The Daily Show

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The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
Premiere July 22, 1996
Finale
Airs Monday-Thursday at 11PM
Creator Madeleine Smithberg
Lizz Winstead
Host Craig Kilborn (1996–1998)
Jon Stewart (1999–)
Network Comedy Central
Style 30-minute comedy news talk show
Company Viacom
Status Renewed through 2010
Origin USA

The Daily Show (1996—) is a 30-minute news program which focuses on satirizing and poking fun at current events. It airs on Comedy Central Monday through Thursday at 11:00PM EST with several repeats throughout the day. An "international" version also broadcasts weekly on CNN in Europe. The show also runs on the channel More4, based in the United Kingdom on Monday-Friday at 8:30PM GMT.

Contents

[edit] History

At its inception in 1996, the show was hosted by former ESPN SportsCenter anchor Craig Kilborn, who developed the news program as more of an entertainment gossip show. Kilborn often joked that he was playing the "enlightened frat boy" character. Despite this difference in tone, Kilborn pioneered many of the endearing qualities of the series including the basic format of headlines, fake "live" segments and the Moment of Zen. Kilborn also notably ended all of his interviews with Five Questions, which was pulled from a pick-up line he devised and later became the source behind the first Daily Show book. In 1998, Kilborn left the series to host The Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn and placed several of these concepts (including "Moment for Us") on embargo for use on his new show. After a four month hiatus, Kilborn was replaced by comedian and talk show host Jon Stewart.

Stewart took the series in a far more political direction. While Kilborn was the face of the previous three years, he did not write any of the material and, according to contributor Beth Littleford, was as "dumb as a post." Stewart, on the other hand, signed on as a co-executive producer and writer, as well as host. He focused the news content into sharper political satire rather than less sophisticated jokes that didn't probe the issue at hand. This new focus combined with in-depth Indecision 2000 election coverage caused the series to explode in popularity and critical acclaim.

The format for the series is generally static and has remained in the same for its entire tenure. The first block of the show is made up of what was once known as "Headlines," a brief run-down of some of the events of the day, often with commentary from a correspondent in a "live" setting (in actuality, they're a few feet from the desk in front of a green screen). The second block is typically taken up by a produced segment or a recurring bit like Back in Black or This Week in God. The third block is occupied by an interview with the night's guest.

This format isn't set in stone, however. The interview segment is occasionally extended into the second block, usually this happens when the interview has far more potential than any of the produced segments on hand or when the guest has a high degree of notoriety, like former presidents (Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter have both appeared), dignitaries (Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf) and controversial figures (Bernard Goldberg). The final minutes of the show are taken up lately by an occasional conversation between Stewart and Stephen Colbert, host of The Colbert Report (a Daily Show spin-off), through a fiberoptic link between their shows and, ultimately, the Moment of Zen.

The series has spun off two similar programs. The aforementioned Colbert Report was derived from a fake commercial in which Stephen Colbert played the role of a loud-mouthed pundit in the style of Bill O'Reilly. It began broadcasting in 2004. A second program, currently titled Important Things with Demetri Martin will be hosted by Demetri Martin and produced by Stewart's Busboy Productions Inc. Martin has occasionally filed reports as the show's "youth correspondent" on the recurring segment Trendspotting. Important Things is set to begin in the second half of 2008.

[edit] Seasons

Season Premiere Finale #
Comedy Central
1996 July 22, 1996 December 1996
1997 January 1997 December 1997
1998 January 5, 1998 December 17, 1998
1999 January 11, 1999 December 21, 1999 159
2000 January 5, 2000 December 21, 2000 160
2001 January 9, 2001 December 20, 2001 161
2002 January 8, 2002 December 19, 2002 160
2003 January 7, 2003 December 18, 2003 159
2004 January 6, 2004 December 16, 2004 162
2005 January 4, 2005 December 15, 2005 159
2006 January 4, 2006 December 20, 2005 161
2007 January 8, 2007 November 1, 2007 133
2008 January 7, 2008

[edit] Cast

Person Duration
Hosts
Craig Kilborn 1 2 3
Jon Stewart 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
Current Correspondents
Samantha Bee 8 9 10 11 12 13
Jason Jones 10 11 12 13
Aasif Mandvi 11 12 13
John Oliver 11 12 13
Rob Riggle 11 12 13
Larry Wilmore 11 12 13
Kristen Schaal 13
Wyatt Cenac 13
Current Contributors
Lewis Black 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
Demetri Martin 10 11 12 13
John Hodgman 11 12 13
Buck Henry 12 13
Past Correspondents
Michael Showalter 1
David Wain 1
Lizz Winstead 1 2
A. Whitney Brown 1 2 3
Brian Unger 1 2 3
Beth Littleford 1 2 3 4 5
Stephen Colbert 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
Laura Kightlinger 3
Mo Rocca 3 4 5 6 7 8
Denny Siegel 4
Vance Degeneres 4 5 6
Nancy Walls 4 5 6 7
Stacey Grenrock-Woods 4 5 6 7 8
Steve Carell 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Jerry Minor 5
Miriam Tolan 5 6
Matt Walsh 5 6 7
Eric Drysdale 6
David Pompeii 6
Lauren Weedman 6 7
Mary Birdsong 7
Adrianne Frost 7
Rachael Harris 7 8
Rob Corddry 7 8 9 10 11 12
Ed Helms 7 8 9 10 11
Jon Glaser 10
Nathan Corddry 10 11
Dan Bakkedahl 10 11 12
Past Contributors
John Bloom 1 2 3
Rich Brown 1 2 3
Frank DeCaro 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Paul F. Tompkins 3
Dave Attell 4 5 6 7
Andy Kindler 5
Bob Wiltfong 9 10

[edit] In-Depth

[edit] DVD Releases

Title Release Date #
Episode Collections
The Daily Show with Jon Stewart: Indecision 2004 June 28, 2005 3

[edit] External Sites



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