The Late Show with Stephen Colbert (2015-????)

CBS is rolling out all the platforms for the show today, including this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rFtam2eAkfo

The continued bits of shaven beard falling on the hot dog is grossing me out, but that's probably intended.
Sort of a weird tone about the whole thing, though. If this show ends up completely low-key and strange like Craig Ferguson's show was, I'll love it!

Also, some podcasts.

lol

https://www.yahoo.com/tv/stephen-colbert-late-show-video-david-letterman-120634160835.html

d'oh sorry

tone is v Strangers w Candy so = YES

this is going to suck

My hopes and dreams of They Might Be Giants as The Late Show house band are dead. Jon Batiste is cool, though.

http://time.com/3907726/jon-batiste-bandleader-stephen-colbert/

huh. something about him has always bugged me, but i look forward to seeing lots of New Orleans musicians on, hopefully.

https://twitter.com/kylebuchanan/status/606538376242528256

And Conan's bandleader is Italian and Kimmel's is Latino.

The last new host younger than Letterman/Conan to have a white bandleader was Carson Daly—that was Joe Firstman—and he was HORRIBLE. I'm all for affirmative action in late night band hiring, because we've seen the alternative and the alternative is not good.

Oh wait, I completely forgot about Seth Meyers and his band of 90s indie rock burnouts (+ Marnie Stern) who play the limpest rejoinder music on tv.

Fred Armisen is all races

you misspelled RAPISTS

i can def. imagine someone in HR hiring fred armisen and then joyously ticking off every box on the "diversity in the workplace" survey.

http://morningafter.gawker.com/stephen-colbert-paints-his-nails-talks-to-eminem-on-pu-1715231700

8^O

The colbert public access thing was good, esp liked the news item on the local yelp beef

I would rather watch him interview local nobodies instead of celebrities.

It could have taken a mean turn but he did a good job keeping the show human and giving the guests space to have fun with the thing too. He seems like a pretty generous-spirited guy.

http://www.gq.com/story/stephen-colbert-gq-cover-story

why do writers exist

We were talking about the logistics involved in pulling off something like this, and how great it felt for him to be improvising in front of a camera again, and the curious tensions that popped up in his interview with Eminem. And then we got onto the subject of discomfort and disorientation, and the urge he has to seek out those feelings, and from there it was a quick jump to the nature of suffering. Before long we were sitting there with a plate of roast chicken and several bottles of Cholula on the table between us, both of us rubbing tears from our eyes.

Ten years ago, the country was palpably more afraid and angry.

haha waht

that's probably true

In 2005 9/11 was a much fresher and more frightening memory and the ongoing catastrophe that was the Iraq war gave plenty of cause for anger.

it SHOULD be fucking terrified right now

That's a hard way to live, morbs. There are too many terrors to take them all into account all the time, and most people are grateful to have a few days of respite from them, even if it is by turning a blind eye.

why do writers exist

whatever, it's a good article

fluffy

kinda weird to watch his first show because usually first shows (and first weeks and months) kinda suck for late night guys, but i've been watching colbert for so long that it's tough to give him the new guy break. show had it's moments, good and bad.

lol at jeb! but that was gonna be lol no matter what

ITS

his logo looks like the 700 club or something

Seems like it's about half Colbert Report and half typical network late night show. Works for me.

forgot it was tonight

the non colbert report parts were pretty awk though it feels like he had a lot of meetings with very panicky cbs execs who don't know how to function in this strange jimmy fallon world

i know it'll get better but yeesh

turned it off during jeb that was tough to watch

Eh, I thought he handled the parts of the show that he's not been doing for the last 9 years already pretty well. Clooney's not traditionally a great talk show guest (he seems like one on paper, but in reality he's kind of a stiff). Jeb! Bush was as disengaged and awkward as I'd expected he would be, so no surprise there. Stephen may handle the interview segments better when he has guests that better fit what he's going for.

i generally detest Clooney's personality, but he had a fine moment on Letterman once. "...We're doing Ocean's 12.... (big grin) Because Solaris bombed."

I liked the bit where he paid tribute to "the man who has owned that stage for the last 22 years...I'm talking about Biff Henderson".

I remember during that awesome last Tom Waits performance hoping the moment wasn't ruined for Dave because he was handcuffed to George Clooney

It was a good show. The Trump and Jeb bits could've run as is on the Report. I don't get people who immediately write him off because he's on a network now, or act like network comedy is somehow always inherently inferior to cable. I'm seeing that on Twitter about Colbert's show and it's just kind of silly.

