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Some segments occur periodically, such as "Mark Your Calendar," "Ed Helms's Digital Watch," "Back in Black" with [[Lewis Black]], "[[This Week In God]]", "[[Trendspotting]]" with Demetri Martin, "Come on" with Rob Corddry (Corddry asking questions regarding "[[fad]]s") and "Great Moments in [[Pundit (politics)|Pundit]]ry As Read By Children" (small children reading transcripts of contentious moments from programs like ''[[Crossfire (TV series)|Crossfire]]'' and ''[[Hannity and Colmes]]''). Since the early days of the [[2003 invasion of Iraq]], a common part of the show has been "[[Mesopotamia|Mess O'Potamia]]," focusing on the troubles in that region. Another segment, "The War On Terra", (a pun on the U.S. [[War on Terror]]) focuses on the threat of [[global warming]] and the Bush Administration's [relative lack of] actions of combating the problem. The latest "Crisis in Israfghyianonanaq" was spawned to include the War in [[Lebanon]] between [[Israel]] and [[Hezbollah]] as part of the ever widening [[Middle East]] crisis that also includes [[Afghanistan]], [[Syria]], [[Iran]], and [[Iraq]] - which are reflected in the single word.
Some segments occur periodically, such as "Mark Your Calendar," "Ed Helms's Digital Watch," "Back in Black" with [[Lewis Black]], "[[This Week In God]]", "[[Trendspotting]]" with Demetri Martin, "Come on" with Rob Corddry (Corddry asking questions regarding "[[fad]]s") and "Great Moments in [[Pundit (politics)|Pundit]]ry As Read By Children" (small children reading transcripts of contentious moments from programs like ''[[Crossfire (TV series)|Crossfire]]'' and ''[[Hannity and Colmes]]''). Since the early days of the [[2003 invasion of Iraq]], a common part of the show has been "[[Mesopotamia|Mess O'Potamia]]," focusing on the troubles in that region. Another segment, "The War On Terra", (a pun on the U.S. [[War on Terror]]) focuses on the threat of [[global warming]] and the Bush Administration's [relative lack of] actions of combating the problem. The latest "Crisis in Israfghyianonanaq" was spawned to include the war in [[Lebanon]] between [[Israel]] and [[Hezbollah]] as part of the ever widening [[Middle East]] crisis that also includes [[Afghanistan]], [[Syria]], [[Iran]], and [[Iraq]] - which are reflected in the single word.


Through Kilborn's run and the early years of Stewart's, the celebrity interviews would most often take place midway through the program. In recent years this has changed to the interviews being placed near the end of the show. Recent years have also seen the show's guest list tend away from celebrities and more towards non-fiction book authors and various political pundits, as well as many prominent elected officials.
Through Kilborn's run and the early years of Stewart's, the celebrity interviews would most often take place midway through the program. In recent years this has changed to the interviews being placed near the end of the show. Recent years have also seen the show's guest list tend away from celebrities and more towards non-fiction book authors and various political pundits, as well as many prominent elected officials.

Revision as of 01:59, 2 August 2006

The Daily Show
The Daily Show with Jon Stewart opening credits
The Daily Show with Jon Stewart opening credits
Created byMadeline Smithberg
Lizz Winstead
StarringJon Stewart (1999 - present)
Craig Kilborn (1996–1999)
Correspondents
Country of originUSA
Production
Running time22 minutes
Original release
NetworkComedy Central
ReleaseJuly 22, 1996 –
Present

The Daily Show (currently The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, also known as TDS) is a half-hour satirical news program produced by and run on the Comedy Central cable television network in the United States. The show premiered on Monday, July 22, 1996, and was hosted by Craig Kilborn, who acted as a news anchor. In 1999, Kilborn left the show and was replaced by Jon Stewart. Providing news-related comedy in the tradition of Saturday Night Live's "Weekend Update" segment, Michael Moore's TV Nation, BBC's Not the Nine O'Clock News, and the long-running Canadian series This Hour Has 22 Minutes, The Daily Show reports on the foibles and hypocrisy of the real world with a satirical edge. The show has also developed a reputation as one of the sharpest political commentary shows on American TV.

