The good and the bad of the Daily Show

[kwassa]

What do you like, and don't like about the Daily Show?

I really like the opening news coverage segments with Jon, almost all the interviews with Jon conducting them, the funny commentators shtick .....

and I really dislike the idiot interviews of real people by the correspondents being stupid. It is very remeniscient of the "Ali - G" show on HBO. This is where the correspondent asks extraordinarily dumb questions of real people, or accuse them of positions they don't hold or things they never said. It just isn't funny. This is one reason I don't like Samantha Bee, who seems to specialize in these. The side people all do these interviews, though.

It is a stupid concept, and contrasts strongly with the intelligence and wit of the regular show, to me.

[whometense]

1. They take

too many vacations. :-(

[Orsino]

2. They overuse the word "retarded"...

...which I hate, when used as an insult. However, they seem to be using it more and more in its clinical sense, and have in general done away with the cruel humor that turned me off in the show's first years.

Yeah, they work the "dumb journalist" schtick well. I see the show as making fun of the big media as much it does of current-affairs figures. I'm liking Samantha Bee more and more because of this practice.

[Rhiannon12866]

3. I agree with you completely

I particularly like the beginning, since that's when Jon covers what's ridiculous in the news, particularly with this illegal and ridiculous administration.:grr:

And I'm always disappointed when they just have some actor on who's plugging a movie. Those I could live without. And why should I care if Paula Abdul's first job was working at a shopping mall?!:shrug:

And I also have to agree that I'm not fond of the segments where they just make people look stupid. The one exception was the gas station owner whose business was being taken away from him for not charging high enough prices. They just couldn't trip him up and his story became very poignant. My least favorite one of this kind was when Samantha Bee went to a Kucinich meet-up at someone's home, and she made fun of the people who attended, asking who had ever heard of Dennis Kucinich, and just sat there, looking bored. Dennis Kucinich was my candidate and I didn't appreciate this one, at all!:grr:

[Tweed]

6. I agree, when they have actors on, I just turn it off

Perhaps we should tell their advertisers? :evilgrin:

[Rhiannon12866]

9. That's a great idea! Maybe we should!

That's how they finally got that hate-monger, Michael Savage, off of MSNBC!:grr:

And what's with all the repeats, again?! Last night I did watch the repeat, because he had on Seymour Hersh, and that guy is fascinating. But tonight, it's another repeat, with John Leguizamo. I couldn't sit through that interview the first time around!:eyes:

[Bzzzz]

8. Paula Abdul...

was the worst guest I've seen yet. She's an airhead.

[Rhiannon12866]

10. I agree. I did not see the point of that at all

Usually, they have an actor who has some movie coming out. Not only was she uninteresting, but she had absolutely nothing to talk about!:boring:

[bling bling]

4. The only thing I don't like

is that it's only 30 minutes long. It goes waaaay to fast.

[Chalco]

5. Vacations should not be allowed. Jon should have a replacement

so that we don't have to miss the show. I go into withdrawal when I have to watch re-runs.

[Bzzzz]

7. It's...

not long enough. I'd like to see an hour long show each evening.

[Rhiannon12866]

11. Me, too

But I don't think that's likely to happen anytime soon. Now, it's rare for them to go for two full weeks without resorting to repeats!:-(

[progressoid]

12. Gimme more Lewis Black

[HamiltonHabs32]

13. yes more Lewis

I like 98% of the show.

- Didn't like the Paula Abdul(sp?) interview..wtf?

[Rhiannon12866]

14. I agree, he's very funny

And I have asked elsewhere what was up with that Paula Abdul interview. I don't like it as much when they have actors as guests, but they are usually plugging a movie. Did I need to know that her first job was at a mall?! Mine was at an amusement park, at least there was some action!:eyes:

[ScreamingMeemie]

16. It was the stupidest, most stilted thing I've ever seen on the show.

Must have been a filler. :shrug:

[Rhiannon12866]

18. It was totally pointless. I have no idea why she was there.

But, apparently, she's making the rounds, since, the other night, I was channel surfing and I happened on Larry King. She was on there, as well! You can bet that I kept on going! Yikes!
:scared:

[ScreamingMeemie]

15. The fact that we have to go to a fake news show to hear any "real"

news. That and the fact that sometimes I feel like laughing and throwing up all at the same time...:hi:

[Kire]

17. I like correspondents being stupid, but...

...last night, I learned something.

