His stand up is laugh out loud funny to me, but his stuff on TDS was weak and silly.
I’m with eleanorigby, the guys a snide prick.
This is too funny, but only because I caught a very old Spin City this morning with a much younger Stephen Colbert in it. He had a significant role in the episode I saw, but not a regular one, and I just looked at him and looked at him and the whole time I’m thinking, “Is that…?”
Here you go: The Competition (1996)
Interesting Guest list that show:
Jennifer Garner … Becky
Edward I. Koch … Speaker Rosen
Is this a whoosh, please? (forgive me, it’s late, it’s Friday, I’ve had a helluva week).
re: OP. I agree. I mainly watch Jon’s first bit, and if the guest is interesting, that.
I think it is. I attempted to fully process the post, but my brain came dangerously close to overheating.
It was a joke playing off the quoted joke of “I really miss that Steve Carrell guy. Whatever became of him, did he just fade into oblivion?”
Steve Carrell is of course starring in “The Office” and has had several hit movies.
I got your’s, What Exit, but there are people out there that don’t get Col-bert.
I’m a little hesitant to say it, but Jon Stewart isn’t very good these days. I caught his first show of 2009 and it was awful - I thought - as were so many of his shows late last year.
The lousier the material, the louder he shouts,and the more he mugs. And he’s been doing a lot of shouting, mugging, looking cute.
IMO, he needs a staff of new writers.
BTW, I used to love his show, and still think he’d be perfect for Meet the Press.
His first show back was definitely weak. I like the show still, but that wasn’t a high note to come back on. Comparatively, Colbert just destroyed with bringing Colmes on.
Neither Samantha Bee nor Jason Jones have ever been funny to me. John Hodgman’s books make me laugh out loud and want to bear his round-headed children, but his TDS appearances are always disappointingly flat – I guess his work is just funnier when you read it in capslocked almanac style. I loved Rob Riggle and miss him already. I thought his physical/goofy sense of humor was a refreshing change from everyone else’s arch irony. (Plus, he’s hot.) Of the remaining correspondents, Larry Wilmore is my favorite, and Wyatt Cenac seems like he’ll be great once he gets a little more polished.
For me, Hodgeman is best on TDS–his books are unreadable for me (and unfunny. Too ponderous, too heavy handed).
I like Wyatt and agree he has yet to find his niche. I doubt I’ll ever tire of Stewart and his take on the day’s headlines. Sometimes he does mug etc and it gets irksome, but last night, he skewered the media so well. I also thought he was deservedly rough with Dana White House chick/spokeswoman–she’s s piece of work.
I didn’t see the first show of the 2009.
I do miss Carrell–he’s brilliant in all he does.
I tend to watch The Word for Colbert and turn it off–I don’t like that he stays “in character” for his interviews. So many of his guests just don’t get it. And gotcha comedy gets old after a bit. He would do better if he informed his guests ahead of time that he will stay in character. His interview with Lawrence Lessig could have been much better.
He does.
I don’t know if Samantha Bee is funny. I do know that she doesn’t make up her parts, the show’s writers do. And I know that the writers can’t write for her worth a damn. Women apparently baffle them.
Whether she could do better with better material is an interesting question. But no women could make her bits as funny as the other correspondents’ bits.
Yes. I whooshed. Glad I fished at least one in. My day is made.
Further, while he caught his guests off guard when he first started, by now he’s so well known that you have to be really clueless to be thrown by him (and some guests still are). What I see more often these days are guests who just totally roll with Stephen’s craziness (and thus make an awesome segment) or have a Message that they try to bull through despite Stephen trying to drag them off track.
My favorite part of that interview:
Perino: “We’re proud of what we accomplished.”
Stewart: “…Why?”
No fan of Jones (except for this trip to Wasilla right before the election) or Bee (she has decent moments more often, but not much more often - however, again back to the Sarah-cuda, when Palin was picked as VP, having Sam get on and discuss how, regardless of Palin’s politics, she was voting for her as a fellow “Vagina American” was hilarious - and yes, I know Bee is Canadian - it was still funny!)
Enjoy Oliver, Mandvi, Cenac (for a noob), Hodgman (enough), Wilmore (I really enjoy) - not for any of the cringe-in-the-street stuff, though - I wish they’d do away with those…
But, yeah, I 'm with the OP…
Dislike: Cenac (he doesn’t seem very polished), Jones, Bee
Like: Everyone else. I’ll miss Riggle.
In order of funniness:
John Oliver
Larry Wilmore
Wyatt Cenac
Aasif Mandvi / Rob Riggle
John Hodgeman
Jason Jones
Lewis Black
Kristen Schaal
Samantha Bee
And the all time funniest is: Stephen Colbert
The Daily Show unfortunately suffers from the same problem SNL does: if the correspondent is actually talented, they’ll soon leave the show for better-paying gigs. Of course, if they really suck, they’ll get tossed off pretty quick too. That means the ones who hang around either really really really love the show or are too mediocre to get better offers or be fired.