In addition to news stories, The Daily Show includes interviews with celebrities, semi-celebrities, authors, and political figures. The political interviews have featured many prominent guests such as:

In June 2006, The Daily Show announced the possibility of taping in Columbus, Ohio, for a week to cover the 2006 Ohio gubernatorial election.[1]

Studio

The program originates "from Comedy Central's world news headquarters in New York" (as is announced in the opening of each show), where Stewart is joined on-screen by a group of correspondents who provide humorous reports and commentary. On July 11, 2005, the show moved its "World News Headquarters" to another studio in New York City. The set changed along with the move, gaining a sleeker, more formal look, including a backdrop of three large television panels which at first was not well-received by many fans of the show. The set change immediately spawned a backlash among fans and served as impetus for a campaign to "Bring Back the Couch" as it was not a part of the new set. The campaign was subsequently mentioned on the show by Stewart and supported by Daily Show contributor Bob Wiltfong. The couch was eventually made the prize in a Daily Show sweepstakes in which the winner got the couch, round-trip tickets to New York, tickets to the show and a small sum of money. Their old studio is now used for The Colbert Report, a Daily Show spin-off starring former correspondent Stephen Colbert.

Production

According to an October 7, 2003, USA Today article, the show is pulled together by researchers scanning major newspapers, the Associated Press, and cable news channels. They then give possible topics to the ten writers. The writers meet to discuss headline material for the lead news segment. By 11:15 AM they meet with Jon Stewart, and by 12:30 PM they have come up with jokes for the day's show.

The Daily Show tapes four new episodes a week, Monday through Thursday, in studios located in New York City. Taping of the program begins in front of the audience at 6:30 PM; the show is then broadcast at 11 PM Eastern/10 PM Central, a time when local television stations show their real news reports, and about half an hour before most other late-night comedy programs begin to go on the air.

History

With Craig Kilborn (1996–1999)

File:Kilborn1996.jpg
Original Daily Show host, Craig Kilborn, pausing the show for a personal monologue with the audience called "A Moment for Us".

The Daily Show was created by Lizz Winstead and Madeleine Smithberg. Searching for a weeknight staple to replace Politically Incorrect (a Comedy Central program that moved to ABC), Comedy Central premiered The Daily Show in the summer of 1996. A fake news program originally hosted by Craig Kilborn, the show featured a humorous take on contemporary news events. Aimed to parody newscasts as much as skew(er) the actual news, the show featured a comedic monologue of the day's headlines, mockumentary styled on-location reports, in-studio segments, guest commentary, and debates. The show also took advantage of its visual medium, littering episodes with small touches like in-screen images labeled with their own gags, and presenting absurd bits of trivia coming back and going into commercials. Such segments included: "This Day in Hasselhoff History", "Last Weekend's Top-Grossing Films, Converted into Lira", and "Trivial Compromise" in which Winstead's mother, Ginny, would ask and answer various trivia questions. Originally the show was done without a studio audience, and would just prompt the laughs of its own off-camera staff members. A studio audience was incorporated into the show for its second season, and has remained since.

Under Winstead and Kilborn the show had a much more relaxed atmosphere, with not all contributors wearing suits. Kilborn often made personal asides to the audience taking on the character of an "enlightened frat boy". Kilborn would also often dance for the audience, especially on Thursdays as a celebration of the end of the week. In each show Kilborn would conduct very informal celebrity interviews that would end with a segment called "Five Questions" in which Kilborn would ask a sequence of five absurd questions that often had even more irrelevant answers. Actor Bill Murray gained notoriety for being the first and one of the few to answer all "correctly". Kathy Ireland had the dubious honor of only getting one, and that was with Kilborn's help.

Regular correspondents included Brian Unger, Beth Littleford, and A. Whitney Brown. Stephen Colbert joined the cast a year after it premiered and was referred to as "The New Guy" for the remainder of Kilborn's three year tenure. Lizz Winstead herself also acted as a contributor as well as a writer in a weekly spot called "He Said, Winstead" in which she and Kilborn would ad lib a point-counterpoint style argument.

Each show was capped off with a segment called "A Moment of Zen" that often showed random video clips of humorous and sometimes morbid interest such as a snake charmer pulling a snake out of his throat via his nostril. A controversy arose due to one clip in which Asian men and women were shown throwing live baby chicks at alligators as feed. Winstead reacted to complaints by creating similar video in which she threw fake chicks into a pond from a row boat.

Tensions often flared behind the scenes between Kilborn and female cast and crew leading Beth Littleford to comment later that Kilborn was as "dumb as a post". In a 1997 Esquire magazine interview, Kilborn would make sexually explicit comments about his female coworkers. This led to a two week suspension without pay. Co-creator Winstead quit one month later.

