The Daily Show/Bart Ehrman (March 14, 2006)

Bart Ehrman
Rob debates whether to add chicken blood, donkey feces, fox semen or rasberry jam to his devotional portrait of the Virgin Mary
Airdate	March 14, 2006
Production Number	11033
Guest(s)	Bart Ehrman
March 13, 2005 Eric Burns	March 15, 2005 Natalie Portman
The Daily Show — 2006

This is the 33rd episode of the 2006 season of The Daily Show.

Guest Stars: Bart Ehrman (Guest), Paul Hackett (Himself), Hank Sheinkopf (Himself)

Episode Overview

Segments

Recurring Segments

• Indecision 2008: Poll Dance - With less than 1,000 days to the 2008 presidential election, it's the perfect time to ask: who's got next? Well after the first straw poll by GOP activists, the surprise winner was Bill Frist wtih 37% of the vote. No surprise, however, was the poor performance of Congressman Taxhike Gay Sexington.

• This Week in God: Blasphemy Edition, Rob Corddry - The recent cartoons of Muhammad and subsequent violence raise the question - what is blasphemy, and how do you know if you've blasphemed? But consdering that even thinking about Muhammad with the wrong expression on your face can get your ass handed to you from Khartoum to Kuala Lumpur, let's just leave Islam out of this. Moving on... Christianity make the consequences of blasphemy quite clear, with punishment of death and stoning. What's unclear is why an all-powerful, all-knowing, all-seeing deity needs mortals to hand out this punishment, but of course asking that would be heresy, so that will be left for next week's This Week in God.

Correspondent Piece

• Couldn't Hackett, Ed Helms (produced by: Jim Margolis, edited by: Mark Paone) - Democrat Paul Hackett is outspoken, believes in what he says, and is willing to fight for what he believes... and there's his problem right there. It's no wonder he was asked by Democratic Senators Chuck Shumer and Harry Reid, and others, to get out of the race for Senator in Ohio. Helms turns to Democratic strategist Hank Sheinkopf who notes that Democrats are in the business of winning elections - and boy is business booming! So Helms provides Hackett with a few tips on how to zaz it down, and lose the emotion, in order to become a more electable Democrat.

Guest

Tonight's guest is Bart Ehrman, author of Misquoting Jesus: The Story Behind Who Changed the Bible and Why. They talk about the way the Bible had changed over years, stories that were added, and how Bibles get into all the hotel rooms.

Checking in With Colbert

Colbert talks about what's on tap for 11:30, promoting every show but his own. Apparently he doesn't need it as he "keeps his peeps".

Moment of Zen

Several clips of John McCain, saying: "I believe that the President of the United States did exactly the right thing", "The President deserved better", "Stay behind the President on this", "Anybody who says that the President of the United States is lying about weapons of mass destruction is lying".

Reviews

1. Despite a lackluster Indecision 2008 segment, tonight's show still receives high marks do to a funny This Week in God and better than average interview... but the real gem of the show was Helms' Couldn't Hackett piece. Only the Daily Show can make fun of everything wrong with the Democratic party and still be hilarious at the same time. Grade: A- --Indecision 04:14, 16 March 2006 (EST)