TV-Reviewed

The Daily Show – 101705 – Dolly Parton
Original Air Date: October 17, 2005

Originally Published: October 18, 2005

Rating: 9.2

Jon starts off the show by talking about the premier of The Colbert Report.

Jon then shows a clip of The Today Show which had a reporter who faked the depth of the flood waters on the east coast. Having seen this mentioned in the news a few times, I didn’t find it quite as funny as Jon did, but it was funny, nonetheless.

Jon turns to President Bush’s press conference with several soldiers in Iraq. It was supposed to be unscripted, but it didn’t turn out that way, as we learned over the past week. Jon poked fun at Bush for his uncertain delivery. He suggested that maybe the soldiers weren’t the ones that should have rehearsed. Much like the flood water news, it wasn’t as funny as Jon thought it was, but he had some fun poking fun at President Bush and Scott McClellan, the White House Press Secretary.

For more information on this, we’re joined by Senior Political Analyst, Rob Corddry. Rob suggests it’s one of the best behind the scenes pieces, intended for the DVD set of “The White House”. Rob then commented on how bad some of the episodes have been, twelve town hall episodes in a row, and what happened to Bin Laden? He was in the first season but never heard from, now that’s just bad writing. The angle on this was hilarious.

Returning from commercial, Jon turns to Iraq, where there was a vote for ratification to the Iraqi constitution, shortly followed by a sandstorm. For more on this, Jon turns to Senior Foreign Correspondent, Ed Helms, live in Baghdad. Ed is surrounded by fog, in a shot later, he’s in front of a volcano, and another shot later, he’s being surrounded by giant ants, and then there’s a blackout. Apparently, democracy isn’t the only thing on the march, the giant ants are as well. This got a little silly with the volcano, but it was still funny.

Back from commercial, Jon brings out legendary country music singer, Dolly Parton. She just came out with a new CD, “Those Were The Days.” Dolly wasn’t sure about coming onto the show because she didn’t want to get into politics. The discussion centered primarily around her new album, which involved her working with several other singers and writers. Bob Dylan turned down her request to sing on the album, information which she and Jon used for a funny end to the interview. Surprisingly, I enjoyed the interview very much. Dolly is one of the few famous non-comedians who has a great sense of humor, and she does very well on the show.

The week off led to some out-dated news, but that’s to be expected. Overall, I thought the show was hilarious, actually better than usual. It’s not typical to have two correspondents on the same show. I think that two correspondents is better than one, and offers more opportunity for comedy.