In 1998 Kilborn left The Daily Show in order to replace Tom Snyder on CBS's The Late Late Show. He was able to take the interview segment "Five Questions" with him to the new show, disallowing any new TDS hosts from using it in their interviews. Correspondents Brian Unger and A. Whitney Brown left the show shortly before him. Unger returned for a single show in which he was supposedly killed on assignment by an incoming cruise missile.

Kilborn's last new show was aired on December 17, 1998. Reruns were shown until Jon Stewart's debut 4 weeks later.

A book released by Comedy Central titled The Daily Show: Five Questions (ISBN 0836253256) was released in 1998, and highlights many of the best interview moments from Craig Kilborn's stint as host.

With Jon Stewart (1999 - present)

File:Jon Stewart in 2000 and 2005.jpg
Stewart on The Daily Show, in bewilderment at the difference between himself in 2000 and in 2005.

Jon Stewart took over as host on Monday, January 11, 1999. In contrast to Kilborn, who had been a popular ESPN anchor, Stewart was already a recognizable mainstream celebrity after hosting several television shows, including his own eponymous talk show on MTV and later in syndication. As part of their negotiations with him, Comedy Central agreed to give Stewart an executive-producer credit and change the name of the show from simply The Daily Show to The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. In return, Stewart, previously famous for his casual on-stage attire often consisting of a leather jacket and jeans, had to wear a suit in keeping with the newscast theme of the show. His first guest was Spin City's Michael J. Fox, who jokingly quipped, "I've been on this show more than you have!"

Unlike Kilborn, whose dialogue and character were written entirely by others, Stewart served not only as host but also as a writer and co-executive producer of the series. His influence is noted for heading a significant shift in the way the show handled news. Stewart had a markedly different style, bringing a sharper political focus to the humor than the show previously exhibited. This satirical edge, combined with the show's 2000 Election coverage, helped to catapult Stewart and The Daily Show to new levels of popularity and critical respect. With Stewart on board, the show's ratings have more than doubled according to a 2003 Newsweek article and has won seven Emmy Awards and two Peabody Awards. By 2004, the show had emerged into a pop culture hit and one of the most popular programs on cable television.

Many of the show's features and pieces remained the same. Retaining much of the same staff and on-air talent during the change of hosts, many pieces carried over 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 Stephen Colbert's "This Week in God" and Colbert and Steve Carell's "Even Stephven". Since the change, a number of new features have been, and continue to be, developed as well. The ending segment "A Moment of Zen" changed from a random selection of humorous videos to often being recaps or extended versions of news clips shown earlier in the show (though sometimes are completely unrelated to any previous segment). The show's theme music, "Dog on Fire" by Bob Mould, was remixed by They Might Be Giants.

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart has been perceived to have a liberal slant. Many note Stewart's own liberalism [2] and the show's constant lampooning of issues related to the Iraqi War and the Bush administration in general. Stewart has responded that the show attacks those in power and those in power now happen to be the Republicans.[3]

Despite the changes, the show's format has remained relatively stable throughout the years. Each episode opens with the introduction, "From Comedy Central's World News Headquarters in New York, this is The Daily Show with Jon Stewart." This used to be followed by the statement "The most important news show, ever," but this was discreetly eliminated from the introduction following the September 11, 2001, attacks when the show resumed on Thursday, September 20. The show's format generally begins with the host's monologue of news headlines. The Daily Show runs this portion for the first segment, and may include "on location" reports. However, the correspondents are usually just standing in the studio with an obviously greenscreened backdrop. While generally no note is made of this fact, it is occasionally the subject of jokes, such as having a correspondent report from a press base on Mars (this joke was used when the first Mars Exploration Rover landed), or a correspondent report from San Andreas of the videogame Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. A few reports are actually done on location; for example, Jason Jones was actually in the country for a March 28, 2006, report from Denmark, and proved it by shoving the person behind him (an uncredited passerby). Introductions and on-screen graphics always label the same four reporters as "senior" specialists in the subject at hand, sometimes with absurdly specific expertise. A given reporter may be "Senior Palestinian Analyst" one day, "Senior Agricultural Reporter" a few days later, "Senior Papal Vacancy Expert" the next week, and for the 2005 trial of Michael Jackson, "Senior Jackologist" then "Senior Child Molestation Expert". The show formerly split the news into segments known as "Headlines", "Other News", and "This Just In", though these titles were dropped sometime around 2003. Stewart and company have fine-tuned the technique of intercutting commentary with footage, in which the host or correspondent can stop the action at a telling moment, and register skeptical reserve or excruciated dismay, as political clichés, dud imagery, or self-contradictory statements hang in the air.

