The Daily Show Totally Explained

Everything about The Daily Show totally explained

Enabling complacency

In a March 4, 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 enables 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 [amongstudents] 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."

A Daily Reflector article about The 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 be more active in the system than those who do not. Yet the article also points out that cynicism can be a voter turnoff.
There are those who don't agree that watching The Daily Show is harmful to the youth or a cause of apathy in young voters. Defenders of the show point out that Stewart is putting a humorous spin on a faulty system. They contend that as long as 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.
Stewart has said that he doesn't take any joy in the failings of American government. "We're not the guys at the craps table betting against the line," he said on Larry King Live. "We'd make fun of something else," Stewart said, "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."

Editions for various markets

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 on several weekend time slots. This edition is prefaced by the following announcement, which is also displayed in written form against a Daily Show background: ť "The show you're 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."

However the announcement isn't used by all other international broadcasters. Viewers are invited to send comments regarding the show to CNN by email.
For the Global Edition, Stewart 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. The segments for the Global Edition are usually culled from Monday and Tuesday's episodes. Strong language is often censored on CNN, even if it means losing a punch line. Westwood One had broadcast small portions of the show to many radio stations across America. This ended, unannounced, in 2006.

International broadcasters

In Australia the program airs on The Comedy Channel Monday through Thursday, hours behind the American broadcast. The Global Edition airs intermittently on SBS. It is aired with bleeps heard on the American broadcast removed.

In Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Global Edition is aired uncensored on OBN, every Saturday.

In Brazil, the show airs on Sony Entertainment Television, a cable channel, every Tuesday.

Canada was the first country after the US to broadcast The Daily Show. Since September 1999, cable channel The Comedy Network airs a simulcast of the day's show four nights a week, and re-run at various points the following day. On November 3 2003, Canadian television network, CTV, began re-airing the same show, becoming the first, and only, national over the air network to broadcast The Daily Show.

In Denmark, the show is aired on DR2, a public service channel, at 23:30 local time and then rerun the following day at 19:05.

Canal+, home of France's own popular news satires Les Guignols de l'info and 7 jours au Groland, began broadcasting The Daily Show in 2007. New episodes air the day following the American broadcasts.

In Germany The Daily Show is available since 23 January 2007 only online on the German Comedy Central Homepage Video Viewer, where it's stored for one day due to the German-American time shift difference. Also, since the inception of Comedy Central Germany, the Daily Show is available via the German homepage of Comedy Central.

The Global Edition, as aired on CNN International, is rebroadcast in various large cities and towns by the state television (ERT).

In Indonesia, The Global Edition is aired on CNN International via some cable satellites.

In Israel, The Global Edition airs on the Yes+ satellite channel every Thursday night, with reruns throughout the following weekend.

The Daily Show Global Edition has begun showing in the Netherlands on Comedy Central Netherlands as of May 2007. It can also be seen on CNN International.

In April 2006, the show began screening weekly in New Zealand on music channel C4, but since 30 January 2007, C4 has been screening the US version of the show four days a week, roughly five hours behind the US broadcast.

In Norway, the show is aired on NRK2 and NRK3.

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

The show airs in Portugal on the SIC Radical cable channel. (It stopped airing for a while in 2006, but viewer feedback brought the show back.)

In Sweden, the show is aired on Kanal 9.

In Switzerland, the show is aired on Saturdays on BBC.

In Turkey, Global Edition airs on e2 channel, Mondays at 11pm.

and Since October 10, 2005, both the Global Edition and the weeknight program have been shown in the UK and Ireland the next calendar day to its US broadcast. As it's shown on the free-to-air digital channel, More4, the final "checking in" with Stephen Colbert segment is usually cut from the broadcast episode, since More4 doesn't screen the Colbert Report (from May 6th 2008 it'll air on FX (UK). Each episode is repeated later in the same day. The Global Edition (without the preface shown on CNN International) is shown on Monday, with the regular Monday through Thursday editions shown on a one-day delay Tuesday to Friday.

Middle East Through out the Middle East The Daily Show with Jon Stewart airs weekdays on Showtime Arabia’s ShowComedy at 7:00 pm GMT at a day delay.
The Daily Show Global Edition airs Mondays on CNN International.

