Samantha Bee, a correspondent for 'The Daily Show' (Weeknights, 11PM ET on Comedy Central) went on the streets to talk about the passing of legislation in New York banning cigarette smoking from public parks.

We don't know how she did it, but she found the most amazing section of a public park we've ever seen to illustrate her point. Surrounded by tweaked-out drug addicts, alcoholics and homeless people, she talked to one woman who said the law was to ensure parks were "a place where people could go to relax and to have fun."

We particularly loved the bit, though, when Bee found out that not only can you not light up a cigarette in this park filled with such colorful members of society, but you can't go on the grass either. So this park is apparently just for looking at from behind the ropes and chains, like a grass-and-tree zoo.

'The Daily Show with Jon Stewart' correspondent Jason Jones is starring in an ABC pilot 'How to Be a Better American.' Remember when it used to be that to find the next generation of comedy talent, one only had to look at the cast of 'Saturday Night Live?' Well, it's sort of the same, except that now the industry looks to the cast of 'The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.'

Jones is married to fellow 'Daily Show' correspondent Samantha Bee. It wouldn't be surprising if Bee made a few appearances on the show as well. If the show ends up as a ratings success, then Jones joins the ranks of Stephen Colbert, Steve Carell, Ed Helms, Rob Corddry and Rob Riggle (among others) as having launched their careers from behind the 'Daily Show' desk.

The show is about a father who involves his family on a personal journey to become a better person and they don't want to go. What do you think? Does it sound like a winner?

When the folks at The Daily Show announced that they were going to do a live broadcast from Washington on Inauguration Day, I'm sure a lot of people envisioned Jon Stewart behind a desk in some D.C.-area college auditorium, with up-to-the-minute field reports and maybe even a brief appearance from President Obama ... or at least someone near and dear to him.

What we got was Stewart sitting behind his New York desk, and ... pretty much a normal episode of TDS. In fact, nothing about it indicated to me that they needed to make it live. The only parts that came from the nation's capital, in fact, were a shot of reporter Wyatt Cenac at the Youth Inaugural Ball and a satellite interview with Bishop Gene Robinson, who did the invocation at the Lincoln Memorial concert on Monday.

Time for a bit of news about our favorite real couple in fake news! Daily Show correspondents Jason Jones and Samantha Bee have signed on to co-write and co-star in a CBS comedy. Jones will star as a celebrity chef and Bee will play one of the two ladies that run his most likely Rachael Ray-esque empire. Some semblance of hilarity will ensue, hopefully.

Doing a sitcom be a departure from what TDS fans are used to seeing from these two. I can only vaguely remember Bee's one or two, super-brief sitcom guest spots and and the only non-TDS thing I remember Jones doing was that weird crafting battle show on Style. No, I did not dream that; there was definitely a show called Craft Corner Deathmatch. It was extreme as it sounds, with a lot of intense hot glue and bric-a-brac.

"Sarah Palin: Vet This!": More of that thrilling Republican National Convention coverage. I think I either underestimated just how super-snarky the right is or I just missed a hefty chunk of all the jackassery from the convention coverage. I mean, Sarah Palin and Rudy Giuliani mocking my community service alone would probably leave me in a serious case of playground tears.

The Daily Show team must be exhausted. Last week was Tuesday through Friday on-location coverage of the Democratic National Convention in Colorado, and this week is the same from the Republican National Convention in Minnesota. I can't even imagine how new mommy-again Samantha Bee has been handling this, returning at the busiest time in months.

"The Heart of Hopeness": Barack Obama delivered his acceptance speech the other night, to a stadium full of insanely excited Democrats. John Oliver filed a report live from the site of Obama's speech. Man, John has really been putting himself on the line this week, being incredibly annoying in front of so many overexcited people. I mean, chanting "Osama!" at a massive crowd of Obama lovers is almost a sure to bring about a beating, but he totally lucked out with some relatively mild verbal confrontation. Other great moments included dancing to Jeremiah Wright's "white friends" song and making his move on hot strangers. As we would see later in the episode, it seems like the Democratic National Convention brought out the friskiness in the correspondents.

