The Daily Fix
Sometime in May, my Daily Show fix fizzled, when all the big TV-oriented torrent sites like Shun TV got shut down by the Man. Without access to Canal+, which carries the show here, or CNN, which airs the global edition once a week, I was suddenly stranded without my weekly dose of this phenomenon of a show. For a Jon Stewart completist like myself, it was absolute terror. I re-watched previous shows, longed for the InDecision 2004 DVD that was just around the corner, and chuckled along to the mp3 version of America, the gang's best-selling book from last year. But it wasn't the same.
Now, about two months later, I've finally caught up with the flow, found some new sites, and I'm back on track, having subjected myself to a Daily Show binge the last week or so. New studio, same great stories, but you can tell that The Daily Show of '05 is an important show - people want to be guests there. Stewart played softball with Rick Santorum the other night, which was a bit unexpected, but he doesn't suck up to his guests in the way that other hosts do - although he's kinder now. If you can, look up his absolute thrashing of Jennifer Love Hewitt, who was on the show last summer to promote the Garfield movie. I actually felt sorry for her, even though she in a way got what she deserved. Best episode as of late: the one with Will Ferrell. Packed with hilarious comments, shot segments, and a great interview with Ferrell.
Anyhow, the show is still good, but what will happen when Stephen Colbert leaves? He's certainly the best correspondent they have, and has put a distinct imprint on the show. Good thing he's not going far - I was pleasantly surprised that Comedy Central actually picked up The Colbert Report, a spoof on talk shows like The O'Reilly Factor that the Daily Show crew made up for a laugh, with a fake preview and everything. Tagline: The Colbert Report - It's French, Bitch! Can't wait.
Speaking of things to come, I am now officially excited about The Aristocrats. Not only because it features a whole range of comedians who talk about, and perform, one of the most notorious - and secret - jokes in show-biz history, but because it opens up discussions about highs and lows in comedy, free speech, and authorship among comedians - as a friend said, it should be very interesting from an auteurist perspective to see all these comedians tell more or less the same joke, but with their own twist on it. Thus far, I've only seen the South Park boys' version of the joke. Looking forward to the rest.
More about TV and other upcoming movies later this week.
posted by Martin Degrell @ 11:35 PM
4 comments
4 Comments:
It will be sad to see Colbert go, but with his new show and the Strangers With Candy movie, he won't be tough to find. His absence will be felt and the other correspondents have to step up. They've lost some strong ones before (Vance DeGeneres, A. Whitney Brown, Mo Rocca (although he seems to pop up from time to time), and obviously Steve Carrell), but they've always had other "big guns" to fill their shoes.
I think Corrdry is up for the challenge. He's not the most consistent, but when he hits, he gets the biggest laughs of them all. Samantha Bee has grown on me since she struggled out of the gates, but she's developed into a great horrible interviewer. Plus they have Ed Helms and a few others I'm sure I'm forgetting. Overall, the show will be fine since the focus is even more on Stewart and his interview, but it'll be interesting to see what changes come once Colbert exits.
I missed the Love Hewitt segment. What went on there!? I'm really looking forward to The Aristocrats as well. As a huge fan of stand-up comedy (or at least the 5-10% of it that's actually original and/or funny), it sounds like an interesting experiment that should be insightful and hopefully friggin' hilarious.
Yes - the Strangers With Candy movie is obviously something I'm looking forward to a lot. Should be interesting to see what they're doing with what I assume is a bigger budget than before.
The Love Hewitt interview was cringe-inducing; she was just there to plug the stupid cat movie, and Jon wouldn't let her get away with it. What makes it sad is of course that Love Hewitt's career is going down the abyss, and the fact that she had to come on The Daily Show to promote that movie in the first place felt like really bad booking. She struggled valiantly, but made the mistake of acting like she was with Leno or Letterman - Stewart tore her apart, made fun or her and the industry, etc. You could tell she was shocked at the treatment.
Am I crazy or didn't you guys see The Aristocrats in Vegas? I guess I am crazy - didn't at least one refugee see it already? I'm seeing it around the 20th.
I've gotta get my hands on the Love Hewitt interview. It must be on the web somewhere!
The Aristocrats showed in Vegas and I even went to see it. Gabe had one of the many excuses that led to his seeing an extremely lame 7 festival features all week. :) All of the special events were noted as such, but this one appeared to be a regular festival film even in the press material they gave us. Turned out George Carlin (who I did at least see), Penn, and a few other big names showed up and getting there 45 minutes early didn't make the cut. The thing that really pissed me off was that they didn't have a separate press line as they did for EVERY other film including the interviews with Cage et al. Still, I must say the staff fucked up a lot less than in 2004.
I don't think any Refugees have seen. At least I don't remember anyone saying they saw it when Jaime mentioned it a few weeks ago. I think it's opening here around the 20th as well, so I should be seeing it soon as well.
Right, that explains it.
Vegas in '06!
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