Latin America In September 2007, Sony Entertainment Television announced that it would be airing the Global Edition. After starting in November, the show was quickly cut by the Writers' Strike just three weeks after starting. After airing repeats for some weeks, the show had to be taken off the air due to lack of new episodes. Finally, Sony resumed broadcast with one or two weeks of buffer (making the show slightly outdated) at the end of January. On February 26, the first Global Edition with the writers back was aired. The Daily Show - Global Edition is aired all Tuesdays on Sony as part of the P.I. (Pollitically Incorrect, also named for the sound of a bleep in Spanish) programming block.

Nordic countries The Daily Show with Jon Stewart became available to viewers in the Norway, Sweden, Finland and Denmark in August 2004, when the premium pay channel Canal+ started airing the show. Since then, basic networks have also started broadcasting the show. The Danish public broadcaster DR2 started broadcasting it on February 26, 2007, roughly two days behind the US broadcast. The Norwegian public broadcaster followed suit on the autumn of 2007, broadcasting it on NRK2 with reruns on NRK3. The show is broadcast one week after the US schedule. NRK also broadcasts The Global Edition every weekend. In Sweden, the basic cable channel Kanal 9 began broadcasting the show in February 2008.

Other countries It can also be seen on the American Forces Network. The show airs on AFN Spectrum in Iraq, weekdays at 8pm. The website for this program, however, has been blocked from access by service members on government computers because of a general ban on streamed media.

Spin-offs

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, like "Colbert", is pronounced with a silent "t". Colbert, Stewart, and Ben Karlin pitched the idea of the show to Comedy Central chief Doug Herzog, who agreed to run the show for eight weeks without first creating a pilot. The Colbert Report first aired on October 17, 2005, and takes up the 11:30PM ET/PT slot following The Daily Show. Initial ratings satisfied Comedy Central and the show was renewed for a year. The Colbert Report is produced by Jon Stewart's production company, Busboy Productions. Comedy Central announced in October 2007 that it had picked up another series from Busboy. Important Things with Demetri Martin features the Daily Show contributor but isn't a spin-off.

Awards

Correspondents, contributors, and staff

The correspondents normally have two roles: "experts" with satirical "senior" titles that Stewart interviews about certain issues, or hosts of original reporting segments which often showcase interviews of serious political figures. The show's contributors have their own unique regular segment on the show. DateFormat=mm/dd/yyyy Period = from:07/22/1996 till:04/21/2008 Define $now = 04/21/2008 # Please keep updated Define $dayunknown = 15 # what day to use if it's actually not known ImageSize= width:850 height:auto barincrement:18 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal PlotArea = right:10 left:10 bottom:20 top:0
   Colors = id:bg value:white
    id:anchor value:rgb(0.2,0.8,1) id:corespondent value:rgb(0.4,0.7,0.7)
    id:line value:rgb(0.2,0.2,0.2) id:lightline value:rgb(0.9,0.9,0.9) id:header value:rgb(0.8,0.8,0.9) id:lighttext value:rgb(0.5,0.5,0.5) id:current value:rgb(0.9,0.9,0.9) legend:Still_currently_produced BackgroundColors = canvas:bg ScaleMajor = gridcolor:lighttext unit:year increment:1 start:01/01/1997 BarData = Barset:anchor Barset:bee Barset:jones Barset:oliver Barset:riggle Barset:mandvi Barset:schaal
   PlotData= width:15 textcolor:black
    Barset:anchor color:anchor from:07/22/1996 till:12/17/1998 text:"Craig Kilborn" color:anchor from:01/11/1999 till:$now text:"Jon Stewart" barset:break barset:break barset:break barset:break Barset:bee color:corespondent from:07/01/2003 till:$now text:"Samantha Bee" barset:break Barset:jones color:corespondent from:09/$dayunknown/2005 till:$now text:" Jason Jones" barset:break Barset:oliver color:corespondent from:07/$dayunknown/2005 till:$now text:" John Oliver" barset:break Barset:riggle color:corespondent from:09/$dayunknown/2003 till:$now text:"Rob Riggle" barset:break
    Barset:mandvi color:corespondent from:08/09/2006 till:$now text:"Aasif Mandvi" barset:break Barset:schaal color:corespondent from:03/13/2008 till:$now text:"Kristen Schaal" barset:break

Correspondents

Samantha Bee (July 2003 to present) — "This Week in God", "Are You Prepared?!?"; married to correspondent Jason Jones.

