Late Show UK

Comedy Central UK have launched a minisite for The Daily Show With Jon Stewart.

There have been many frustrations for UK fans of The Daily Show in recent times – first the official website for The Daily Show on Comedy Central US blocked all clips if you were outside of the States, then the show was axed from More 4 so there was nowhere left to watch it.

The new minisite from Comedy Central UK provides clips of The Daily Show for UK viewers, but not full episodes yet.

In a news piece on the Comedy Central UK website, they say:

We know there’s a huge Daily Show fan base here in the UK but most of you can’t access the US video clips. Argh! Here’s where Comedy Central UK comes in.

As we don’t air the show on the channel, we can’t bring you full episodes online at present BUT every week we’ll be bringing you specially selected clips from each of the shows from the past 30 days including interviews with Jon’s special guests, The Daily Show 60 Second round ups and of course the Moments of Zen.

Click here to visit the new minisite.

Will The Daily Show be coming to Comedy Central UK on TV eventually? I hope so.

Sunday marked the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington.

Everyone remembers the terrible events of that day in sunny New York as the World Trade Center was targeted, and the Pentagon in Washington was attacked, but do you recall how the talk shows handled the events after they came back on air many days after September 11th 2001?

The Late Show With David Letterman returned to CBS with its first new show since 9/11 on the 17th September 2001. Guests on the show were news anchor Dan Rather and TV personality (and regular Late Show favourite) Regis Philbin.

The most memorable part of this show (and also one of the most memorable in the history of the Late Show) was Dave’s very moving opening monologue talking about 9/11 and the people of New York:

News anchor Dan Rather was interviewed and famously asked Letterman to go to a commercial break when he broke down in tears part-way through the interview:

Regis Philbin was the final guest on this show:

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart returned to Comedy Central with its first new show on the 20th September 2001 and provided another touching opening monologue similar to Letterman’s:

The Tonight Show With Jay Leno returned to NBC with its first new show around a week after the attacks. There still aren’t any video clips online for this episode but Wikipedia says:

“The first post-9/11 episode began with a still image of an American flag and a subdued opening without the usual opening credits. Leno’s monologue paid tribute to those who lost their lives and to firefighters, police and rescue workers across the US. Leno had questioned whether a show that regularly poked fun at the government could continue after the attacks, but in his monologue he explained that he saw the show as a respite from the grim news of the world, akin to a cookie or glass of lemonade handed to a firefighter. Senator John McCain and the musical group Crosby, Stills, and Nash were featured guests. For an extended period after the attack, a short clip of a large American flag waving was shown in between the announcement of the musical guest and Leno’s introduction during the opening montage”.

Late Night With Conan O’Brien returned at around the same time as The Tonight Show:

In Britain there’s no escaping the big news story of the moment – the News Of The World phone hacking scandal involving Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation.

The story has gone global and The Daily Show is never one to miss out on a headline like this.

Watch Jon Stewart’s reaction when British Daily Show correspondent John Oliver brought the story to his attention:

David Letterman has received the prestigious Johnny Carson award at the first annual US Comedy Awards devised by Comedy Central.

BBC News reports Letterman “was presented with the Johnny Carson award for comedic excellence at the event in New York”. The award is the highest honour at the ceremony. Letterman was greeted with a standing ovation when he came up to collect the award. He stood in front of the original curtain from Johnny Carson’s Tonight Show to be presented with the honour.

Other awards went to Kristen Wiig (Saturday Night Live) for Best Comedy Actress In Television, former Saturday Night Live regular Tina Fey won for Best Comedy Actress In Film (Date Night) and The Daily Show With Jon Stewart won for Best Late-Night Comedy Series.

BBC News – “David Letterman gets US comedy honour”
SFGate – “Comedy Awards hail Letterman, Fey and ‘South Park’”
Digital Spy – “Letterman honoured at ‘Comedy Awards’”
UPI – “Big names feted at Comedy Awards in NYC”

There are rumours Larry King is in talks with The Daily Show to become a contributor on the programme.

Screen Rant reports a source with the network has said “a single conversation has happened. It’s still extremely preliminary. He’ll be on every now and again, like Lewis Black. He’s not joining as a correspondent, but as a contributor”.

Larry King retired from his long-running CNN talk show recently, to be replaced by British interviewer Piers Morgan.

King has appeared on The Daily Show in the past and, although not necessarily known for his comedy work, he has appeared in several films such as Bee Movie in comedic roles.

Screen Rant – “Jon Stewart Adding Larry King to ‘The Daily Show’”

At the end of last year Channel 4 announced The Daily Show With Jon Stewart would no longer be airing on More 4, apart from the Global Edition of the programme which would continue to air but in a much later timeslot of 11.05pm on Mondays.

We’ve started a Facebook group in the form of a petition to get The Daily Show back on UK television in its entirety instead of just having the Global Edition highlights programme once a week.

Please go to www.lateshowuk.com/dailyshowpetition and request to join.

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart has featured in More4′s schedule since launch in 2005. Aired at 8.30PM, the programme followed More4 News, which itself ended almost a year ago.

The Daily Show Global Edition features highlights from the week, with a specific introduction from Jon Stewart and an ‘International Moment of Zen’. Global Edition also aired on CNN International, but does not currently feature in the CNN International schedule in Europe.

According to Media Guardian, More4 will now air just The Daily Show Global Edition from next month. Several British guests have appeared on the programme this year, including Ricky Gervais, Tony Blair, Sting, Gordon Brown and Emma Thompson.