Daily Show News

Rob Kutner

While you're missing The Daily Show because it's on hiaus, Rob Kutner's book, Apocalypse How, is available.

He was interviewed on CBC Radio's Q this afternoon, which has a podcast you can download.

Arianna Huffington's 'Right Is Wrong'

Anyone else see Stephen Colbert's interview with Arianna Huffington last night?  In the interview, she discussed how much John McCain has changed over the past few years, how he has gone from a maverick to someone only concerned with appealing to the Republican party's conservative base. 

Immediately, I was reminded of Jon Stewart's 2006 interview with John McCain, where McCain (giggling as usual) actually admits to courting the far right by speaking at Falwell's Liberty University.

Guest suggestion: Susan Jacoby on American Culture

Susan Jacoby would make a great author interview for The Daily Show.

Via NYT: “Whether watching television news, consulting political blogs or (more rarely) reading books, Americans today have become a people in search of validation for opinions that they already hold,” Susan Jacoby, the author of “The Age of American Unreason,” writes on the op-ed page of The Los Angeles Times. “This absence of curiosity about other points of view is the essence of anti-intellectualism and represents a major departure from the nation’s best cultural traditions.”

Also includes comment on Thomas Frank's editorial on Obama. More on Jacoby from the Mercury News.

Technorati Tags: american unreason, bittergate, susan jacoby, thomas frank

Books by Current and Former Daily Show Writers

The News Tribune reviewed Sam Means' book, A Practical Guide To Racism by C.H. Dalton.

Racial humor has long been the electric fence of the comedy world, a topic you touch at your own risk. America the melting pot has a way of boiling over when one of its components gets dissed in public.
...
One only hopes everyone gets the joke. “That’s a danger, I suppose,” says Means. “But I hope I went far enough to remove any doubt that it’s not to be taken seriously. I think most people understand that it’s a book about racism, not just a book of racist jokes.

The New York Times has an interview with Ben Karlin, promoting his book "Things I Learned From Women Who've Dumped Me".

It’s been a little more than a year since you left your job as the executive producer of “The Daily Show” and “The Colbert Report,” which you helped create. Why would you leave Comedy Central? You didn’t hear about the sex scandal, clearly.

Is that a joke? Yes.
...
I especially liked the essay in the book by the former senator Bob Kerrey, precisely because it isn’t funny. It’s about his youthful infatuation with a champion skater who was killed in a plane crash. I worked a little bit with him to try to put some more jokes in.

The Stewart/Colbert Book Bump

The Stewart/Colbert Bump

Wondering how Walter Isaacson 's Einstein:  His Life And Universe became a best-seller?  Why, by appearing on both The Daily Show With Jon Stewart and The Colbert Report, of course! 

Wagner states that both shows "now rank next to Oprah as the publishing industry's most coveted platforms," and that an appearance on either show "will elevate the sales potential for any new book."

Ex-Daily Show Producer Ben Karlin to Release a New Book

If you’re an avid reader of No Fact Zone, then you’re most likely aware of Daily Show Alumnus Ben Karlin’s up and coming book Things I've Learned from Women Who've Dumped Me. The book will include pieces by both Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert. Amazon currently has the release date set at February 1st 2008.

There is also the possibility of a new film titled The Donor (subscription required), as reported on the ever useful IMDB. This project will involve both Jon Stewart and Ben Karlin as producers, and former Daily Show Correspondent Rob Corrdry as writer.

IMBD states,

“The story, which is being kept under wraps, was conceived by Corddry along with "Daily Show" colleagues Stewart and executive producer Ben Karlin. The deal highlights Berman and Paramount's mandate to mine homegrown talent; Paramount and Comedy Central are sister companies under the Viacom umbrella. Karlin, who also is executive producer of "The Colbert Report," and Stewart are producing the film through their Bus Boy Entertainment shingle.”

Looks like we have a lot to look forward to in the coming years.

Technorati Tags: ben karlin, the donor, things I've learned from women who've dumped me