Jason Jones (September 2005 to present) — "Are You Prepared?!?", Jason Jones 180; married to correspondent Samantha Bee.

John Oliver (July 2006 to present) — Senior British Correspondent; "Wilmore-Oliver Investigates"; A new favorite among fans, has in many ways become the show's new lead correspondent, in the tradition of leaders of the past like Stephen Colbert, Steve Carell and Rob Corddry.

Rob Riggle (September 2006 to present) — Senior Military Correspondent; hired to replace departing correspondent Rob Corddry.

Aasif Mandvi (March 2007 to present) — Senior Middle East Correspondent; started as an occasional contributor in August 2006, later promoted to full correspondent in March 2007.

Contributors

Lewis Black (July 1996 to present) — "Back in Black"

Demetri Martin (November 2005 to present) — "Trendspotting", Youth Expert

John Hodgman (January 2006 to present) — Resident Expert, "Exper-teasers"; appeared on the show once as a guest in November 2005 to promote The Areas of My Expertise

Larry Wilmore (August 2006 to present) — Senior Black Correspondent, "Wilmore-Oliver Investigates"

Buck Henry (August 2007 to present) — "The Henry Stops Here", Senior Historical Perspectivist

Kristen Schaal (March 2008 to present) — Special Commentator, first appearance on March 13, 2008.

Alumni

Former correspondents and contributors to the Daily Show include:

Dave Attell (1999 to 2002) — "The Ugly American"

Dan Bakkedahl (2005 to 2007) — Hired to replace departing correspondent Stephen Colbert in September 2005. Filed his final report on September 25, 2007.

Mary Birdsong (2002) — Contributing correspondent

Michael Blieden (1996 to 1999) — original host of "Ad Nauseam"

John Bloom (1996-1998) — "God Stuff"

A. Whitney Brown (1996 to 1998) — "Backfire", had his own The Daily Show special in 1998 called "Weirder Than Whitney"

Rich Brown (1996 to 1999) — "Public Excess"

Sameer Butt (1997 to 1998) — Contributor

Steve Carell (1999 to 2004, occasional pieces in 2005) — "Even Stephven", "Produce Pete", "Dollars and 'Cents'", "We Love Showbiz", "Slimmin' Down With Steve", "Ad Nauseam". In 2005, Steve Carell became the first former Daily Show correspondent to star in a major Hollywood studio film (The 40-Year-Old Virgin). Carell was also the first former correspondent to be the show's featured guest when he promoted The 40-Year-Old Virgin on August 15, 2005; (John Hodgman and Dave Gorman were guests on the show to promote their books before they became contributors). 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. He is also married to fellow former correspondent Nancy Walls. Carell visited the show again in June 2007 to promote his movie Evan Almighty, this time appearing to have a young servant, poking fun at his success after the show. The servant was portrayed by Daily Show segment producer and columnist Elliott Kalan.

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 the show twice a week in a promo for The Colbert Report. But, on the October 16, 2007 episode of "The Daily Show", Colbert returned to the set of The Daily Show quirking thoughts about running for president. In addition, on February 8, 2006, a recurring segment called "Klassic Kolbert" debuted on The Daily Show, consisting of a previously aired segment featuring Colbert. Colbert currently holds the record as the longest serving correspondent on The Daily Show.

Nate Corddry (2005 to 2006) — The younger brother of correspondent Rob Corddry. As a running joke on the show, older brother Rob would often appear in Nate's segments usually picking on him. This eventually lead to the two brothers having their own "Even Stephven"-style debate segment called "Brother vs Brother".

Rob Corddry (2002 to 2006) — "This Week In God", "Come On!", "Popular Music Omnibus", and as he liked to call them, "Poop jokes". Rob left the show in September 2006 to start a film career and to star in The Winner, a Fox comedy that ran from March 4 to March 18, 2007. On the September 10, 2007 episode of The Daily Show, Corddry appeared as a guest to cover the Larry Craig men's room scandal. He and Stewart ran a joke where Corddry thought he was still on the payroll, explaining his in-depth investigation of the scandal in the men's room. He also appeared in a Samantha Bee segment on celebrity rehab on October 17, 2007.

