"The Daily Show"......isn't as funny lately.

[ClusterFreak]

I dunno, comedy is a subjective thing, but Jon and TDS are losing me. It's been a slow but steady drip drip kind of thing. It's not so much Jon's opening 8 to 10 minutes...it's the correspondents. The bits they do anymore are mostly self-indulgent tripe, IMO. Did anyone see Dan Bakkedahl's bit tonight? What the fuck was that? The latest bit about a correspondent's New Year's Resolution (self-indulgent hyper-silliness in it's own right) was utterly stupid. Dan tries to put his fist in his mouth, because he's inspired to by watching a snake trying to devour a huge egg on tv? I won't go on and on about this, it just seems the Daily Show needs to get back to basics. Sharpen up Jon's "headlines" opening segment, and send your correspondents out to cover nutjobs running for mayors of small backwoods towns again, all the while mocking their value system without them clueing in!! That kind of stuff. Also, we need a serious Lewis Black injection....and for Samantha Bee to return from maternity leave.

Still, the show beats 95 percent of the other stuff on tv these days which tries to pass itself off as comedy.

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

1. Jon seems less funny to me too... show misses Colbert, too.

[EstimatedProphet]

2. It still has its moments-remember the Taint?

I think they're still adjusting to losing Colbert

[ClusterFreak]

3. I remember.

That's the kind of self-indulgent stuff I'm talking about though. I'm no prude, I wasn't offended, I just thought the joke went on and on way too long. Again, it's subjective, and only my personal view. The show notoriously indulges in sexual innuendo, but know when the joke is over, that's all I'm saying.

[EstimatedProphet]

9. I disagree with you there

I thought that bit in particular was damn near perfect.

[bridgit]

4. i'm glad they've brought John Hodgman on for segments...

http://www.tmbw.net/wiki/index.php/John_Hodgman he's funny :D

[jane_pippin]

7. Isn't he fantastic! I love seeing him on the show. n/t

[peekaloo]

10. I love that guy.

I also like Bakkendahl's wry humor but fail to find Jason Jones or for that matter Nate Corddry all that engaging or amusing.

Hire more women writers/correspondents dammit!

[DS1]

13. Yes! That's just the person who I was going to mention

He's got a great quirkiness about him, and now I know his name

[tuvor]

5. They need more "This Week in God".

Rob Corddry was filling Colbert's shoes nicely in that segment.

[jane_pippin]

6. I think part of it is that it's not an election year--the Indecision stuff

is always the best, I think.

It does seem sort of flat lately, but I still think its far more funny than not. Part of it has to be adjusting to Colbert leaving, and I think Lewis Black is on tour. (He's coming here soon, so I assume he's touring around.)
Also, I think the correspondent New Year's stuff is supposed to be self indulgent tripe since what they are doing a parody of is the zenith of self important tripe. (Where in the World is Matt Lauer, much?) And, The Colbert Report is not only new, it's also able to be way more over the top than TDS because Colbert's playing a character and with a character based on that nutjob O'Rielly, I think they get to play around a little more. The Daily Show is limited in that Jon is Jon, not a character, and they're skewering the mainstream media more than anything else which again, is in some ways limiting because where Colbert gets to play with a whole ideology and the style of a cable news show, TDS only gets to mimic "objective" journalism. (Which of course gets a sharp pin poked in it as they do it.) That's a completely different kind of challenge.

So, I see your point but encourage you to hang in there. Mid-terms aren't so far away. :D

[ClusterFreak]

12. I think you're right about the Indecision stuff...

When you've got idiot politicians lying and bumbling their way through an election campaign, the comedy writes itself. Truly, the show is at it's very best when the news of the day is at it's most outrageous.

[tallahasseedem]

8. I agree...

It has been flat lately. If you cruise over to GD there is a raging debate going on because he dared to make fun of Cindy Sheehan. Apparently, that is a huge no-no.

[ClusterFreak]

14. She's not above reproach.

Her hugging of Hugo Chavez is proof enough of that. I saw that clip tonight on TDS for the first time. Blew. Me. Away. We all can't stand Bush, she righteously loathes him. So why cozy up to Hugo Chavez? Makes no sense.

[0007]

11. It has its up & downs from time to time. I do agree it is a little

stale with all the racy headliners going down these days.

[DS1]

15. Here's a tip. No more Presidential Historians. They are boring.

Even Mo Rocca just got annoying with his inflated ego.

[Fenris]

17. I agree, and I'm a history major.

:boring:

[liberalpragmatist]

16. It's been going thru a slightly stale phase right now

Still some really funny segments. Partly is because overall it's kind of a slow news cycle. Sure, things are happening, but it's not quite so much right now as earlier.

I agree with you about the new correspondents. Some of them may get better as they grow into the show, but whatever.

[Benfea]

18. The correspondents never did it for me.

I just watch for the opening monologue and the interview at the end.