Following the regular news portion are correspondent pieces and interviews, the order of which varies from episode to episode (though usually the guest interview comprises the last segment). Correspondent pieces involve the show's members actually traveling to a different location to make a report or interview people important to the story. Topics vary widely, ranging from the invention of hufu, a tofu-based human flesh substitute, to a piece highlighting the lack of Asian men in pornography. Often when a Daily Show correspondent has come through a town to report on some issue, the event is noted by the local media.[4]

Some segments occur periodically, such as "Mark Your Calendar," "Ed Helms's Digital Watch," "Back in Black" with Lewis Black, "This Week In God", "Trendspotting" with Demetri Martin, "Come on" with Rob Corddry (Corddry asking questions regarding "fads") and "Great Moments in Punditry As Read By Children" (small children reading transcripts of contentious moments from programs like Crossfire and Hannity and Colmes). Since the early days of the 2003 invasion of Iraq, a common part of the show has been "Mess O'Potamia," focusing on the troubles in that region. Another segment, "The War On Terra", (a pun on the U.S. War on Terror) focuses on the threat of global warming and the Bush Administration's [relative lack of] actions of combating the problem. The latest "Crisis in Israfghyianonanaq" was spawned to include the war in Lebanon between Israel and Hezbollah as part of the ever widening Middle East crisis that also includes Afghanistan, Syria, Iran, and Iraq - which are reflected in the single word.

Through Kilborn's run and the early years of Stewart's, the celebrity interviews would most often take place midway through the program. In recent years this has changed to the interviews being placed near the end of the show. Recent years have also seen the show's guest list tend away from celebrities and more towards non-fiction book authors and various political pundits, as well as many prominent elected officials.

On December 1, 2005, the White Stripes became the first musical guests to perform on a regular episode of the show. After a brief interview with Stewart, the duo performed their songs "The Denial Twist" and later, "My Doorbell." In a press release, Stewart said, "We've never had a musical performance on the show before — not because we haven't wanted one — but because we were holding out for a reunited Spandau Ballet. This will have to suffice." They Might Be Giants's appearance on the December 15, 1999 special "The Greatest Millennium" where they performed the theme (Bob Mould's "Dog On Fire"), incidental music, and their song "I Can Hear You" is not counted, as the producers do not consider it to be a part of the regular series. Another "unofficial" performance came on September 29,2003, when Tenacious D played from the couch.

When Stephen Colbert started his own show, The Colbert Report, which airs directly after The Daily Show, Stewart began ending his show "checking in" with Stephen Colbert, usually exchanging notes on each other's shows, which is then followed by the Moment of Zen.

A book by Jon Stewart and the Daily Show writers titled America (The Book): A Citizen's Guide to Democracy Inaction (ISBN 0446532681) was released on September 20, 2004. The book has since been placed on the New York Times Bestseller list.

The Daily Show as a "news source"

File:DailyShowClinton.jpg
Bill Clinton on The Daily Show

Television ratings show that the program generally has 1.5 million viewers nightly [1], a high figure for cable television. In demographic terms, the viewership is skewed to a relatively young audience compared to "real" news shows. A 2004 Nielsen Media Research study commissioned by Comedy Central put the median age at 35. In fact, during the 2004 U.S. presidential election, the show received more male viewers in the 18-34 year old age demographic than Nightline, Meet the Press, Hannity & Colmes and all of the evening news broadcasts.[5]

The show's writers often repeat the fact that The Daily Show is a comedy program and not a reliable news source by itself. The show does not follow normal rules of journalistic integrity, but much of the schtick of the program involves questioning whether establishment television news sources in the United States, notably the cable news channels CNN, MSNBC, and Fox News Channel, are holding themselves to high journalistic standards. Likewise the show is far more likely to point out acts of government ineptitude (such as a Congressman doing a crossword puzzle during a relatively important hearing rather than paying attention), hypocrisy, and contradictory statements than most sources in the legitimate media; since typically such actions are not considered news unless they are of major importance.

