If you haven’t yet heard, Comedy Central has launched an extremely (if not 100%) comprehensive web archive for The Daily Show. For the time being it only covers the Jon Stewart years (’99 to the present) but the Kilborn era is expected to be upped during the first half of ’08. Apparently some interviews are missing due to the guests not signing the requisite releases, and I’ve been unable to find a select few stories, but otherwise this is a fantastic way to check out old segments and find your favorites. The video’s high quality, not shoddy like you might find on YouTube, and it’s all quite searchable. Plus, the segments from new episodes will go up the morning after.
A quick selection of some of my own favs:
America Freaks out – Horrific Attack (10/21/01) – The events of September 11th didn’t stave off ridiculous political theater for long.
Showbizzle (5/6/03) – Stephen Colbert explores the disturbing trend of white actors being denied non-white roles. I get a kick out of Ed Guerrero trying to give serious answers, perhaps because I’ve read one of his books on the subject of race in American film.
Emmy Celebration (9/22/03) – Colbert shows why he’s king with an overly verbose description of celebratory decadence, Hollywood style.
Pump My Ride (6/4/06) – Ed Helms checks out the pros and cons of self-service gas stations in the Garden State. You’ll laugh, and then quietly weep upon realizing that the lobbyist’s side won the day.
Forced Perspective (8/8/06) – Aasif Mandvi’s debut on the show, with an extremely dark and hilarious take on the rhetoric the Bush administration uses to describe the situation in Iraq. It was a pretty bold segment for the show period, let alone a newbie’s opener, but Mandvi hits it out of the park and has been on a roll ever since.
And like all good sites crafted in the age of Web 2.0, the site’s fitted with a Beta tag. I suspect like most instances, this will permanently be in ‘beta’ stage.
In related news, Jon Stewart extended his contract to stick with The Daily Show through 2010.
