 29, 2015

Charleston Church Shooting, June 19, 2015[edit]

• What blows my mind is the disparity of response between when we think people that are foreign are going to kill us and us killing ourselves. If this had been what we thought was Islamic terrorism, it would fit into our… We invaded two countries, and spent trillions of dollars and thousand of American lives and now fly unmanned death machines over, like, five or six different countries, all to keep Americans safe. We got to do whatever we can, we’ll torture people. We got to do whatever we can to keep Americans safe. Nine people, shot in a church, what about that? “Hey what are you gonna do? Crazy is crazy, right?” That’s the part that I cannot for the life of me wrap my head around.

• I heard someone on the news say, well, «tragedy has visited this church”. This wasn’t a tornado. This was a racist. This was a guy with a Rhodesia badge on his sweater. You know, I hate to even use this pun, but this one is black and white. There’s no nuance here. And we’re gonna keep pretending like “I don’t get it, what happened, there’s one guy who lost his mind”, but we are steeped in that culture in this country and we refuse to recognize it.

• The Confederate flag flies over South Carolina, and the roads are named for Confederate generals, and the white guy is the one who feels like his country is being taken away from him. We’re bringing it on ourselves. And that’s the thing, Al-Qaeda, all those guys, ISIS, they’re not shit compared to the damage that we can apparently do to ourselves on a regular basis.

Taglines[edit]

• The mistrusted name in news.
• When news breaks, we fix it.
• Third rate reporters giving the first degree the second news happens.
• The Most Important News Show… Ever.
• The Most Important Television Program… Ever.
• When News Breaks… It’s News to Us.
• Welcome to the Daily Show, ladies drink free!
• More Americans get their news from The Daily Show than any other nationality.
• More people get their news from the Daily Show with Jon Stewart… Than probably should.
• All the news our sponsors approve of.
• The Daily Show — the only news program with no credibility left to lose.
• The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. We’re getting a helicopter… soon.
• The Daily Show: Now even dailier!
• Need a hug? Then call now for free tickets to a taping of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. And good luck with that hug.
• Do you like things? Then come to a free taping of The Daily Show.
• Ever wonder what 250 identical chairs look like? Then come to a free taping of The Daily Show With John Stewart.
• We put the «anal» in analysis
• They wouldn’t be called news stories if we didn’t make something up.
• From Comedy Central’s World News Headquarters in New York…this is the Daily Show with Jon Stewart!

Cast[edit]

• Trevor Noah — Host (2015–2022)
• Jon Stewart — Host (1999–2015)
• Craig Kilborn — Host (1996–1998)
• Samantha Bee — Correspondent (2003–present)
• Steve Carell — Correspondent (1999–2005)
• Stephen Colbert — Correspondent (1997–2005)
• Rob Corddry — Correspondent (2002–2006)
• Ed Helms — Correspondent (2002–present)
• Mo Rocca — Correspondent
• Vance DeGeneres — Correspondent
• Rob Riggle — Correspondent
• Brian Unger — Correspondent
• Stacey Grenrock–Woods — Correspondent
• Beth Littleford — Correspondent
• Bob Wiltfong — Correspondent (2004–present)
• Lewis Black — Contributor, ‘Back in Black’ (1996–present)
• Frank DeCaro — Contributor, ‘Out at the Movies’ (1996–2003)
• Dave Attell — Contributor, ‘The Ugly American’ (1999–2002)
• Michael Blieden — Contributor (1996–1999)
• John Bloom — Contributor, ‘God Stuff’ (1996–1998) (as Joe Bob Briggs)
• A. Whitney Brown — Correspondent (1996–1998)
• Rich Brown — Contributor, ‘Public Excess’ (1999–2000)
• Demetri Martin — Contributor, ‘Trendspotting’ (2005–present)
• John Oliver — Correspondent
• Wyatt Cenac — Correspondent (2008— present)

About The Daily Show[edit]

• Judging solely by the amount of media attention it got, you’d think The Daily Show, when the vaunted Jon Stewart was host, was the most-watched show of the 21st Century. You’d be wrong. It rarely made the top 100 rated shows of the week. Yes, you heard that right. The Daily Show, even with Jon Stewart as host, routinely garnered fewer viewers than reruns of Family Guy on the Cartoon Network. Yet when Stuart spoke, the media listened, even though the people didn’t.
  • Derek Hunter, Outrage, Inc.: How the Liberal Mob Ruined Science, Journalism, and Hollywood (2018, Harper Collins)

• I think Stewart’s show demonstrated the decline and vacuity of contemporary comedy. I cannot stand that smug, snarky, superior tone. I hated the fact that young people were getting their news through that filter of sophomoric snark… I find nothing incisive in his work. As for his influence, if he helped produce the hackneyed polarisation of moral liberals versus evil conservatives, then he’s partly at fault for the political stalemate in the United States.
  • Camille Paglia, as quoted by Luke Morgan Britan, «Before Calling Taylor Swift A ‘Nazi Barbie’, Camille Paglia Laid Into Plenty Of Other Celebrities», NME.com, Dec 11, 2015; retrieved 15 September 2017

See also[edit]

• The Colbert Report

External links[edit]

• The Daily Show quotes at the Internet Movie Database
• The Daily Show at TV.com
• Official site