The Washington Post ran an article on August 24, 2004 in which it quoted a "whining" Nightline anchor Ted Koppel, who said to his viewers in a telecast from the 2004 Democratic National Convention in Boston: "A lot of television viewers — more, quite frankly, than I'm comfortable with — get their news from the Comedy Channel [sic] on a program called The Daily Show." Stewart took issue with Koppel's comment, saying Daily Show fans watch "for comedic interpretation" of the news. "[They watch] to be informed," Koppel replied, refusing to budge from his position: "They actually think they're coming closer to the truth with your show." Stewart shot back: "Now that's a different thing, that's credibility, that's a different animal." Appearing on each other's shows a few weeks later, Koppel and Stewart downplayed the idea that the two had any mutual animosity.

File:Kerry on the Daily Show.jpg
John Kerry on the Daily Show

The National Annenberg Election Survey at the University of Pennsylvania ran a study of American television viewers around the same time and found that fans of The Daily Show had a more accurate idea of the facts behind the 2004 presidential election than most others.[6] The study primarily focused on comparing the audiences of TDS with that of The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and The Late Show with David Letterman, but Daily Show viewers also beat out people who primarily got their news through the national evening newscasts of ABC, CBS, and NBC and those who mostly read newspapers, while roughly matching the knowledge level of viewers who watched a considerable amount of cable TV news. The study attempted to compensate for the fact that many viewers of TDS get information from many sources including the Internet.

Stewart was half-facetiously floated as a possible successor to Dan Rather of CBS Evening News according to Time (this is partly due to the fact that, at the time, Comedy Central and CBS were both owned by media conglomerate Viacom).

File:Whittingtonhamilton.jpg
Jon Stewart compares the Dick Cheney shooting incident to the Hamilton-Burr duel on The Daily Show

The Daily Show writers authored a best-selling text, America (The Book), published in September 2004. It remained a bestseller even after the election, despite a decision by Wal-Mart to cancel its order because Chapter 5, on the Judicial Branch, includes obviously doctored photographs of the current Supreme Court justices, with their heads superimposed on appropriately aged naked bodies. On the page opposite the photographs, the reader is invited to "Restore their dignity" by covering each justice with a cutout of his or her robe. A Wal-Mart spokeswoman was quoted in USA Today as saying, "We felt a majority of our customers would not be comfortable with the image." The book was also banned from some Mississippi public libraries for its ribald "centerfold". (The ban was lifted within 24 hours of its announcement after the library board received complaints.) Stewart responded to this on air by saying, "Of course the go-to joke here would be, 'They have libraries in Mississippi?' But we're not going there." The following year, after the nomination of Samuel Alito, The Daily Show featured a segment that dressed and undressed Alito based on whether or not certain factors would help him be nominated to the Supreme Court.

Criticism

Interviews

While the Daily Show is considered by its creators to be a "fake news program", some critics have said that current host Jon Stewart regularly has as guests the very politicians and newspeople he often lampoons, but rarely takes them to task face-to-face; instead, politicians on all sides of the spectrum use the show as a platform to reach younger demographics. Show co-creator and ex-producer Lizz Winstead said of interviews with controversial figures:

Jon's tremendous. I feel, though, 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.[7]

During Stewart's appearance on CNN's Crossfire, he criticized the show and its hosts for "hurting America" by reducing issues to a left vs. right screaming match and enabling political spin. When co-host Tucker Carlson complained that Stewart did not ask John Kerry substantial questions when Kerry appeared on The Daily Show, Stewart countered that it was not his job to give hard-hitting interviews. Suggesting that a "fake news" comedy program should not be held to the same standards as real journalists, he said, "You're on CNN! The show that leads into me is puppets making crank phone calls! What's wrong with you?"[8]

Enabling complacency

In a March 3, 2006, article in The Boston Globe, "Why Jon Stewart Isn't Funny", Michael Kalin argued that Jon Stewart's laughs come at the expense of idealism, and too easily enable American college students to adopt a self-righteous attitude toward politics, ultimately rendering them complacent and apathetic.

