I think the show hit it's highpoint during election season last year. It's still funny, but not as good as it was then.

Yeah, that Dukes of Hazzard comedy bit they did just recently just had too much political content and was just way too liberal. Samantha Bee did a story last week about an idiot mayor who tossed off the city council two guys because they couldn't show up for the meetings. Why? Because they are fighting in Iraq. Too political for you?

They do they everyman type comedy all the time still.

What, is Colbert's This Week in God too serious for all of you or does it somehow bash Bush or make fun of conservatives?

Why should the show make ANY effort to be completely fair? Jon Stewart is a liberal, but he's not Michael Moore. Nonetheless, since he's likely liberal on a lot of issues, there's nothing wrong with his comedy coming from a place that's honest and comes from what he actually believes.

Trent Lott was just on the show and the two had a great interview. There is no place on tv where Trent Lott looks to be having a better time and seems more hip than on the daily show. Not even on Fox. The same can be said for a lot of conservatives. Even when someone who is completely out there comes out, Jon usually gives them every chance to speak their mind without cutting them off rudely or calling them liars.

Stewart isn't perfect and the show's interview segment, whether it be with a star, author or politican is almost always the weakest part of the show. He has 5 minutes or so and he usually does a pretty great job with those 5 minutes.

He makes fun of the democrats all the time. He's clearly a democrat himself, so he just makes fun of the parties in different ways, but he clearly calls them both out on being lame and imcompetent. So which is worse, calling the Republican party lame or calling is own party lame and completely incapable of getting their message out or winning an election?

He ripped into people from the left who made incredibly stupid attacks ads against Sumpreme Court nominee Robinson just a short time ago.

I think if you don't like the political humor or think there's too much of it, you probably just don't like hearing jokes about Bush and Rumsfeld and Stewart couldn't do anything to please you.

As has already been mentioned, the Republicans have all the power, they completely control the discussion in America right now and it would be impossible for the show not to make jokes mostly at their expense right now, especially since, with all that power, things are not going very well for the Republicans and the President right now.

The show is far from lame.

Is Steve Carrel still on this show?

I don't recall a claim of "balance" being made by The Daily Show. The only noted claim of "fair and balanced" is made by that other comedy network...Fox News! Jon Stewart does not and never has hidden from the fact that his politics falls on the left side of the fence. But for the most part he is very professional and respectful of his guests, which is why he is able to get many conservatives to appear on his show. I watched the show with Santorum last month and he was extremely generous with him...much more so than Santorum deserved IMO. But the bottom line is it's a COMEDY show unlike those angry political shout-fest shows where democrats and liberals ARE continually bashed, and rarely given the respectful treatment that Stewart shows.

On a side note, I find it laughable how conservatives get so wound up if there's one show that doesn't meet their political standards. You control government and dominate the media. But gee, the host of the Daily Show makes jokes about conservatives and then there's that Bill Maher guy on HBO. "We can't have that, we have to control everything!!!"

no. the regulars are Ed Helms, Samantha Bee and Rob Cordroy with the occasional Lewis Black segment

That's all this thread is: Conservatives who don't like the thought someone might have an opposing point of view.

Ah, the siren call of a Republican who doesn't like having his views opposed. I can't help but wonder, do you level the same charge against Bill O'Reilly's one-note crusade against the left? No? I didn't think so. (And it's worth noting O'Reilly isn't any more a newsman than Stewart is; they're both entertainers.)

Of course Stewart has been riding conservatives hard for awhile now. That's because Rebublicans have controlled the White House, Senate and House for five years. When Clinton was in office, Stewart rode his administration pretty hard too.

I hate to tell you Ferris, but political satire is real comedy. God forbid there's one intelligent topical humor show on the air. If you don't like it, Comedy Central and the other networks have plenty of empty-headed sketch shows for your amusement.

How dare you forget the single funniest man on the show Stephen Colbert...though he's cutting back soon for his own shows debut, The Colbert report.

"Ancient snake god....you are a *****!"

You've completely missed my point. Stewart can rant about whatever he wants. I was quite clear that what I find laughable are the people who insist he is fair and moderate, including Stewart himself. Look no further than this thread to see how right I am.

doh. yes, he is the best on the show and definately my fav. I can't wait for his show.