Yeah, I mean he's at 11:30 on a broadcast network and going against The Tonight Show and Jimmy Kimmel. CBS isn't going to allow him to go full Colbert with the position he's in. Should they? Yes. But they aren't going to.

I really hope the first half of the show is spent at the desk every night Report-style. If that sticks, the rest is gravy.

If there's one thing I think they should be OK dropping, it's the standing bit at the start.

Unless he continues to spot his turns like that.

Caught the end of this, it was pretty entertaining. Fun music performance at the end. I like the 'new' character.

I did like Clooney's fake movie skits, it kind of felt like something Letterman would have done.

Since all of my reality seems to be on a 20 hour tape delay I'm just watching this now. I like that the band leader plays a melodica.

Hoo boy, second night was a little bit rougher.

Kendrick fucking slayed it though!

Yes and yes.

I just watched Kendrick's performance and holy shit

the sketchy CBS stream i was using blew up just before he came on so i missed it.

It was on the Kendrick thread, I'll repost because it should really be put on every thread (and also every music school's curriculum):

http://pitchfork.com/news/61137-kendrick-lamar-performs-to-pimp-a-butterfly-medley-on-late-show-with-stephen-colbert/

that may be a candidate for Is there such thing as a good medley? !

I could not help but contrast that performance against a sixth installment of two dweebs purporting to teach the history of rap.

wow that was nuts

(TV nerdery: Some really nice editing and shot selections throughout, too.)

Yeah, the low-shot from behind Lamar, looking at the ceiling, that one will be used again on this show.

I hope sparingly.

I dunno, they seem pretty proud of that ceiling.

his habit of interrupting guests was cute, or at least made sense, when he was in character as right-wind blowhard "Stephen Colbert"

but it just seems like a nervous habit no. I think Scarlett Johansson actually had to say something like "I was saying..." twice.

the segment w/ clooney was an odd situation where two very smart people, who you'd think would be good talkers, failed to find any way of engaging meaningfully, or even entertainingly, with each other.

i'm guessing he'll look over his performance and course correct. because i doubt too many guests are going to want to come on his show only to be talked over every time colbert thinks he has something clever to add.

i found watching the interview segments a little uncomfortable, in the way that watching any interaction where one person isn't following the "rules" of conversational turns-taking is a little uncomfortable. maybe as a teacher i'm hyper-conscious of this stuff. and it might just be first-week nerves. (lord knows when i'm nervous i tend to talk over people.)

His desk is too big to do interviews there. They need a separate nook with two chairs or something like the Report had. With that desk, the guest feels a mile away.

otm. Set should be more like this:
https://41.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lr52vz6yrp1r2i7nxo1_500.jpg

or this:
https://31.media.tumblr.com/adb03c3fcdb978f528045631357b4729/tumblr_n6rrgrtJyl1td73xio1_400.gif

http://www.blazermediagroup.com/images/susskindBrooks.jpg

he interrupted biden horribly a couple of times

generally enjoying this though

he interrupted biden horribly a couple of times

He did, but he also gave him long periods of time to go full Joe Biden.

Even the interview with the Uber guy was a lot more competent than the one with Elon Musk the night before. I guess there's gonna be up nights and down nights for a while until everyone settles in, but the difference between Wednesday night's show and Thursday night's show was huge.

I'm never gonna see this show (my job requires me to get up at 5:30 AM, so watching late night talk shows would be out of the question even if I wanted to), but the story behind that Uber interview is interesting.

Whoa.

That's great. Has Colbert always been a great human being? I bet he'll write an incredible memoir one day.

he's been really grossly smarmy in interviews, i find it really off putting. intermittently there will be a jolt of old colbert but otherwise he's so overly gushing. it's bad.

so the CBS computers kept crashing as they were editing Tuesday night, and premiere almost didn't air on time. That woulda been nagl.

all shows take some time to find themselves, sez me who hasn't seen a minute of this

intermittently there will be a jolt of old colbert but otherwise he's so overly gushing

I'm sure they're all trying to make a point and they want those not familiar with Colbert to see him as an approachable friendly person. But Fallon's got the ass-kissing nice guy market cornered so it'd be better for Colbert to continue playing the smartest guy in the room.

xp That's true, and I'm sure the show will find a nice groove before long.

