knapplc Posted October 21, 2015 Share Posted October 21, 2015 I did not like Jessica Williams when she first started, but she has been great after her first month or so. At first she seemed way in over her head, but she's clearly comfortable now and really good. Hassan Minaj is hilarious and Jordan Klepper is pretty good. What bugs me about Stephen is how he keeps stepping on toes with the people he interviews. He seems really uncomfortable doing even basic interviews, which is weird because he was great on the Colbert Report. His very first guest, Clooney, seemed really forced and scripted. I cringe at almost every interview, because he's always saying something that seems basically inappropriate. I just watched the interview with Jessica Chastain & Tom Hiddleston, where Stephen makes some cringey comment to Hiddleston. The audience reacts, you can hear them, and if it wasn't for Hiddleston being able to make some charming comment it would have been really bad. I don't understand why Stephen keeps doing this. He's six weeks into his show, and he should have hit his stride less than six episodes into it. He's a natural at this. But every show, there's a cringe moment. Link to comment
AR Husker Fan Posted October 22, 2015 Share Posted October 22, 2015 I suspect he's trying to hard to avoid the conservative parody, but in doing so kind of is censoring himself, which leads to the awkwardness - he's measuring every word. I hope he can relax and improve. Link to comment
zoogs Posted October 22, 2015 Author Share Posted October 22, 2015 I guess I've just glossed over most of that. I've found his Late Show to be nothing but delightful, and this is no critical review either -- I like the heck out of Colbert, so I fully admit to be ruled by bias. I think when you watch his Biden interview, you see him really shining, genuinely, wonderfully. Opinions vary, but the show really does it for me. Noah just needs to come into his own. He's got good comedy chops and a very nice team around him. It may also be that I view the two shows through very different lenses. I never was in need of 30 minutes of political satire, but Jon Stewart made it a must-watch. Now, it's a "kinda watch" -- while I'm still sure they are doing really good stuff, I'm happy to catch some clips or highlights if they come my way. Similarly, I'm not in need of a late night variety show, but it's light-hearted fun and I'm never sorry to spend some time watching Colbert. A couple of moments in the early going of Trevor's TDS that I wasn't a huge fan of: -- Trevor's opening monologue on the Oregon shooting. It would've been better for him to say nothing than to say "I've got nothing." I think he's certainly more capable of a heartfelt response. -- His interview with Chris Christie. Yikes. He was not in control of that conversation in the slightest. There was a moment where Christie was trumpeting his bizarre FedEx immigration plan...Trevor lobs a bit of a question at him, Christie responds, "Hey, it's cheaper than building a wall", and Trevor leans back, grins his widest, and slow claps for good effect. There's no way Christie snows Jon Stewart with that bit of witticism, and surely there's no way Trevor is actually so impressed with Christie's idea on this one. Or is he? In fairness, there's been a lot that I've really enjoyed. His much-lauded Trump "African president" bit (which segued awkwardly from his non-monologue on the Oregon shooting) was terrific. He's got a killer French accent that made me LOL earlier tonight. I've only seen Desi Lydic once, but it was a good one -- her antiques auction bit with Hasan (who crushes everything!), etc ... Link to comment
knapplc Posted October 22, 2015 Share Posted October 22, 2015 That Oregon shooting thing was dumb. Better to have said nothing at all. Agree that Stephen was at his best with the Biden interview. Too bad Biden didn't get the "Colbert Bump" from that. Also, how awesome is John Oliver's show? I've watched two dozen clips from YouTube... good stuff. Although he raked Snowden over the coals pretty hard, which I didn't expect. Snowden is Oliver's audience's hero. Weird seeing Oliver call him out for the security breaches - but it showed integrity on Oliver's part. Link to comment
zoogs Posted October 22, 2015 Author Share Posted October 22, 2015 Yeah! John Oliver's doing an amazing job. I don't have HBO, so I only catch the youtube clips every now and then -- but he's been tremendous. I don't think he was quite like that when he first started filling in that summer on the Daily Show, but he's really come into his own. Trevor can get there, I'm sure. Link to comment
knapplc Posted October 22, 2015 Share Posted October 22, 2015 I thought John was going to crash & burn last summer when he filled in for Jon Stewart. He was doing pretty good by the time Jon got back, though. Link to comment
knapplc Posted November 24, 2015 Share Posted November 24, 2015 Something else that niggles at the back of my brain - the opening-credits announcement guy is not the same guy. He sounds just similar enough to seem like the old guy, but it's a different voice. Link to comment
zoogs Posted December 9, 2015 Author Share Posted December 9, 2015 Something else that niggles at the back of my brain - the opening-credits announcement guy is not the same guy. He sounds just similar enough to seem like the old guy, but it's a different voice. I've been coming back to the Daily Show a bit lately and I have to say, Trevor & co have been really, really good. And good call on Desi Lydic. She's great! Link to comment
zoogs Posted December 18, 2015 Author Share Posted December 18, 2015 A spoof bit on the Donald Trump doctor story with Hasan as the doctor, and Roy as an (amazing) Trump. This was great! http://www.cc.com/video-clips/gcipcu/the-daily-show-with-trevor-noah-donald-trump-s-extraordinary-bill-of-health Link to comment
zoogs Posted January 9, 2016 Author Share Posted January 9, 2016 How long is Trevor Noah going to keep opening with jokes set to a silent audience and no music? Eek. Link to comment
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