»» Columnists

Watch The Opening Jokes (Thankfully) Cut Out Of Last Night’s Obama-riffic Daily Show

video

by Jon Bershad | 2:59 pm, October 28th, 2010

» 10 comments

Last night, before it aired, we reported that The Daily Show had had to retape the opening of last night’s episode with President Obama to make way for time constraints. With their usual speed, the show’s official website now has the excised moments online and, judging by the reaction that the interview has gotten, it’s probably a good thing this bit was left on the cutting room floor.

That’s not to say that it isn’t funny. It is. Very much so. In the original opening to the show, Jon Stewart claimed his guest would be “the White House Chairman to the Council of Economic Adviser Austan Goolsbee’s…boss” (a reference to how he introduced Goolsbee the night before), and then proceded to showcase a new segment entitled “Let’s Keep the President Waiting.” He then did just that, twiddling his pen, playing with a paper football, and sifting through a bowl of candy for about 30 seconds before finally bringing out Obama. It was easily the most mileage a TV show host has gotten out of doing nothing since Conan O’Brien practiced spinning his wedding ring on his desk to kill time during the writers’ strike.

Funny though it was, these clips would have been further gas for the “How Dare Our President Sully Himself on a Network with ‘Comedy’ In the Title?” flame. With people writing articles furiously asking how Stewart could dare to call our president “dude” (obviously the worst thing anyone has ever called Obama in the history of everything ever), chances are good that a few seconds of the Daily Show host doing silly voices before interviewing the Commander in Chief would have been tantamount to treason.

So, with a slight amount of hesitation, I present to you the original opening to last night’s Daily Show, from Comedy Central. Yes, Comedy Central.

barack obama, Comedy Central, Jon Stewart, The Daily Show

CosmosDan

Funny, but the king of that bit is George Carlin. I saw him come out on a comedy special, stand there for several minutes and say nothing as people giggled in anticipation, then say thank you and walk off. I was in awe.
notsofast

This can’t be!

The King said Jon Stewart’s show was not edited!
Bill Mahwer

That is one thing Stewart has to stop doing. He refers to people as dude a lot and it just sounds strange. It dates the guy and makes him sound like he belongs in the Cheech and Chong era.

Then again he probably is a product of it so it comes naturally to him.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Chris-Jones/1384303476 Chris Jones

The real story here is that a comedian on a fake news show asked the president tougher questions than any so-called journalist ever has — or ever will.
Arkansas Steve

There’s nothing wrong with the President going on Jon Stewart (or Colbert).
The problem is timing. And it is a huge problem!!
I remember when Richard Nixon went on Laugh In. He was funny and actually helped himself, but it was NOT JUST BEFORE A NATIONAL ELECTION.
Overall, Obama hurt himself (again) by appearing weak & desperate.
Good thing Stewart has those young & stupid kids to make up an audience.
Arkansas Steve

Chris Jones said:
The real story here is that a comedian on a fake news show asked the president tougher questions than any so-called journalist ever has — or ever will.

True Chris, but you forgot to add that the reason is because Obama won’t submit to questions by anyone except his friends. Friends = ABC,CBS,NBC,CNN,MSNBC,NYT,WP, well, you get the idea.
stoogedudes

Arkansas Steve said:
Good thing Stewart has those young & well-informed kids to make up an audience.

There. Fixed it for ya.
DwightScrute

FYI, Mediaite. Your new mobile format does not allow Blackberry users to access any stories or articles.
Cancon2

Ya, sure he’s been called worse than that, everyone has. The thing is that it just seemed so disrepectful to him. I am no fan for sure, but I respect him and the office and that Dude stuff, really deserved a rebuttal. Hey Jon, who the hell are you pal, a fake news man, comedian, that’s all. It would have bumped him up 4 points if he had just told him straight. I am the President and I expect to be addressed as such, thanks. Bang 4-6 points by morning.
sgarcia

Stoogedudes is being too hard on Arkansas Steve. At least Glenn Beck has the old and gullible as his base.