One of the correspondents did a football kind of cheer and seemed to get up into the interview subject's face, and the subject just kind of nodded. But, this time he got so close you could tell that it was a CGI effect. He was not really getting in the guys face. Blue screen or whatever, they are not brave enough to actually do this kind of thing right in their face.

I am disappointed, now.

[StrongbadTehAwesome]

19. Like:

- news coverage
- political interviews (some of the actors are ok)
- Back in Black
- This Week in God
- the fact that a rerun of the previous night's show now comes on after TDS instead of that hideous Tough Crowd (on Comedy Central at least).


Dislike:
- correspondents acting stupid. I know they're supposed to be making fun of MSM, but this part of the show is why I can't get my freeper brother to watch it. the one time we sat down to watch it, he was laughing through all of Jon's stuff and saying that he made some good points...then rob corrdry starts interviewing some woman and making constant inane penis references. My brother thought it wasn't funny and made no sense, and he's never watched TDS again.
- interviews that are solely actor-plugs-movie...or actor-talks-about-first-job-at-the-mall...
- of late they've been happily going along with the "Democrats are weak/continual losers/have no spine" meme (take their coverage of Dean's election to DNC chair)

[Rhiannon12866]

20. I agree completely with your likes and dislikes of the show,

But, then, we're both members of DU!:D

The correspondents acting stupid is just, well, stupid. I can see why your brother didn't go for it. Neither did I, and I'm predisposed to really like this show. And the actors plugging movies just leave me cold. I'd rather listen to a conservative political guest than these pointless interviews. As for Paula Abdul, why was she even on, if that's all she had to talk about?:shrug:

And I do get a steamed at the criticisms of the Democrats. I realize that Jon has to appear to give equal criticism, but everyone knows where his sentiments lie. He voted for John Kerry, and should be discussing voter fraud, not that the Democrats are weak. As for Dean's election to DNC Chair, I think that this was a brilliant move, and should have been seen as such. Howard Dean was not my candidate, Dennis Kucinich was, but I think that the DNC could not have chosen better. This gives me hope, as it should Jon Stewart, and he should have given them credit for their choice.:shrug:

[baba]

21. I love those segments!

I think the features are one of the best parts of the show. Granted, some are better than others. Sometimes they just nail it, other times they are not very funny. What I can't believe is that some people agree to be interviewed by them, knowing that they are going to be made fun of!

[Mojambo]

22. I love em too

The Gay Penguin and the Cooter festival stories are examples of when they REALLY rocked.

Ed Helms and Samantha Bee are masters of the interview bit.

[baba]

23. Ed Helms!

I love Samantha Bee, and Ed Helms has this great deadpan thing going on. They are all so funny. I have never laughed as hard as I have when watching this show!

[Kolesar]

24. I go do the dishes during the interviews

Unless it somebody sharp like Sy Hersh. Not "the Rock". Often it is not worth sticking around for the "moment of zen".

Courdray and Bee make me cringe. I think that is their humor. Note that both of them have improved dramatically since they started. I think that the writers are figuring out how to write for them. Courdray has really hit his stride. Samantha Bee does this strange sexual humor that is hard to define, but sometimes it works wonderfully.

Steven Colbert just kills me. Nobody does satire as good a Steven, his delivery is just hilarious.

[Kire]

25. The "idiot interviews" are fake

There was one where Samantha Bee got all up into this guy's face like a monkey or something, and it was real easy to tell that it was a blue-screen kind of thing. She wasn't getting in his face, at all.

Maybe I'm stupid, but it was an epiphany to me. None of those interviews have been the same since.