I think the thing that's making me most uncomfortable about it is the set. There's way too much going on. Catwalks, spiral staircases, nooks and coves and a smaller-than-usual alley between the desk set and the band set where the monologue takes place. It feels claustrophobic and maze-like.

maybe Colbert will be the one to take down Trump. guesting later in sept

he's been really grossly smarmy in interviews, i find it really off putting. intermittently there will be a jolt of old colbert but otherwise he's so overly gushing. it's bad.

― J0rdan S., Friday, September 11, 2015 10:36 AM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yeah i think i get this. like during the jeb interview he said something like "there is a non-zero chance that i would vote for you" and then said nearly the same thing in the thursday night monologue. also maybe a calculated attempt to distance the new character from the old but definitely self-important/off putting.

He also said "On the last show I played a narcissistic conservative, now I just play a narcissist."

That non-zero chance bit is a favorite with some engineer types. But negative numbers are also non-zero.

i'm not asking him to be letterman or something but i feel like colbert swung hard back in the other direction and it really doesn't even seem genuine to me. i dunno maybe i'm just being really coldhearted but the solemness of the biden interview was laid on soooooooo thick.

but also like, he had on the uber guy and started off by telling this glowing story about the first time he got an uber, it was just weird and uncrticial and based in the sort of fantasy land that colbert existed to puncture! with fallon it's one thing because he came from a different arm of comedy, there should not really be an expectation of him doing prickly interviews that might actually illuminate an issue relevant to the world. and fallon doesn't even really have those sorts of people on. but colbert has purposefully loaded his first week with politicians and businessmen who to some extent control the future of the world and to what end has that produced literally anything worthwhile? to bring those people on and then kiss their ass really serves no purpose. if you're gonna do the happy go lucky late night thing just have on celebrities and keep it moving.

Nah you can still celeb pander and hold a network talk show wo stooping to Fallon levels of grovelling.

maybe Kissinger on his CC show was an omen

was deeply moving to see biden struggle with his grief.

sorry, that wasn't in response to anything above, just a stray note.

Not sure I see an issue with Colbert being acerbic with a politician on the campaign trail, empathetic with a public figure undergoing grief, and nonsensical with movie stars who don't have anything to promote.

he wasn't acerbic with jeb bush though -- he told him he might vote for him!!

In the same sense Jim Carrey has a chance with Lauren Holly in Dumb and Dumber.

And I see him inviting entrepreneurs onto this high-profile first week as a move toward elevating them to celebrity status, and surreptitiously cutting business-as-usual movie stars down to size (tho mentioning Darfur to Clooney and then not giving him a chance to actually say anything about it was nagl).

Also, that Kendrick Lamar set.

the biden thing, whatever. i dunno. it wasn't the subject of the interview but the fawning. he kept saying things like "service to your country" that just give me the willies

But I'll grant that we're asking for some level of personality consistency from the man behind the desk because that's almost literally the only one important thing a late show host has to provide.

Somehow it passed me by until now that Colbert teaches Sunday School. Is that a detail that was fed to the media in this image makeover campaign?

xp yeah during the jeb interview there was a point where he was really needling him about his motto in a funny way and walked him right into a huge laugh line but then the rest of the interview was like, "jeb i feel like you can fix the scourge of partisanship in washington"

I didn't get that sense (e.g. "you do know Vito Corleone was the villain right?") but then again I know plenty of people who think Colbert dumping a vat Sabra hummus over Jeb's head would've been a fair and balanced interview.

i guess i'm not looking for him to necessarily filet the guy, i think the bigger problem is that his serious questions aren't even interesting. to jeb: "why do you want to be president?" to biden: "how did your faith help you?"

Somehow it passed me by until now that Colbert teaches Sunday School. Is that a detail that was fed to the media in this image makeover campaign?

This is way old news. He's a super-active Catholic and he's been teaching Sunday School at least since his time on The Daily Show.

It does seem like he needs to relearn the art of non-arch interviewing skills.

Or, you know, just admit that "Colbert" was really Colbert and go back to playing each and every one of his interview subjects for fools.

i guess he was just thanking Joe for writing the Patriot Act?

http://www.buzzfeed.com/andrewkaczynski/surveillance-joe#.neNXawxbd

I'm sorry his son died. He's as big a shit as Jeb.

it was kind of a weird choice to make. to make it the saddest interview with a vice-president in history. i'm sure biden would have yucked it up about the presidential race if colbert had wanted to.

he'll be back if the Dem dons draft him to torpedo Sanders.

xp yeah & it's not like his son died *super* recently? we've seen biden perform his grief. whatever a lot of people thought it was compelling. the angle i see in that conceptually is that colbert and biden both lost several members of their families in an accident but biden was the one who had to even make that connection known

"Colbert" was such an extremely well-defined character, but if you've seen non-Report interviews he's done with Neil deGrasse Tyson and Oprah and Letterman and whoever else, you realize the differences between the character and the real Colbert are so small. "Colbert" is more like hard liquor, and Colbert is like a glass of lemonade. Both drinks, each leaves you feeling different afterwards.

