The Daily Show with Jon Stewart

The Daily Show is celebrating 10 years with Jon Stewart as host this month, which seems amazing to me — I remember watching some of his earliest shows when I was still in high school! Variety has some awesome coverage of Stewart's anniversary, including a list of some of the most important moments in Daily Show history.

Most important is one thing — but what about funniest or most memorable? I've been looking up some of my favorite Daily Show moments of the past decade, including Stewart's interviews with Sandra Bullock, his Bush vs. Bush debate, and Rob Corddry's amazing "We Didn't Start the Fire"-style explanation of the Judith Miller case. What moments stand out most to you?

Photo courtesy of Comedy Central

Here's some news for lovers of "news": The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and The Colbert Report will both return to air Jan. 7. The two hosts issued a statement on Thursday saying: "We would like to return to work with our writers. If we cannot, we would like to express our ambivalence, but without our writers we are unable to express something as nuanced as ambivalence."

The striking Writers Guild of America issued a statement accusing Comedy Central of forcing the shows back on the air and said the result will be a lower-quality program. Comedy Central had no comment.

Colbert and Stewart, who are both Writers Guild members, will be improvising their interviews and other content, and it's not clear whether or how they'll produce other taped segments. Most likely, they'll need to rely more on interviews — which is a gray area itself for all the late-night hosts, since many potential guests are wary of crossing picket lines.

Does it bug you that Stewart and Colbert will be coming back despite the strike? Or do you think it's a good move?

Photos courtesy of Comedy Central

Have a hankering to watch every Louis Black rant in the history of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart? Or want to reminisce about Bob Dole's surprisingly hilarious Indecision 2004 commentary? Your dream has come true.

Today marks the launch of TheDailyShow.com, a video archive of every Daily Show clip ... ever. So far, more than 7,000 clips are online, and by the end of the year, more than 13,000 clips will be archived on the site, stretching all the way back to when the show was anchored by Craig Kilborn.

So far, you can watch clips from 1999 forward (the whole Jon Stewart era), though it seems like some things are still being uploaded; almost 2,000 clips have been added between when I first looked at the site this morning and right now. The first vintage clip I had to find? This 2004 Ed Helms story about the Cooter Festival in Inverness, Florida. What classic Daily Show clips will you look up over and over again?

By the way, Jon Stewart just renewed his Daily Show contract through 2010. Sorry, NBC — looks like he's staying put.

Photo courtesy of Comedy Central

And I'm not even kidding! This announcement is as serious as anything can be in Colbert's world of baby eagles, bridges and Ben & Jerry's: Colbert has thrown his hat into the ring into the race for president — or, at least, the primary election in his home state of South Carolina. He hedged on the announcement early last night on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, but after careful consideration, he decided to make his run official on "a more prestigious show" — his own.

It's hard not to notice that Colbert has devoted these past few weeks to the traditional path of a presidential candidate: releasing a high-profile book, writing an op-ed for the New York Times, and even hinting to Larry King that he might want the nomination. And lucky for us, he's promised not to give up his day job.

Hey, if anyone's going to make a mockery of our political system, it might as well be this guy. To watch Colbert's announcement — in which he's showered by red, white, and blue balloons while text proclaiming "I'm Doing It!" flashes on the screen — as well as his hedging earlier in the night on The Daily Show, just read more

When "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" correspondent Rob Riggle reports on the Iraq war tonight, the segment will be a little different from Riggle's typical dispatches on "Mess O'Potamia." This time, Riggle will actually be reporting from Iraq.

Riggle, who was a major in the U.S. Marine Corps before becoming one of the "Daily Show"'s funny guys, recently spent five days with troops in Iraq as part of a USO comedy tour. While there, he and a "Daily Show" writer and producer gathered video footage to use on the show this week — the first time the show has reported from Iraq.

War is, obviously, a serious matter, so where's the funny part? Mostly, the reports will be making fun of Riggle and his adventures while overseas. "Of course what's going on is serious, and we take it very seriously," Riggle told the Hollywood Reporter. "Any humor we did, it's on me being an idiot. We know where the line is."

With embedded reporters and interviews with presidential candidates, the fake-news show is starting to look more and more like a real news outlet. I'm curious to see what Riggle has to say about Iraq now that he's seen the war up close.

Photo courtesy of Comedy Central

The news: NBC's new head of programming, Ben Silverman, recently wined and dined Jon Stewart and his agent, saying that if everyone's favorite "news"man ever became free, he'd be interested in doing business.

Could it happen? Quite possibly. Stewart's "Daily Show" contract is up in 2008. NBC should have an open late-night slot in 2009 if it goes through with its plans to have Conan O'Brien take over "The Tonight Show." Though late night seems like the most obvious place for Stewart, NBC also could try wooing him for prime time.

The good: Jon Stewart on network TV = more Jon Stewart for everyone. Plus, a late-night lineup of Conan followed by Jon would be amazing.

The bad: While Stewart wasn't the original host of "The Daily Show," he built it into must-see TV, and I have a hard time imagining the show without him now.

The bottom line: Any change is a while off at this point — plenty of time for more talks and for Comedy Central to groom a "Daily Show" correspondent to take over if Stewart did decide to leave.

Source