October 03, 2004

In TDS news

Posted by Eszter

There are always comments on The Daily Show that I want to blog, but then never get around to doing so. I did want to make sure to mention this one though, from last Wednesday (Sept 29), since it’s blog related. Jon Stewart was talking to Ed Helms about the next day’s presidential debates. Helms read out the notes he would be using to report on the debates, that is, he had already written them up a day before the debates.

Stewart: “What if any actual news happens?”
Helms: “That’s what bloggers are for.”

A propos TDS, America (The Book) is absolutely hilarious! I highly recommend it. I didn’t realize it was written in the form of a textbook. It’s got lots of little inserts, quotes on the sidebar and illustrations like most American textbooks good for those with attention problems. Not that you’ll have any such problems while reading this book (unless you’re trying to multitask and do something else at the same time in which case the other activity will get none of your attention). I don’t know if reading anything has ever made me laugh out loud as much as reading this book has.

Posted on October 3, 2004 09:26 PM UTC
Comments

I LOVE The Daily Show and I cannot wait to read the book!

Posted by DeAnn · October 4, 2004 12:39 AM

I was on the verge of buying it but then had doubts about whether it was the sort of book I thought it was after I heard about the naked Supreme Court justices. It’s still sitting in my shopping cart.

Posted by KCinDC · October 4, 2004 02:17 AM

Hmm.. I hadn’t heard about the Supreme Court justices and hadn’t seen that page until I read your comment. That’s definitely not my kind of humor. I guess the book has different types of humor in it. Much of it is witty in the way that’s characteristic of the show.

Posted by eszter · October 4, 2004 04:13 AM

The book is just the best. It’s everything The Onion seems to fall short of, lately. I didn’t know about the textbook layout of it either, but the “book condition stamp” on the inside cover was a fantastic touch.

Posted by Kevin · October 4, 2004 04:39 AM

As a filthy furriner, I wouldn’t have appreciated much of the format jokes, had I not read my (now-) wife’s Government and Civics textbook while she was at class back in the summer of ‘99.

There’s no real equivalent in the UK, but the inanities of the real textbook certainly made it ripe for parody.

Posted by nick · October 4, 2004 10:38 AM

Eszter,

I emailed you the info you wanted RE: attending The Daily Show…but I added some attachments (pictures of us in the studio) so perhaps you didn’t recieve it.

-Nate

Posted by nhayhoe · October 4, 2004 03:09 PM

Yes, teaching an American government course based on a typical, “by the numbers” textbook greatly enhances the parody value of “America (The Book)”.

I think the “dress the Supreme Court” exercise is supposed to be a parody of some of the inane exercises that high school civics books have students do (“Pretend you’re Congress passing a bill”, etc.)

Posted by Chris Lawrence · October 5, 2004 06:14 AM
Followups

This discussion has been closed. Thanks to everyone who contributed.