Stewart...leads to a "holier than art thou" attitude [among students] toward our national leaders. People who possess the wit, intelligence, and self-awareness of viewers of The Daily Show would never choose to enter the political fray full of "buffoons and idiots." Content to remain perched atop their Olympian ivory towers, these bright leaders head straight for the private sector.[9]

A Daily Reflector article about Daily Show viewers concluded that they trust their own knowledge in politics, rather than the news media or the elites who run the political-media system. The article suggests that citizens who believe they understand politics may more active in the system than those who do not. Yet the article also points out that cynicism can be a voter turnoff. [10],

Not many agree that watching "The Daily Show" is harmful to the youth or the cause of apathy on young voters[11][12]. Critics of the show suggest that Stewart's criticism is causing a loss of confidence in government and the media, thus damaging confidence in America[13]. Defenders of the show point out that Stewart is putting a humorous spin on a faulty system. They contend that if Stewart's jokes are factually correct, then responsibility for increased cynicism should belong to the political and media figures themselves, not the comedian who makes fun of them.[14].

Editions for various markets

Canada

In Canada, a simulcast of the show airs at 11:00 PM Eastern and Pacific time on The Comedy Network, and also on CTV stations at 12:05 AM local time.

Overseas

File:Dailyshowwarning.png
Disclaimer at the beginning of the Global Edition.

An edited version of the show, called The Daily Show—Global Edition, is run outside of the U.S. on CNN International once a week. This edition is always prefaced by the following disclaimer run in all-caps against a Daily Show background: "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." For the Global Edition, Stewart provides an exclusive introductory monologue, usually about the week's prevalent international news story, and closing comments. The segments for the Global Edition are usually culled from Monday and Tuesday's episodes.

Since October 10, 2005, both the Global Edition and the weeknight program have been shown in the UK and Ireland at 8:30pm on the digital channel, More4. The Global Edition (without the preface shown on CNN International) is shown on Monday, with the regular Monday to Thursday editions shown on a one day delay Tuesday to Friday.

In Australia the regular show airs on The Comedy Channel Monday to Thursday at 9:30pm, roughly one day behind the US broadcast. The Global Edition airs on CNN on Sundays at 1:30am and is repeated on Mondays at 12:30am. Free-to-air broadcaster SBS also runs The Global Edition on Thursdays at 10pm.

Westwood One broadcasts small portions of the show to many radio stations across America.

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart is also available in the Nordic countries (Norway, Sweden, Finland & Denmark) at 19:00 (20:00 in Finland) on the CANAL+ (Nordic) channel.

In the Philippines, cable channel Jack TV airs The Daily Show at a half-day delay every Tuesday-Friday (given the time difference), alongside other Comedy Central shows.

In Taiwan, the show airs in the afternoons on CNN's international channel.

In April 2006, the show began screening in New Zealand at 22:00 Tuesdays on music channel C4.

The show also aired in Portugal on the Sic Radical(portuguese) cable channel between 2004 and 2005.

Spin-offs

Main article: The Colbert Report
Main article: Red State Diaries

A spin-off, The Colbert Report, was announced in early May 2005. The show stars Stephen Colbert, and serves as Comedy Central's answer to the programs of media pundits such as Bill O'Reilly. The word "Report" in the show's title and Stephen Colbert's last name are pronounced with a silent "t". The concept of the spin-off emerged out of fake promos on The Daily Show for an O'Reilly-like program hosted by Stephen Colbert, playing an antagonistic blow-hard. The Colbert Report first aired on October 17, 2005, and takes up the 11:30 UTC-5 slot following The Daily Show. Initial ratings satisfied Comedy Central and the show, which had an initial order for eight weeks of episodes, was renewed for a year.

Awards

2005

2004

  • Emmy Awards (2): Best Variety Series; Best Writing for a Variety Series
  • Peabody Award: For their Indecision 2004 Coverage.
  • Publishers Weekly: Book of the Year (for America (The Book))
  • Televisions Critics Association: Outstanding Achievement in News and Information (first Comedy Series to Win Award)

2003

  • Emmy Awards (2): Best Variety Series; Best Writing for a Variety Series
  • Television Critics Association (2): Outstanding Achievement in Comedy; Individual Achievement in Comedy-Jon Stewart

2001

  • Emmy Awards: Best Writing for a Variety Series

2000

Correspondents, Contributors, and Staff

File:Dailyshow cast.jpg
Stephen Colbert, Ed Helms, Jon Stewart, Rob Corddry, and Samantha Bee

There are five main correspondents, all of whom are given rather specific titles and almost always with the word "senior" tacked on. (See List of The Daily Show correspondent titles for an incomplete list.)