I never found that show worth watching, even before politcis played much of a role

Maybe he didn't miss your point. Maybe you just didn't make a good point.

I can't think of any tv shows or comedians who are republican/conservative. I think there's a reason for that. Comedy & Republican/conservative doesn't seem like a compatable pairing. I know plenty of people who are republican who have good senses of humor, by the way, so I'm not trying to say that republicans are devoid of it or anything.

Uh...hello? Larry the Cable Guy!

Actually, a lot of celebrities are libertarian which suprises me.

Quite far to the right apparently.

Save Ferris (whose moniker is great) started the thread, and posted:
Okay, where to begin?

"That weird lady" was Cindy Sheehan. Her son, Casey, was a soldier who was killed in Iraq.
Throughout the month of August, while George Bush vacationed at his ranch in Crawford TX, Sheehan camped nearby in an anti-war protest.
For weeks, Sheehan (and Bush's refusal to meet with her) was one of the biggest national news stories in the US.

The show you saw was a rerun, but if it's the episode that I saw when it originally aired, The Daily Show's extended take on the Sheehan story focused on how right-wing pundits were out in force claiming that Sheehan was a lunatic, and that her demands for an accounting of why her son was killed were nonsensical ravings.

I guess I would have to agree with you that the turning of the Republican attack machine on one American citizen exercising her right to free speech isn't very funny.

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart has made it very clear that they are a program of satire, in general, and political satire, primarily.

They are not in the fake news equals punchlines business. If that's what you want to see, they do it on Saturday Night Live's "Weekend Update" --or you might prefer Jay Leno's monologues.

Jon Stewart is not in the "every liberal is right" business.

Despite the fact that Stewart has made his political leanings well known, he is very critical of Democrats.
In my observation, the general tone of Stewart regarding Dems is that they are pathetic and weak.

If you are finding that The Daily Show is harder on the right and more pointedly critical of Republicans, that would be accurate.
The reason for that is that (in case you haven't noticed) the GOP is in complete political control of the country.

As a political satirist, Stewart is mocking and attacking the people in political power, and those people are pretty much all Republicans.

You might notice that the other major target of The Daily Show's satire and criticism is the media.
That's right, the big, bad, liberal media.

You might have missed it, but earlier this year, Stewart went on CNN (That's the ultra-liberal Clinton-News-Network) on Crossfire and attacked both the commentators on the left and the right.

So, with mocking the right-wing politicos and the left-wing media, that should balance out to even-handed coverage, right?

and Save Ferris posted
You mean like the common man who's getting killed in Iraq?
Or, the common man's mother, who's protesting the war that killed her son?

I prefer to see more mocking of the smug President who says he can't worry about the dying soldiers and their mothers because he "has to get on with his life".

Okay, where to begin?

"That weird lady" was Cindy Sheehan. Her son, Casey, was a soldier who was killed in Iraq.
Throughout the month of August, while George Bush vacationed at his ranch in Crawford TX, Sheehan camped nearby in an anti-war protest.
For weeks, Sheehan (and Bush's refusal to meet with her) was one of the biggest national news stories in the US.


Everyone forgets that she met with him right after her son died in Iraq in 2003. Are you saying every parent should get 2 meetings with The President. She also said that George Bush was the biggest terrorist in the world right now. I respect her, and I am not going to attack her like alot of Republicans are doing, but she is losing credibility when she makes a statement like that. If she just said, I disagree with him on this war and its merits, I would respect that, because it is a free country.

I loved it when colbert covered the hiring of a new chef, and was explaining that the democrats were looking into past menus to see if they would "approve" her.

I dont care what party they make fun of, it just starts to get serious and less funny. Sure, take the Sheehan woman for example--I dont think its funny to joke about how mistreated she is. These are serious politics, not the funny variety. When it gets ugly, its not funny anymore. Sure its reality and 'life' and you can tell me I just want to see the lighter side of things. YEP sometimes I sure do. I really dont enjoy politics point, counterpoint, tit-for-tat kind of thing.

I like Jon Stewart and his feigned ignorance style of comedy. I like the episodes where they make fun of really whacked out people in the country. When they interview people and make them look stupid. I loved the mock interviews with colbert and another guy where they bickered like kids.

The Daily Show didn't even really begin until Stewart took the helm. Kilborn was just the warmup act.