Love the phrase "a lot of people." It's so exactly how it sounds.

xp yeah & it's not like his son died *super* recently?

I know, right? That was all the way back on May 30th! That was eons ago here on Internet World!

yeah, we've all seen you perform your grief, biden, give us something new!

yeah, i can have deep reservations about biden as a politician and public figure and still empathize with his grief. there's a mirror neuron thing happening there, you see his face crumple and it's hard not to moved.

no father should bury his son, it's a horrible thing. biden has some real responsibility for that happening to many other fathers, as he voted for the second iraq war.

Imagining that as a follow-up question right now. It's playing weird.

I only learned yesterday that Colbert lost his dad and brothers in a plane crash as a young man. I guess it's common knowledge?

I think I heard about it back when the Colbert Report began

Not a young man -- he was 10. xp

I did not know that. I did know he is a Catholic who teaches Sunday School and always thought it was cool bc he would do stories about religious hypocrisy by using his knowledge to quote and distort Bible verses in a way that subverted them and hinted at a more compassionate, progressive, rational Christianity. The week after he left the whole anti-gay Christian pizza place story hit and he was sorely missed.

I learned about the crash through wikipedia one night, as I was browsing plane crashes by year (as one does.)

whoa, check out the date: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_Air_Lines_Flight_212

he wasn't acerbic with jeb bush though -- he told him he might vote for him!!

― J0rdan S., Friday, September 11, 2015 3:12 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Didn't he also preface a question by saying "Say there is a non-zero percent chance I vote for you..."?

Biden interview was good, too bad Joe had nothing to say

Didn't he also preface a question by saying "Say there is a non-zero percent chance I vote for you..."?

― Evan, Friday, September 11, 2015 4:57 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark

yeah that's what i mean except i don't think he even said "say" -- he was just like "there's a non-zero chance i vote for you"

I remembered it as "say" because it prefaced a question about that hypothetical scenario iirc. "There's a non-zero chance I vote for you" is just a statement.

Paul Simon's voice is completely shot at this point.

Jon Batiste's suit tonight >>>>

I feel like the band on this show were wormholed in from the early 1990s.

Colbert's attempts at humor last night were not that funny. Plus his singing with Paul Simon was worse than Fallon joining in with musicians

I liked the pre-taped bit about Yesterday's Coffee with Laura Linney.

Alright, I guess that was kinda humorous, but it dragged on a bit too long for me

i haven't watched it yet and i totally sympathize with his desire to get away from a character that, while so rewarding, was so taxing. but i'm worried he's in a weird "get bigger, stop giving people what they want" zone - like a hard rock band choosing to go acoustic for their first stadium tour.

"the audience for your blistering fox parody skews younger than most talk shows, wanna do a talk show?"

"Yeah! now i can stop doing blistering parody and just do amiable interviews with interesting people! like a more whimsical charlie rose!"

I only caught clips of the first show, but wondered if Colbert is trying to channel Dick Cavett or something.

I only caught clips of the first show, but wondered if Colbert is trying to channel Dick Cavett or something.

― Darin, Saturday, September 12, 2015 10:21 AM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i WISH this were the case. not getting this vibe at all tho

love that he had justice breyer on, tho as I watched I wondered if he was reconsidering; while breyer was talking at points it was so amazingly quiet there was like a low but audible background buzzing

Colbert has a manic aspect to his personality that keeps me on edge all the time.

Not sure if this is good or bad for a talk show host.

I really like his version of the Carnac the Magnificent gag.

I am enjoying the show a lot

He's not locked into bits & things kinda move around & it all feels very easy, it's fun & informative without trying super hard

he's got good bookers

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3HMZsDioB8

musical guests have been a+ so far

Wasn't expecting him to hold Trump to the fire, but was maybe expecting more than that.

To see the reactions rn it's as if everyone expected Colbert to be the one to end the Trump nightmare.

Being just old enough to remember Carson's The Great Carnac, GTFO here with that hat bit.

