The Daily Show
- wadE
I was glad to read yesterday that Wade is addicted to The Daily
Show. Just as I've written before the Insomniac is the best show you aren't watching, Comedy Central is the
best cable channel you aren't watching.
I've been a fan since I moved into my first apartment and got cable. At the time the show was still new and
featured Craig Kilborn. Craig got his start on ESPN...although it must have been during my college years when
I didn't have cable because I don't remember him at all. Regardless he was great on show and I had to support
a good tall Minnesota boy.
However, when Jon Stewart took over in 1999, the show went from great to...well, even better than great!
Jon got his start on MTV, but has really found his niche on The Daily Show. He conducts interviews so well,
but he truly excels during the first part of the show. A little segment they like to call......... Headlines.
Wade is right, if you are going to watch any part of the show, make sure it's the first 10 minutes. Those 10
minutes are the most informative and funny (not necessarily in the order) 10 minutes in all of television.
And what other talk show has presidential candidates announce their candidacy (John Edwards), or have John
McCain show up and rip on Bush for 5 minutes.
The Daily Show under Jon Stewart has gone from a cute quirky show to this.
If you are too lazy to check the link, or it has expired, the highlights are:
A poll released earlier this year by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press found that 21 percent of people aged 18 to 29 cited "The Daily Show" and "Saturday Night Live" as a place where they regularly learned presidential campaign news.
By contrast, 23 percent of the young people mentioned ABC, CBS or NBC's nightly news broadcasts as a source.
As if to drive the Pew survey's point home, "The Daily Show" reached a ratings milestone during the two weeks of the Iowa caucus, New Hampshire primary and State of the Union address. For the first time, Stewart's show had more male viewers aged 18 to 34 than any of the network evening news shows.
Wow...I'm not sure if that's scary or not. But I think anything that gets people under 30 involved and paying
attention to politics can't be all bad.
While the show seems to be decidedly liberal, they are definitely non-partisan when it comes to poking fun. John
Kerry is a zombie...Dick Cheney is a cyborg. It's how Dennis Miller used to be before he became Bill O'Reilly's
best friend. Deliciously satirical.
And now, for your moment of zen.
What do you think? Drop us a line at webmaster@simpleprop.com and give us some
feedback. Maybe we'll even run your letters in future Gambits. 'The Daily Gambit' is updated every weekday.
