Feb 29 2016

The Daily Late Nightly Show (A Chorus Line)

Evidently I’m not the only one who feels this way.

Please give Samantha Bee “The Daily Show”: They squandered Jon Stewart’s legacy by giving the show to the wrong host
by Steve Almond, Salon
Monday, Feb 29, 2016 07:00 PM EST

(O)ver the past month it’s become painfully obvious that “The Daily Show” squandered its shot at a political comedy dynasty by betting on the wrong host.

They could have, and should have, offered the gig to their brilliant and longest-serving correspondent Samantha Bee, who had supplied the show 12 years of sidesplitting dispatches. But they never even asked her.

Instead, they went with Trevor Noah, an affable South African newcomer who had appeared on the program a grand total of … three times. I will refrain from calling this a crying shame; it’s more like a damn shame.

Trevor has, thus far, laid a well-intentioned egg. In the midst of a bizarre and bloated political pageant that begs for satirical puncturing, he’s made “The Daily Show” something worse than unfunny. With the exception of an occasional home run, he’s made it irrelevant.

Meanwhile, Bee’s “Full Frontal,” which debuted earlier this month on TBS, has become an instant phenomenon. And not because Bee is the first female tapped to host a late-night comedy program. Because she is, thus far at least, the smartest and funniest.
…
Bee has what her old boss had: an authentic sense of moral rage. Watching her fume and fulminate, one senses that she’s not cracking jokes just to win laughs, but to keep herself (and us) from going insane.

This is what made Stewart so alluring to so many viewers. He was able to use his bemused Everyman shtick to confront the heartbreaking decay of our democratic institutions. We wanted to see his wit and his conscience at work on the problem of our civic dysfunction. We wanted his take.

Viewers don’t want Noah’s take. More precisely, he doesn’t have a take. He has a series of clever quips, delivered in a genial and telegenic manner. There’s no genuine sense of distress in his approach. His barbs aren’t barbed.

Perhaps this has something to do with Noah being an import from South Africa. But Bee, who is in fact Canadian, radiates the impatient contempt of a citizen who feels betrayed by America’s leaders and its vapid, cynical press.
…
Bee represents a return to the defiant values of second-wave feminism. She doesn’t want to join the boys club. She wants to burn it down.

In other words, Bee displays all the same qualities of rhetorical and social fearlessness that she brought to her “Daily Show” segments. Had “The Daily Show” recognized her genius, we’d still be talking about that program. But they didn’t.

And in the end, who cares? What matters is that Bee is out there, raging against a world gone mad, taking aim at the mean and mendacious, reaming one chinless dildo at a time.

I hate to call Trevor a failure, heck, Jon Stewart wasn’t all that great and his early stuff especially was… unfocused, but compared to Sam and John…

Well, he’s not in the same ball park and doesn’t deserve even a spot picking up splinters on the bench with his butt.

My readers may feel free to despise me and Trevor to surprise me.

Sam- Chinless Dildo

Sam- The Right Porridge

John- Hello President Trump

Now compare that with anything you’ve ever seen from Trevor.

The New Guy

I looked at it. It’s a half hour from my life I’ll never get back (really an hour, I live blogged it the first time). Thanks for nothing.

Trevor’s guests-

Mr. Continuity

#FlatLarry

Actually genuinely funny. Pointless, but funny.

Larry’s panelists-

Jordan Klepper and Mike Yard are both going to be on @Midnight tonight.

Mr. Mainstream

I get notes

From me.

Friday is repeat day. Again. Friday is repeat day. Again.

You know why I never laughed Frank? You’re not funny.

3 comments

  1. Vent Hole

  2. We race

    • BobbyK on February 29, 2016 at 23:31
    • #

    Sam Bee excellent again. More cutting than John Oliver. Better than Jon Stewart. Maybe better than Colbert in his prime. Colbert had to do it 4 nights a week though.

    Sam Bee is really really really good. I’d say Larry should get the 11 pm spot followed by Sam Bee in the Colbert spot, but TNT will never give her up. I’m sure Conan is getting the Bee bump.

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