That was from the first week. They haven't revisited it.

they just did!

he's terrible interviewing actors. he obviously just doesn't really care. which is kind of admirable, actually, but makes for awkward television.

yeah i've noticed an uptick in him having to break eye contact with the interview subject to, like, read the titles of their most popular movies off of a card on his desk, or really well known facts. i mean, i guess him being an actor doesn't mean he necessarily cares about keeping up with TV shows/movies but it's kinda surprising if he's just totally indifferent to that stuff.

"it says here... you're on a show... that's about... people... who live in chicago. what's that like?"

he asks a lot of versions of, "wow, you're really successful. that must be exciting!"

i like his somewhat self-conscious and stagey attempts at sincerity/authenticity/warts-and-all/what have you. he's got a long ways to go to lettermanland, but his space is a nice one.

i still don't find him funny in more than the slightest, if that

He's great at this kind of sketch comedy, maybe moreso than he is being himself:

http://www.cbs.com/shows/the-late-show-with-stephen-colbert/video/b_HvqaVOaU6Jzi__Kd2I56QknYWkmSdo/daniel-craig-reveals-a-mind-blowing-scene-from-spectre-/

Wait, so the singers for this band Lucius are chicken ladies?

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/02/business/media/letting-stephen-colbert-be-stephen-colbert-whoever-that-is.html

looks like a new showrunner has been brought in. i haven't watched since the first week or two (thought i'd give him a year or so to figure things out) - has anyone else?

I've been watching semi-regularly. It's alright! Not much chemistry with the bandleader/band, who doesn't seem like he has any banter skills at all. Shame.

CBS is like some convenience store bathroom you need to ask for a key to get into, but the cashier is fighting with his girlfriend on the phone so you just decide to use a bush outside (Hulu)

Reading that article, I keep hearing Garry Marshall as Sumner Redstone.

Not much chemistry with the bandleader/band

I don't know who decided on Baptiste and Stay Human, but yeah, weird fit for the show and even the moments where they almost achieve an amusing anti-chemistry don't quite make it. I like the show overall but it's so mediocre compared to the Report, part of which is just a function of format and time slot, obviously.

I thought he decided on them, didn't he? In the podcast he said that the way Stay Human interacted with the Report audience made Colbert think they would be a good fit for the show. I feel like Colbert has overestimated the extent to which the live experience bleeds through to the audience at home. Any time I watch it, I feel like I'm missing a great blues gig that keeps being interrupted by dull chat.

the band def. seem to exist in a different show altogether. there are these awkward moments in the would-be "repartee" with batiste where you realize they don't know each other at all. they don't have enough camraderie to even engage in the sort of gentle ribbing/roasting that seems an essential part of the dynamic for a contemporary talk show host/bandleader.

i mean, i don't actually expect coworkers to be best friends, but at least jimmy fallon and questlove at least give the impression that they know and like each other enough to needle each other in a mildly entertaining way.

the show i wonder about how is seth meyers'. does that show have /any/ fan base? does anyone watch it?

I watch it. It's good. They basically reset him to where he's doing a Weekend Update type opening, he has a few good bits.

Yeah, the few times I've watched Seth's show since they put him back behind the desk for most of the opening half of the show (WU style), it's been a lot better than it was when it began. I still don't think he actually enjoys music in any way, though, and his band full of 90s indie rock pensioners plays the limpest, most polite music in late night.

Every once in a while I catch Kimmel's show and, while it's cool that his bandleader is also his childhood BFF, they don't act any more familiar with each other than Fallon and Quest typically do.

I've been watching more Conan recently than I have in quite a while, mostly because I'm still not that into Trevor Noah, and Conan is still basically the Conan of 8-10 years ago when the clock was winding down on Late Night—except now it's more sad than comically awkward, there's way less interplay with the band (which was always one of my favorite parts of his old Late Night show).

I think Conan's gotten better lately, marginally. There's been some dark/weird shit that kind of reminds me of his heyday; he should realize he's probably not going to lose his audience and just do whatever bizarre bits he wants to.

I still don't think he actually enjoys music in any way, though, and his band full of 90s indie rock pensioners plays the limpest, most polite music in late night.

I totally agree on both accounts! I kind of wish they had a cool booker who would just throw some interesting new bands on (because Seth doesn't care anyway), but it's clearly not a priority. The guest musicians are clearly just an attempt to do the sitting-in thing Fallon does while distracting from Armisen's absence.

can someone tell stephen colbert aussie isn't pronounced awsee

I don't think anyone here knows him.

what's the point of this thread then

The jazz lessons made me laugh.