Frank DeCaro (1996 to 2003) — "Out at the Movies"; he currently hosts his own program on Sirius Satellite Radio and was a celebrity panelist on GSN's revival of I've Got a Secret

Vance DeGeneres (1999 to 2001) — "Dollars and 'Cents'", "A Tale of Survival"

Eric Drysdale (2001) — Long time writer for The Daily Show, was a one-time correspondent and often appeared in other various comedy bits for the show.

Adrianne Frost (2002) — One-time correspondent

Jon Glaser (2004) — One-time correspondent

Dave Gorman (2006) — "Poll Smoking"; appeared on the show once as a guest in 2001 to promote Are You Dave Gorman?

Rachael Harris (2002 to 2003) — "Mark Your Calendar", "We Love Showbiz"

Ed Helms (2002 to 2006) — "Digital Watch", "Ad Nauseam", "Mark Your Calendar", "We Love Showbiz", "This Week in God". Helms and fellow correspondent Rob Corddry had their own The Daily Show special in 2003 called "I'm a Correspondent: Please Don't Fire Me". Helms began a recurring role on The Office in 2006, and was promoted to a regular character halfway through the third season.

Laura Kightlinger (1999) — One-time correspondent

Andy Kindler (2000 to 2001) — "TV Guy"

Beth Littleford (1996 to 2000) — "The Beth Littleford Interview", "bETh". In 1999, Beth had her own The Daily Show special called "The Beth Littleford Interview Special", highlighting her popular celebrity interviews.

Jerry Minor (2000) — One-time correspondent

David Pompeii (2001) — One-time correspondent

Mo Rocca (1998 to 2003) — "Dollars and 'Cents'", "Mark Your Calendar" Rocca went on to parlay his Daily Show persona in numerous cable appearances, such as VH1's I Love the 80s and at the 2004 political conventions for Larry King Live. Rocca also does occasional correspondent pieces for The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and is often a panelist on NPR's weekly comedic round-up of the news, Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!. Has also appeared numerous times as a judge on Food Network's Iron Chef America.

Michael Showalter (1996) — Contributing correspondent

Tom Shillue (1998 to 1999) — "This Week in Hate"

Denny Siegel (1999) — Contributing correspondent

Jeff Stilson (1998) — Contributor

Miriam Tolan (2000 to 2001) — Occasionally filled in for Nancy Walls' on "Dollars and 'Cents'"

Paul F. Tompkins (1998) — "Us People's Weekly Entertainment"

Brian Unger (1996 to 1998) — "Backfire"; he currently also does commentary for the NPR show Day to Day, VH1's I Love the 70s, I Love the 80s, and I Love the 90s incarnations and is also a frequent guest host on MSNBC's Countdown with Keith Olbermann

David Wain (1996) — Contributing correspondent

Nancy Walls (1999 to 2002) — "We Love Showbiz", "Popular Music Omnibus", "Dollars and 'Cents' Money Bunny", married to fellow former correspondent Steve Carell

Matt Walsh (2001 to 2002) — News You Can Utilize, "Dollars and 'Cents'", had his own The Daily Show special in May 2002 called "Matt Walsh Goes to Hawaii"

Lauren Weedman (2001 to 2002) — Occasionally filled in for Nancy Walls' as co-host of "We Love Showbiz"

Bob Wiltfong (2004 to 2005) — Contributing correspondent

Lizz Winstead (1996 to 1997) — Original correspondent and co-creator of The Daily Show

Stacey Grenrock-Woods (1998 to 2003) — Contributing correspondent

Writing staff

The Daily Show writing staff, as of June 2007:

Steve Bodow (Head Writer)

Jon Stewart (Head Writer)

Tim Carvell

Rob Kutner

Josh Lieb

Sam Means

John Oliver

Jason Reich

Jason Ross

David Feldman

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. Clarey committed suicide on December 10, 2005, prompting the network to suspend production of its show (External Link

) the following Monday night. That Monday's episode was to have Howard Stern as a guest, but after Clarey's death, Comedy Central aired a repeat. On Tuesday, December 13, 2005, Stern appeared as the guest, and the Moment of Zen was dedicated to Clarey, with a short clip from his favorite show, Dynasty.Further Information

Get more info on 'The Daily Show'.

External Link Exchanges

Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:

<a href="http://the_daily_show.totallyexplained.com">The Daily Show Totally Explained</a>

Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned.