"Banned-Aid": The House and Senate were all like, "Hey, maybe we should tax cigarettes to get poor kids health care" and President Bush was all like, "No, thanks". Also, I get the strange feeling that I'd be more likely to donate to an event called "Big Wheels for Mumia" than the average magazine drive.

Senior Healthcare Analyst John Oliver, dressed as a lovable street urchin, gave us a peek into the life of a scrappy Dickensian London boy. The kind with black lung! It must be the best feeling to get bossman Jon Stewart to laugh like that in the middle of a piece. Oliver was absolutely 'ilarious, especially during that random half-jig.

"Iraq Me, Dave Petraeus": Ohh, man. It's tough to fail with an "Amadeus" reference, really. Although, weirdly enough, I thought of "Dr. Zaius" from The Simpsons before I thought of the original song by Falco. I suppose breakdancing space apes will always stick out in my mind a little more than other things. The montage comparing the words of Bush and Petraeus was pretty well done. I wonder what poor intern had to dig through the archives for those. Also, I wonder if they included the Iraq-ified MC Escher piece because they were worried people wouldn't get the reference.

Interwebz superstar Senator Ted Stevens has had his home raided by the feds. This was bad news for both Stevens and his number one BFF and fan, Jason Jones. I like to imagine that Piper Bee Jones' bedroom is full of Stevens posters and goodies.

"Indecision '08": John Hodgman, whose skin, shirt and jacket were all the same shady of pasty, talked about the importance of image in presidential elections. I love it whenever Hodgman rants on about facial hair... There's quite a bit of that nonsense in his book The Areas of My Expertise, by the way. Also, William Jennings Bryan sounding a like a cross between Beaker and this GI Joe PSA parody? Thumbs up.

Jon briefly touched upon the Paris Hilton situation by poking some fun at the media's extensive coverage. CNN complained a lot about covering it, but then proceeded to do it for the rest of the day. Oh, Anderson Cooper, you're better than this.

"Albaniacs": President Bush paid a visit to Albania, where he was received like a rock star. Oh, man... Jon had to call Dennis Miller for joke help? Weak. So weak. The Daily Show has been doing a lot of name-dropping lately, in the form of these silly little phone calls and those Giant Head appearances. I'm not sure I like it very much.

"Comey Central": Attorney Generals scandal! It never ends. That story about Ashcroft was insane. And yes, the whole crazy fiasco can only be relayed with justice in the form of a telenovela. However, I still firmly believe that everything would have been twenty-times better if done with the sexy boarding school students from Rebelde. Ashcroft in a school girl outfit. Once the image is in your head, it will never leave you. Never.

"Loan Wolf": Paul Wolfowitz is in a spot of trouble at the World Bank. Resident Expert John Hodgman, sporting yet another snazzy tie, stopped by for the first time. I don't like seeing Hodgman on television anymore, because each appearance teases me and reminds me that his new book isn't coming out any time soon. Obviously, I am often reminded.

There was a great piece on last week's episode of This American Life (the radio version) by John Hodgman about how television has changed his life. John Hodgman is, as many of you know, a regular contributor on The Daily Show and also plays "P.C." in those popular Mac ads.

His monologue on This American Life was about suddenly becoming recognized when he's at Radio Shack or at the airport and not knowing how to respond to the stupid things people say to him. For example, the employee at Radio Shack was just shocked that Hodgman would be shopping at Radio Shack in Greenfield, Connecticut! Hodgman lays out all his star struck encounters in his typical Hodgman style, making the things we all do and take for granted sound just plain stupid. I highly recommend listening, it's the first "chapter" and you can listen for free on iTunes for the next week. It can also be streamed at This American Life's official website.

BTW, that episode also had an interesting interview at the very beginning with an astronaut who talks about how much she loves Battlestar Galactica, and also how The Borg figured out the ultimate spaceship.

