Defictionalization - The Colbert Report
The show itself began as a series of fake trailers on The Daily Show; they originally had no intention of actually making a spinoff. The trailers rip off The O’Reilly Factor even more than the actual show does.
“It was a vehicle where Stephen Colbert would basically, in a megalomaniacal way, bring his opinions to the fore of the issue of the day. It was very funny… quite a joke… Anyway, Comedy Central ended up buying the show.” Jon was quite baffled.
Crazy Prepared - The Daily Show
Jon Stewart’s production crew is prepared for pretty much all statements made by public figures. Ten years ago, politicians could generally contradict themselves in public statements, so long as enough time had elapsed between statements that no one would really have remembered their having said the opposite. Now one need only watch what they say and Jon Stewart & co. may (and often do) have a tape of them saying the exact opposite.
Jon: We’ve had to hide the tapes around the office to make it more sporting.
Jon Stewart of The Daily Show, despite being a happy heterosexual, has been canonically shipped with a variety of real live men, including George Clooney, Ricky Gervais, Brian Williams, and especially Stephen Colbert.
Running Gag - The Daily Show
The Daily Show, and the North American Man-Boy Love Association. Or, as it’s known, the GOP.
- Generally Jon will mention an organization with a sizable name and then abbreviate it to “NAMBLA”, often quickly and seriously enough that those not listening carefully could fail to notice it. This also evolved into other NAMBLA-esque names, such as referring to the National Rifle Association as “BLAMBLA”.
- “Dean suffered another setback over the weekend with an announcement by the 1.5 million member American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees or NAMBLA.”
- “Organizers from the Motion Picture Academy of Arts and Sciences, or NAMBLA”
- “I speak of course of the AARP, or (old voice) NAMBLA.”
- “The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, or NAMBLOPEC…”
- “However, for the record, The Daily Show has absolutely no affiliation with the North American Man-Boy Love Association, or, as it’s called, UNICEF.”
- There’s also the Bush hunch’n’chortle, and the strange quacking noise for Dick Cheney, portraying Dick Cheney as the Penguin (specially Burgess Meredith’s version from the 1960’s Batman). Though lately he’s replaced this with playing the Imperial March and showing Dick Cheney rolling past in a wheelchair almost every time he does a story involving Dick Cheney.