Senior correspondents

Correspondents

  • Nate Corddry (2005 to present) — Rob Corddry's younger brother.

The above are those who aren't part of the regular cast yet, but have done several segments for the show.

Contributors

Please see: List of The Daily Show contributor appearances

Alumni Former correspondents and contributors include the following:

  • Steve Carell (1999 to 2004, occasional pieces in 2005) — "Even Stephven", "Produce Pete", "Dollars and 'Cents'", "Slimmin' Down With Steve", "Ad Nauseum". In 2005, Steve Carell became the first Daily Show "correspondent" to star in a major Hollywood studio film. The 40-Year-Old Virgin opened in first place at the box office in late August 2005. Carell is also set to star as Agent Maxwell Smart in the big-screen remake of the classic TV series Get Smart. Carell is the star of the successful NBC comedy The Office, for which he won the Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Comedy Series in 2006. Carell was also the first, and to date only, former show correspondent to be the show's featured guest when he promoted The 40-Year-Old Virgin on August 15, 2005. The interview began with a very prolonged, feigned awkward silence, which Stewart ended by gasping out, "Why did you leave us!?" and with feigned crying.
  • Stephen Colbert (1997 to 2005) — "Even Stephven", "This Week In God", "The Jobbing of America". Although no longer a cast member of The Daily Show, Colbert currently appears at the end of every show in a brief discussion with Jon Stewart about a usually random and irrelevant subject as a bridge between The Daily Show and The Colbert Report which airs immediately following. In addition, on February 8, 2006, a segment called "Klassic Kolbert" debuted on The Daily Show, consisting of a previously aired segment featuring Colbert.

Writing staff

The above are The Daily Show writing staff, as of May 2006.

Other staff

  • Bill Clarey (1982 - December 10, 2005) was a 23-year-old staff member who worked as an intern for The Daily Show and receptionist for Comedy Central. Bill committed suicide on December 10, 2005, prompting the network to suspend production of its show (scroll to date; includes photograph) the following Monday night. That Monday's episode was to have Howard Stern as a guest, but after Bill's death, Comedy Central aired a repeat. On Tuesday, December 14th, Stern guested, and the Moment of Zen was dedicated to Bill, with a short clip from his favorite show, Dynasty.

See also

Notes

  1. ^ "Daily Show considers taping shows at OSU". The Columbus Dispatch. 2006-06-29. Retrieved 2006-07-09. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  2. ^ "Such a tease". The Guardian. 2005-10-01. Retrieved 2006-07-09. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help). Interview with Jon Stewart.
  3. ^ "'Daily Show' Host Jon Stewart". September 30, 2004. Retrieved 2006-07-22. {{cite web}}: Text "Fresh Air from WHYY, interview" ignored (help)
  4. ^ Cendrowski, Scott. "'Daily Show' visits local senator". The State News. Retrieved 2006-03-31.
  5. ^ "Young America's news source: Jon Stewart". CNN.com. March 2,2004. Retrieved 2006-07-22. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  6. ^ National Annenberg Election Survey, Daily Show viewers knowledgeable about presidential campaign, National Annenberg Election Survey shows, press release, September 21, 2004. PDF file.
  7. ^ "The Daily Show". Rotten.com. Retrieved 2006-07-09.
  8. ^ "Jon Stewart's Brutal Exchange with CNN Host". iFilm. 2004. Retrieved 2006-07-09.
  9. ^ Kalin, Michael (2006-03-03). "Why Jon Stewart Isn't Funny". Boston Globe. Retrieved 2006-07-09. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  10. ^ Ryals, Jimmy (2006-05-30). "Study focuses on the effect of The Daily Show satire". The Daily Reflector. Retrieved 2006-07-09. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  11. ^ McNamara, Melissa (2006-06-28). "Bloggers Laugh Over Jon Stewart Study". CBS News. Retrieved 2006-07-09. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  12. ^ Cotterell, Bill (2006-06-29). "But seriously folks, scholars analyze comedy". Tallahassee Democrat. Retrieved 2006-07-09. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  13. ^ "Jon Stewart hates America". To Ride, Shoot Straight and Speak the Truth. 2006-06-24. Retrieved 2006-07-09. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  14. ^ Chung, Andrew (2006-05-21). "Is Jon Stewart helping or hurting?". Toronto Star. Retrieved 2006-07-09. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)

References

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