The Daily Show

[Samwise]

If Al Franken and Arnold Schwarzenegger can make it in politics, I see no reason Jon Stewart couldn't.  Shit, that might even be the thing to motivate the 20somethings to vote.

[schild]

A Stewart / Hitler ticker is more appealing than a Warren / (Bill) Clinton ticket. That's how awesome Stewart would be. #dontevencareaboutthegodwin

[Bzalthek]

I completely concur with Schild.  Not only is he funny, charismatic, and eloquent, the motherfucker is smart and quick witted.  I personally feel he'd be a great president.  But we all know that will never happen.

[CmdrSlack]

The man helped make Comedy Central what it is today. He spun off two shows. Three, if you count Oliver. I know it doesn't count, but it should given the whole substitute hosting thing.

He has helped develop and launch the careers of a lot of noteworthy comedians.

Motherfucker creates jobs. S'all I'm saying. It would not be a hard sell to get him elected. I just don't wish that shit on him.

[sickrubik]

Why would you not count Oliver?

[CmdrSlack]

Because it didn't make CC any money. He's a legit person to count if you just go on career-launching. That's my personal standard, but I guess I was being a bit serious/sarcastic about his creds to run a nation. (In a GOP messaging context.)

[Ironwood]

Fuck that, I want him to run for President. Not even the tiniest bit joking.

It would certainly be an interesting time.

[Jeff Kelly]

For the record, Maher is an insufferable, self-involved and righteous cunt that pretends to be 'liberal' while being openly anti-science and gleefully deciding who and what is 'right'. He's the kind of person die hard conservatives talk about when they mention 'political correctness gone awry' and 'liberal bias of the media' and he's at least as harmful as all of the conservative talking heads like Hannity, O'reilly et al.

Especially if you compare it to the likes of Colbert and Steward which could deliver equally biting commentary but were always compassionate and had empathy, something Maher completely lacks.

That Jon Stewart leaves is sad but I kind of expected it to happen after his sabbatical last year where he made his independent movie. Making 4 shows per week is a grind that'll wear anyone down and after the announcement I was kind of astonished to hear that he has been doing it for sixteen years already. Add to that the constant shuffling of chairs on the writer's team you have to deal with in all kinds of comedy settings and the subsequent need to scout and build up new talent to keep the show funny and fresh and I'm even more astonished that he could keep the quality of the show up for such a long time.

I guess the fact that a lot of senior talent left who where also close friends (Wyatt Cenac, Jon Oliver, Larry Willmore, several writers Steven Colbert as sparring partner) and the fact that he would have needed to yet again build up a new team of talent and writers made the decision easier.

If you compare shows from a few years ago to now you can actually see that he is a bit worn out, you can also hear it in his voice which sounds worn out and a bit 'shot'. He has earned a break several times over and I'm happy for him finally taking it even though I'm sad to see him go.

[Jeff Kelly]

I also cannot see anyone on staff at the Daily Show that has the chops to replace him. Most of the Daily Show staff are bit players that are great in small doses but too limited or to caught up in their schtick to carry even just 22 minutes without it quickly becoming very annoying. The only person that could have done it and who in fact proved that he could do it was Jon Oliver but he has his own show now and won't likely leave HBO, given the success of 'Last Week tonight'

[Lakov_Sanite]

How is Maher anti-science?  

[Jeff Kelly]

He only uses 'science' as a blanket argument to put other people down and only if scientific facts/results fit with his world view or argumentative approach and only if it is an easy way to make fun of people he already thinks are stupid anyway. He also chooses to ignore or disbelieve scientific facts or accuses scientists of bias or even lying if results collide with his own world view. He is picking and mixing results and flip flopping on 'science' to self affirm his own world view and make sure that he is 'right' and the people he disdains are 'wrong' regardless of actual scientific facts actually strengthening his case or not.

In his approach he is actually not that far removed from the people he hates, who also pick and mix science, conjecture, gut feelings, stereotypes and dogma (religious or otherwise) to construct their worldviews as if the whole human pool of knowledge, philosophical thought and religious dogma is just a kind of big 'all you can think' buffet.

He's essentially the same general character like the conservatives he hates, he just believes in different things he refuses to fully comprehend - his own kind of mashup of science, liberalism and atheism. He is also as irrationally angry and closed off if his world view and dogmatic beliefs get challenged in any way. Even if it is by scientiific facts.

So just because he accepts global warming and is not anti vaccination doesn't make his whole approach any less anti-science than 'you can't explain that' O'Reilly.

[Jeff Kelly]

TL;DR he uses 'science' in the same way as conservatives use 'the bible', dogmatically and selectively and with complete disregard of facts and human decency and only if it is useful to put people in their place. A dogmatist which by definition has no place in actual science.

[Lakov_Sanite]

What science is he actively against?

[K9]

What science is he actively against?

He's pretty firmly in the anti-vaxx camp, and RationalWiki lists him as disagreeing with germ theory. He's not a particularly useful proponent of anything, he's just a skilled polemicist.

Recent scienceblogs article on Bill Maher

[Lantyssa]

Consider the fact that he's buddies with Coulter.  One is left-leaning and one is right-leaning, but they probably have more in common than not.

