TV-Reviewed

The Daily Show – 090805 – Brian Williams
Original Air Date: September 08, 2005

Originally Published: September 08, 2005

Rating: 7.4

Jon started off the show by talking about the hurricane damage and the government’s terrible response to the disaster. Jon wonders why Bush would ask for a day of prayer, after an “act of god”.

Jon went right to Samantha Bee, who was in New Orleans. She starts off by talking about Dick Cheney and why he was chosen to go down there, as opposed to someone else. As with a previous episode, there’s a hint of the Iraq war in the piece.

Jon then talked about Dick Cheney, who apparently has been watching the whole thing on TV, and Jon does a little impression of Cheney. Cheney was impressed about what he’s heard from the local people, and shortly after mentioning this to the press, ironically, a local person walked up to him and told him to “go **** himself”, reminiscent of when Dick Cheney told a Congressman or Senator the exact same thing a couple of years ago.

Jon transitioned to the Supreme Court. Bush has to nominate yet another person to the high court. Bush’s speech about the late Chief Justice Rehnquist sounded like it came from an Encyclopedia.

After returning from a commercial, Jon welcomed NBC Nightly News anchor, Brian Williams. Brian told Jon about his experience while being in New Orleans. He described the SuperDome being ripped to shreads, and Jon eventually turned the discussion to the media and government. Brian’s telling of things was very compelling. There weren’t really any laughs in the first half of the interview. The second half had a few more laughs, but there was still a lot of very serious talk, and it seems the government is trying to deal with this with public relations more than anything. Although the interview didn’t feature much comedy, it was a very compelling interview.

Jon ended with a personal note about how bad he feels for the people in the south who have been going through so much. I felt Jon’s sincerity in this. I’m glad he said something like this.

Overall, this episode was mediocre in the comedy department. Samantha Bee’s segment was alright, but it didn’t really make up for the lack of comedy in the second-half of the show. The interview, although compelling, really lacked comedy, which was surprising, but I suspect Jon may have done this on purpose.