The Daily Show: September 19, 2006

A spinach recall is fair reason to do jokes about tossing salads. "Call some friends over, have some drinks, and toss each other's salads!" It's a matter of safety, people.

"Papa Don't Preach": Jon did some nice coverage about the Pope's comments (and apology) regarding Islam. I'm going to have to try "I was just quoting a Byzantine emperor!" excuse some time in the near future. Senior Vatican City and San Marino Correspondent John Oliver elaborated on the situation. I thought the comparison of the popes to all the various James Bonds was fantastic.

"10 Fucking Years": Hur-fucking-rah! A beautiful tribute to the old Steve Carell/Stephen Colbert segment, "Even Stevphen". This was the kind of stuff that got me hooked on The Daily Show, way back in the day. Look! I even love Steve and Stephen enough to use their picture for the post. Aww, look at 'em. All grown-up and successful and winning Emmys (Carell, anyway... Damn Manilow had to screw up Colbert's chance at false idol-worshipping glory ). One thing I never understood about the "Even Stevphen" opening title was how they spelled Stephen's name "Steven". "Steve" plus "Steven" does not equal "Stevphen". Anyway, this was a beautiful collection of clips... Totally worth watching the entire thing:



The night's guest was Ben Affleck from Hollywoodland. Is it just me who noticed, or does Affleck's face seem a little more plastic-y than usual? It was just a wall of flesh with a few holes for the eyes, nose, and mouth. Kind of disturbing. As for the interview, it was the usual TDS actor piece. Nothing wildly revealing. "Seat of Heat": Fill in the REAL tabloid headline... "BLANK-fueled Affleck goes on anti-BLANK rant". Affleck was totally clueless. The answer: "Frappuccino-fueld Affleck goes on anti-circumcision rant". Although it seems to be doing okay so far, I'm not sure how long the Seat of Heat gimmick is really going to last. It doesn't seem like TDS material.

Jon/Stephen: Stephen Colbert's English as a Second Language Word of the Day -- THE. Moment of Zen: The Pope, with the help of his hot hat, is bringing sexy back.