The "Get a Mac" ads, featuring the PC and Mac personified, are doing very well in the States. The American ads, as most of you know, star John Hodgman as the nerdy PC and Justin Long as the hip Mac. It looks like Apple is continuing to try and recreate the success in various other countries, including Japan, which I posted about a few months ago. The latest in this line of commercials hails from the UK, where the PC and Mac are played by Robert Webb and David Mitchell, stars of the British comedy Peep Show. You can watch the ads here.

When it comes to the American commercials, I always like the PC better because I'm a Hodgman fan, not because I dislike Long or the Mac. However, in a few of the UK commercials, the Mac actually sounds kind of mean. I feel like if I were to try and check my e-mail on the Mac and accidentally type my password incorrectly, he'd laugh at me for several minutes and then make a snarky remark about my hair.

[Thanks, Tom!]

The men of Boing Boing recently chatted with comedian John Hodgman, he of The Daily Show, The Areas of My Expertise and 700 Hobo Names. The men talk about current events, politics, and weird stories from the news. The podcast is less like an interview and more like a random discussion, which is actually, I think, more interesting. Hodgman maintains his usual dry wit, and interjects whenever he can get a word in edgewise as the Boing Boingers go on about whatever is they go on about. You might learn a few things about Hodgman, but mostly it's just some guys kicking back and chatting.

Speaking of the 700 Hoboes, Hodgman alludes to a project started by Boing Boing to have artists illustrate each of the names in Hodgman's lengthy but engaging spoken word project. You can see the works here.

First of all, there's no question we're at war now, because a 24-hour news channel has finally packaged the violence in a dramatic musical montage ("Is Tears for Fears in the back room of MSNBC?"). Got it? Good. Jon worked his history buff angle and brought up the 30th anniversary of Entebbe. It all took place in less than a few hours, there were minimal casualties, it was surgical, stunning. As for the issue in Lebanon, it seems as though Israel is trying to crack the bottom part open, flip it and actually shake the hostages out. Not quite the same case as Entebbe. But either way, it'll make a great movie of the week.

John Hodgman, author of The Areas of My Expertise and 'Resident Expert' on The Daily Show, is starring in the new advertisements for Apple. Hodgman plays a PC. With his hair combed the way it is and his glasses and suit, he kind-of resembles Bill Gates, doesn't he? Just like on The Daily Show, Hodgman plays it totally straight and it's pretty darn funny. Either he's a PC with a cold, or he has to restart, or he can't talk to the hot Japanese girl who is talking to the cool Mac. Interestingly, the super-hip Mac is played by Justin Long, who has played some memorable geeky roles in Galaxy Quest and Dodgeball.

Check out all the ads here. My favorite personal favorite is 'Viruses'.

Jon started off by excitedly talking about the night's moustache guest, Tom Selleck. According to Jon, many celebrities look completely in person than they do on TV/film (he used himself as an example). Tom Selleck looks exactly as he appears on TV, one BAMF. In fact, Jon walked around backstage and saw Selleck wrestle a crocodile.

Back in September of 2005, The Daily Show featured a special report, "Evolution Schmevolution", during which they totally resolved the issue concerning intelligent design vs. evolution in just four half-hour segments. Well, it looks like The Daily Show is off to fix another one of the world's problems with another special report. In response to the current turmoil over the immigration issue, they will present "Race: The Afrospanicindioasianization Of America". Ooh, catchy title. According to the press release, Rob Corddry, John Hodgman, and Demetri Martin ("Trendspotting" for immigrants?) will be joining Jon Stewart to completely solve the issues of bigotry and illegal immigration within 22 minutes.

I wish they still had Lewis Black hanging around. For some reason, I feel like a "Back in Black" portion would be appropriate. Anyway, this episode will air on Wednesday at regular TDS time (11:00 PM EST).

Apparently, New York was (is?) experiencing some peculiar weather on these first few days of Spring. "If you see the groundhog today, y'punch him in the face for me," Jon ordered. That Punxsutawney Phil is a lying bastard. Jon then did a few jokes to reference something that happened during the pre-show warm-up. An audience member brought Jon some wine as a gift, but it left Jon concerned. "Should wine be carbonated?" Well, it doesn't really matter... If it has a fancy name, drink it.