Stewart does crave some form of credibility, all the while hiding behind the "Fake News" shield. I agree that the political leaning is beyond obvious, usually in the interview and easy to turn off "click". I do not care how hard Stewart tries to become politically literate, he sounds like a poser.

Let face it, we have some very colorful characters in power, who make great targets for comedy. Fox News needs to be slapped around a bit and the Daily Show is doing a wonderful job of shredding some of the worst journalism on television.

I watch the opening skits and turn it off at the interview.

Hm. An easy thing to say. Why not even toss in that it's been lame ever since Lizz Winstead left?

I really enjoyed Beth Littlefords segments. Its really too bad she didnt stay with the show.

Wired Magazine has a good interview w/ stewart and his producer...

http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/13.09/stewart.html

Everyone forgets? You know this for a fact?

Honestly, it's comments like that that are considerably more divisive than what Jon does with his comedy.

Please show me the quote where she says those exact words about Bush being the world's biggest terrorist. I've found that quote along with other dandys like her saying "America is not worth fighting for" and "Bin Laden is not a terrorist" on hundreds of right wing blogs with classy headlines like "Sheehan needs Prozac." When looking at the blogs that use that quote and then specifically state, "Here are some other nuggets she supposedly said." I can't really state how dumb a person can be quoting someone and saying, at the same time, these are things she supposedly said. If you can find one mainstream media report, with that exact quote in the context of her entire speech, please post it. Otherwise you're using Republican talking points like "She blames everything on Israel." She never said that either. But somebody loses some credibility when an attack machine feeds the media and people's minds with lies about a person, in order to discredit their entire message. Do you have a lot of respect for that?

She met with the President with a group of people. Saying that she met him would be like saying Dave Roberts met him when the Red Sox visited the White House. Should she get the same treatment as the women's NCAA softball champion Michigan Wolverines?

Quite a few democrats don't believe she should meet him, simply because it would set a precedent that anyone could show up and demand to meet with the President. Personally, I think ANY mother of a son should be able to have some personal time to speak to the President. It's the least the Commander and Chief could sacrifice, but if her intention was to bring attention to the war and opposition to it...what's your problem with that?

The President and his administration get to tell us why would should be there, why does this "crazy" person not have the freedom to say the opposite to as large of an audience as she can get?

If she said, "I disagree with the war and its merits," you would respect that? First of all, why should the mother of a son who died for his country be limited to a one-line comment about how she feels? Why should any American not have the right to protest the way that they feel like-so long as no one is getting hurt? And second, who would listen if she just spoke out in her kitchen to a guy from a small town newspaper? She believes that the war is wrong, she wants it to end, some people agree, some don't, but why should she not go out and fight for what she believes in; the very same way that her son did?

I respect her and the Daily show didn't really take her side in the debate, it made fun of the idiots who called her a bad mother and a lunatic and anything else they could, simply because she had the gall to galvanize opposition to a war she doesn't believe in and a war where she lost her son. Additionally, there are many leftists blogs who are also distorting what Sheehan says to attack Bush and say things about him that are absolutely ridiculous and vile. Is it her fault that both sides use her to push their own agendas? In fact, that's just the kind of thing the Daily Show points out and makes fun of.

Unreal. Its the old line, "if you dont like it, turn it off".

And to see crucify it for being a "liberal" show, well thats just obscene. There is no doubt what side Jon Stewart plays to, but its funny that every time that people mention how shows like this should not be on the air, they always fail to mention the "balanced" news casters such as Sean Hannity, Ann Coulter, Shepard Smith, and the entire Fox News organization.

Why cant we bash them for being too one-sided? Huh? And this is from a so-called "news organization". Lets not forget that Jon Stewart is on Comedy Central, the station of South Park and Crank Yankers.....

No, apparently he left the show to pursue a "career in film". Tell us how that goes, Dave Caruso!

Anyway, we've had this exact discussion before, probably in more than one thread.

Hmm...none of the people in this thread complaining that the show is "unbalanced" were complaining when Dennis Miller declared that President Bush was "off limits" as a target on his show (which was also a blend of news and comedy). I guess when the host of the show shares your opinions, anything is okay.

Stewart had a great good-natured spar with Christopher Hitchens the other night. I thought it was wonderful. I wish we could have more of that on our "Politics" forum, instead of the idiotic jabs and cheap shots that it's descended to now.