“The Daily Show’s” Steve Carell, Stephen Colbert and Jon pose without their shirts on circa October 2001. These are the things you can do before you get famous and popular. Thankfully, they keep their pants on.

Hi. Remember me?

That’s Craig Kilborn, or Craigers as he liked to be called, and he’s the original host of the show. I remember when the show started because I wondered why that dude from ESPN was doing a comedy show.

The Daily Show started on the young Comedy Channel in the summer of 1996 and quickly became a popular destination for quirky news reports about Bigfoot fans and UFO witnesses and quick satires on the daily news. Toss in a celebrity interview and Kilborn’s famous (at the time) Five Questions and you had a good show.  Not always great, but good.  And nowhere near as political as it is now.

Then came the purge. Craigers left the show with his Five Questions in 1998 to take on The Late Late Show. Several others left including co-creator Lizz Winstead. Many other like the writers and relatively unknown at the time correspondents like Stephen Colbert held on as four weeks later a young man with a full head of dark wispy hair named Jon Stewart took over the gig.

The new era of The Daily Show began on January 11, 1999 with Michael J. Fox was the first guest and the top news story was Bill Clinton’s impeachment trial.  Ahh…the good old days when getting a hummer in the Oval Office was the top story.

Let’s take a trip back 11 years to see how the Jon Stewart Era began.  Here’s the first episode of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. You’ll see in video 4 (A Hastily Thrown Together Editorial) that Stewart addresses the changes to the show.

The videos are sadly broken up into 8 single videos and not one, handy episode.  So allow a sec for them to load below. Comedy Central videos are notoriously slow at loading.

The Final Blow – Strom Thurmond
The Clinton impeachment trial trudges into its sixth month, as Republicans introduce a caravan of witnesses clogging Washington traffic with their trailer homes.

Headlines – Popeye the Question
Popeye finally pops the question to Olive Oyl and gets a wild bachelor party thrown for him by one J. Wellington Wimpy.

While We Were Out – NBA Lockout
The NBA ends its lockout so the owners can buy another private jet and the players can spread their DNA

A Hastily Thrown Together Editorial – Change
Jon addresses concerns the viewers may have over changes he will bring to the Daily Show and the rest of their family.

Michael J. Fox
Michael J. Fox takes a shot at the Four Questions.

This Just In – Sitting Bulls#*!
Upon the death of litter-hating Indian Iron Eyes Cody, it is revealed that he was not an Indian at all — just an Italian from Louisiana.

The Beth Littleford Interview – The Munchkins
Beth Littleford sits down with four small, old, deaf munchkins from “The Wizard of Oz.”

Moment of Zen – Throat Guy
A man with a grossly enlarged throat sees the ear, nose, and throat guy.

Their dignity has been restored thanks to a new ruling that lifts rules persecuting corporate entities. John Oliver of the Daily Show celebrates the Supreme Court decision to finally award corporations their long-denied rights.

Tony the Tiger doesn’t have to sit in the back of the bus anymore. Corporations have similar rights to people and can merge now which gives them more rights than a gay couple in America.

Sorry. Even we can’t keep a straight face with that comment.

This time around, Fox’s Sean Hannity is busted using footage of Glenn Beck’s bigger protest two months ago to make the recent GOP’s health care rally appear more heavily attended. Ooops….

Jon Stewart is still trying to decide….

CNBC chose not to fight back on Thursday following Jon Stewart’s brutal takedown of the network and its reporter, Rick Santelli, for backing out of an appearance on “The Daily Show.”

Stewart’s criticism of Santelli was reminiscent of David Letterman’s relentless attacks on Republican John McCain for canceling a “Late Show” appearance during the campaign last fall.

Santelli had become an online video star when copies of his criticism of President Barack Obama’s housing plan streamed across the Web. He accepted an invitation to be on Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show” Wednesday but changed his mind.

After saying that Santelli had “bailed out,” Stewart played a series of clips highlighting wrong predictions by CNBC during the economic meltdown.

One Comment

1. Matthew says:
   March 7, 2009 at 6:44 pm

   Brilliant! absolutely brilliant. john stewart is one of the few honest news anchors out there

   Reply

He’s so brave!

Stewart had stated that CNBC failed to cover the financial crisis and ignored the impending crisis which they were well trained to prepare for.  NBC Universal Chief Executive Jeff Zucker fired back at comedian Jon Stewart on Wednesday, saying it was “unfair” and “absurd” for the funnyman to criticize CNBC and question its coverage of financial news.

Stewart was right for calling out the network for turning a blind eye to the situation that they should be covering.

Zucker, speaking at the McGraw-Hill Media Summit in New York on Wednesday, said that CNBC’s reporters and commentators had done a “terrific” job and the network remained a “go-to” place for financial news.

“It’s unfair to CNBC and to the business media in general,” Zucker said. “I don’t think you can blame what happened here on the business media.”

Speaking later at the same event, Viacom Chief Executive Philippe Dauman defended Stewart, among the top stars of his company’s Comedy Central network.

“He’s very smart and has a connection with the zeitgeist,” Dauman said when asked about he controversy. “Jon Stewart’s one of the few people on air who spoke to what people were thinking out there.”

Let’s get our nerd on with some Geek Links!  [image source]

‘MacGyver’ getting feature film

New Line is using twine, bubble gum and a pencil to throw “MacGyver” into development as a feature film. No writer is attached, but the studio hopes to find a script that can acknowledge how the concept has staked a place into pop culture yet still makes for a serious and fun adventure movie.

“We think we’re a stick of chewing gum, a paper clip and an A-list writer away from a global franchise,” said New Line’s Richard Brener, who will oversee with Sam Brown and Walter Hamada.

Nerf makes swords; Geeks cry

The Nerf N-Force swords are Nerf doing swords right: soft enough that you can hit someone without doing major damage, tough enough that you know when someone slams into you, and without a lame mini-game included. Highly recommended.

Graham Chapman’s Eulogy

Dying sucks but that doesn’t mean you can’t have some fun. When Monty Python great Graham Chapman passed away he received a fantastic eulogy from the great John Cleese.

Woman shot by arrow in New York City

A woman who was hit in the stomach with an arrow on a city street said Monday she at first thought she was hit by a baseball.   The 30-inch arrow struck Denise Delgado-Brown on Sunday afternoon as she was dropping off fellow parishioners at a nursing home after church.

Japanese toy company unveil dangerous Obama action-figure

Japan toy maker gamu-toys is depicting America’s new president as one who isn’t afraid of rolling up his sleeves.  Barack Obama doesn’t even need Secret Service protection, he packs his own handgun. Operatives of the  ‘axis of evil’ should also be on alert, he has his own street sweeper …And his own katana and wakizashi!

This is gonna be great! Here’s a look at what we are going to get on Thursday:

2 Comments

1. That Dude says:
   March 6, 2009 at 6:14 pm

   gabby johnson, lol

   Reply
2. SunOtter says:
   March 6, 2009 at 7:54 pm

   Love old man stewart!

   Reply