Colbert's response to Orlando seemed, of all the major talk show hosts, the most scripted, forced, insincere and just... weird. I'm out on this guy.

So do all of these recent Daily Show/Colbert Report tie-ins represent a course correction?

so that Trump-Putin-cock-holster joke by S.C.... standard 'obscene' thing the FCC has a history of investigating, that's just a fact.

(also unfunny and homophobic, but that's allowed)

God deliver us from Dems shouting 'fire' at bullshit while Trumpism runs rampant.

It doesn't scan homophobic to me. If he'd said Trump's mouth was the cock holster for all kinds of dicks, sure, but this was very specifically about Vlad. Context matters.

I don't want to dismiss a homophobic read out of hand, but I've also been somewhat dubious about that claim. The pejorative end of that joke's stick is everything COMING OUT of Trump's mouth.

not gonna do a 1990-vintage argument, jf, but that is soooome bullshit

it's homophobic but mostly it's just not funny

colbert report was good but i have zero interest in his late show. anything is preferable to jimmy fallon though

when all concerned are getting outclassed by kimmel it's time to reconsider the entire concept

Not funny, not homophobic, but forgettable. Nail Trump, as he is, in 4 words or less and you've won immortality on the cheap.

If homos buy into this tempest, they get what's coming to them.

And it is coming to them.

Colbert (and Stewart, for that matter) left their posts at respective peaks but way too early. At least Stewart basically pulled a Letterman, but Colbert immediately shifted into an inferior role hampered by a calcified format. Kimmel seems most comfortable in this role. Fallon found a way to bring it down to his level. But Colbert, it sort of feels like Conan - a gifted guy cast by fate/greed/bad timing into purgatory. It doesn't help that Colbert really romanticizes the more traditional/stodgy aspects of late night TV, but his strengths lie in being more subversive.

i just watch the trump-era monologues and they are totally worth watching. i never see anything else. though i do get really tired of his bandleader's yukking it up during the monologue. cock holster didn't bug me but forced laughter by black bandleader in 2017 does kinda bug me. reminds me of how bad i used to feel for kevin eubanks.

^^ yeah cosign all of that. idk if his show is as good as Kimmel's but the monologues and certain interviews are alright. I do wonder how his old character would have translated into the Trump era, if that would've worked or if it's one of those things that's just beyond parody.

It would have worked because Trump would have totally believed he was real.

last night's episode, which brought back a bunch of ex-Daily Show people, was pretty nice

i noticed they only invited people with a certain.... pigment

Stephen left TDS in 2005. Aasif was the first person of color to be a correspondent and he didn't arrive until 2006, plus he's in Los Angeles now (and, according to his recent appearance on WTF, elbows deep in a project).

Trevor Noah appeared (briefly)

they probably sent invites to everyone he worked with, I imagine?

It would've been funny if only, like, Mo Rocca, Rachael Harris, and Vance Degeneres showed up.

Vance! He was really good. I think.

is it weird that mo rocca is one of the first people i think of when i think of 2004 election era TDS (when the show was most relevant)

i can't actually remember anyone other than him and stewart/colbert/carrell

You tend to not forget about guys named "Mo Rocca"

I had no idea John Oliver was around back then. I thought he came on way later.

apparently mo rocca wasn't even on the show by 2004

(i mean he left in 2003, not that he started after 2004)

he fit in pretty seamlessly with everyone else from that era who went on to have as much success as is possible in comedy, i wonder if he's sad

you know I might've had Mo Rocca and young John Oliver confused

pretty much everyone on the Daily Show kinda fit the same mold back then, didn't they?

I had no idea John Oliver was around back then. I thought he came on way later.

He wasn't. He was playing the part of "Steve Carell" last night.

he fit in pretty seamlessly with everyone else from that era who went on to have as much success as is possible in comedy, i wonder if he's sad

he got a gig as a CBS correspondent and had a kid's show on Saturday mornings, so I think he's fine

Oliver apparently joined in 2006 - I thought he was like...2011

he looked about 14 in the clip they showed

gotta say I did love Stewart's "why did age hit me harder than any of you?" quip

Death to America. pic.twitter.com/StY5SgZ3ru

— Malcolm Harris (@BigMeanInternet) September 18, 2017

may we celebrate Indictmas henceforth every halloween eve :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NbXO52kWT9g

Jimmy Carter rules

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQR5G3kvfNQ

returned to a live audience last night. man, his shtick works so much better in front of a crowd.

It's going to be such a shock when John Oliver is once again getting consistently interrupted with whoops and hollers.