"Guess Who's Coming to Denver?": Man, I wish it were the Democratic National Convention all day, every day because it seems like it's providing endless, wondrous material for the show. Not only did they make me spend a good three minutes just laughing at Jon's crazy eyes while reacting to Governor Mark Warner's terrible speech (watch his eyes almost fall off his face when Jon says, "His speech suuucks"), but they've once again reminded me that Dennis Kucinich can do absolutely no jumping around without looking like an over-excited leprechaun. And he has a super-hot wife to make him feel better about any stupid, mean thing that I may say, so it's okay.

Speaking of spouses, that uncomfortably long footage of Bill Clinton looking slack-jawed and slightly baffled also sent me into a spin of uncontrollable laughter. Mouth-breathers are never not funny. In other, more eloquent words: This episode brought the lulz.

"Guess Who's Coming to Denver?": The Daily Show is back! They'll be in Denver for the whole Democratic National Convention, workin' their shiny new set. It's pretty much just Jon's "j" desk and a whole lot of big screens hanging in the back. The gang was in full form, and I believe this was the most I've laughed at the show in a while. Perhaps it only feels that way because the show has been gone for a week and a Monday. Thank goodness they returned, because I was starting to get the shakes.

Proving once again that the Daily Show audience is willing to boo at just about anything Bush-related without really thinking about it, they managed to hiss at the mere mention that Bush is now officially our most well-traveled president. Come on, don't make the rest of us look like trained seals too. Anyway, the president tried to beat the rush by heading out to Beijing a few days before the Olympics and was met with -- hey, what a surprise -- protest and a bunch of angry Chinese people with adorably designed anti-Bush signs.

"Dick Move of the Week": John McCain has been making more news with one of his new attack ads against Barack Obama, in which he calls Obama out for being an attention-seeking celebrity, just like Britney Spears and Paris Hilton. That's not the bad part though. That honor goes to the fact that Paris' parents support McCain and have sent thousands of dollars for his campaign. Smooth move, my man. Smooth move.

We are nearing the end of The Daily Show's two-week hiatus, but I'm suffering from a serious case of the political commentary shakes. In a desperate attempt to curb my withdrawal symptoms, I spent most of July 4th cracking jokes about the FISA Bill, but nobody wanted to hear it and drowned me out with lots of Roman Candles and exploding beer cans. Hopefully, other fans have been coping better than I have, but just in case you aren't, here are a few things to hold you over a few more days.

John McCain wasn't the only one to have his medical history thrown into the spotlight. Barack Obama's doctor analyzed his health and released a one-page report on how muscular and lean he is. No, it's not nearly as long-winded nor as sexy as McCain's crazy 1,200 page report.

Still-President Bush (I think I will start referring to him as such, as well) paid a visit to the US Air Force Academy's graduation and had a little fun with some soldiers on this celebratory day. I'm surprised there weren't any MySpace poses in this collection of poses from the day. This would be so much more endearing if there wasn't always that underlying tone of evil in everything he does. I'm just sayin'.

"Pope in America: Blessed Week Ever": As promised... Popewatch! The Pope is in America and the media has been going absolutely nuts. Their fawning descriptions of Pope Benedict have been appropriately Pope-ish. The intensity of this coverage confused Jon though, as he was still under the impression that the Jews ran the media. I think my favorite part of that JNN clip was the crawl along the bottom. "Weather: Chilly, wear a jacket.... Eat up! You're skin and bones.... Next door neighbor a doctor... A doctor!.... Oil $110 a barrel, but for you $90.... Rachel Weisz: She's a Jew you know..."

"Indecision 2008: Monsters of Nostalgia Tour": John McCain has been trying to re-introduce himself to America by hopping on a bus for a book tour across the country. Despite the inherent allure of an old guy telling stories about his past, Jon attempted to help out the Senator by adding a little pizazz to the tour. Apparently, bottled razzmatazz is one part screaming Rob Riggle and two parts exploding graphics. Not many people covered McCain's morning speeches, but the Early Show did get a little nostalgic with McCain's high school yearbook. I couldn't help but chuckle when Jon accidentally said "Law & Order: SUV". I mean, you know those desperate Law & Order folks have considered doing some sort of automobile-based spin-off to plague what little airwaves they have yet to touch.