[HaemishM]

I'm fine with just saying that Maher is an unlikable dick and leaving it at that. 

[Lakov_Sanite]

Wow, I hadn't watched Maher in ages and he used to seem reasonable.  Good to know he's gone off the deep end into bizarro celeb world.

[sickrubik]

Wow, I hadn't watched Maher in ages and he used to seem reasonable.  Good to know he's gone off the deep end into bizarro celeb world.

He's always been anti-vaxx. It's just come back out with all the measels shit. It's always been the main thing he's driven me up the wall about.

He's also anti-gmo and has teetered on the edge of just being straight-up complete conspiracy theorist.

So just because he accepts global warming and is not anti vaccination doesn't make his whole approach any less anti-science than 'you can't explain that' O'Reilly.

He's very much anti-vax.

[Tebonas]

Edit: Woops, wrong forum. Lets just say Ani-Vax and Anti-GMO are not comparable viewpoints and leave it at that outside of the Politics forum.

[sickrubik]

I wasn't comparing them. I was listing them.

[calapine]

The new Fergussion Police department building as seen in their latest show looked awfully familiar to me:









It's the Neue Burg, part of the Hofburg, in Vienna. 

[kaid]

What science is he actively against?

Just watch any of his shows when he starts talking about drugs/vaccinations/diet and you will see him flying off the rails into crazy town pretty fast.

[Ironwood]

Well, that was a hugely uncomfortable interview.

[Ironwood]

That's an interesting choice.

Trevor Noah has been selected to become the next host of the Emmy® and Peabody® Award-winning The Daily Show.



Noah joined The Daily Show in 2014 as a contributor. He made his U.S. television debut in 2012 on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and has also appeared on Late Show with David Letterman, becoming the first South African stand-up comedian to appear on either late night show. Noah has hosted numerous television shows including his own late night talk show in his native country, Tonight with Trevor Noah.

[Tebonas]

Ah, thats why they featured him in the "Tonight Show without Jon Steward" podcast. Makes sense now.

[Ironwood]

I love the guy, but I'm not sure.  I kinda have to ask myself 'Would you be sure of ANYONE that wasn't JS' and I can honestly say 'Yes, there were a couple of names, but they weren't likely to happen' so I guess I'll just suck it and see for a while.

[schild]

I'm sorry, but if you're gonna say half the shit Jon Stewart gets away with you have to be a white jew.

I know that limits their option pool, but it's gonna have to be a completely different show with a biracial south african.

[Ironwood]

Yeah, but I'm not sure it would work putting someone NOT JS in there and having the show do the same JS stuff.  It would be epic fail.

So, yeah, I'm agreeing with you.  Hmmm.

[schild]

Though not Jewish, my top choice would've been Rob Riggle.

[Ironwood]

It's interesting to me that all those that I would have considered from the 'team' are all now away doing other shows, or just plain don't want to do it.

It's really odd how quickly it exploded really.

[schild]

I'm pretty sure the show is just dead. Replacing Jon Stewart is too much to ask of anybody. There just aren't many people out there that are part-Seinfeld, part-politlco, part-news anchor to fill the slot. It'll hobble along for a few seasons after this, but I'm pretty sure in 5 years we will no longer have a Daily Show to watch, which is a shame.

[Ironwood]

Maybe not but at least Oliver is killing it.  The piece about Police Fines was truly awesome work.

[Malakili]

I was hoping for Jessica Williams, but this seems fine.  John Stewart can not be replaced, but Noah has a chance of doing a decent job with a show.

[HaemishM]

I don't have enough of a body of work on Noah to make any judgments. I thought Jason Jones would have been a good one but he's fucked off now as well.

[Jeff Kelly]

Interestingly enough we'd probably have said the same about Oliver if he wouldn't have had the opportunity to guest host during Jon Stewarts absence. I guess before that opportunity most people would have said he isn't cut out to do it. (maybe except for those that listen to his podcast "The Bugle").

With him though it would have had a chance to work. He has proven himself to be able to fill Jon's shoes and people seemed to like his stint as guest host. He's stated time and again though that he wouldn't want to do it because he isn't interested in the daily grind of putting out 4 episodes a week. So "Last week tonight" is probably the best fit for him and he's killing it so everything turned out to be alright.

I wonder why no one else of the cast was considered or if they even put their names in. The probably best thing they could have done was to give everyone the opportunity to act as host to see how they'd fare and to judge audience reaction. That assumes of course that anyone of the current cast was even interested in stepping up. I guess a few of them were more comfortable with their role as writer and occcasional bit player than with the prospect of running the day to day business and managing a writer's room.

My guess would be that Oliver was as much a key person for the success of the Daily Show as Jon Stewart and that the prospect of losing both - and Larry Wilmore taking over Colbert's slot - was the sign for anyone else to jump ship as well.

Which will make things even more interesting since we not only have a new host but also a completely new writer's room as well. This could actually be an advantage if he's up to it and they are able to gather enough talent. Most likely though it will suffer from being 'not Jon Stewart' enough so that people lose interest.