The Daily Show was on break last week, which was a pretty inopportune time to go on break for a show that covers world news. So much happened! Japan! Libya! Yemen! It was, and is, an overwhelming time to be a follower of current events. So it makes sense that the crew over there had a bit of pent up energy just waiting to be unleashed when they got back on the air.
But man, they really had a singular focus last night. They spent what amounted to the entire episode lobbing bombs, like so many tomahawk missiles, at the Obama administration for their justification for the war/enforcement of a no-fly zone in Libya. Jon’s opening desk bits, above, were just the beginning.
He then brought out Aasif Mandvi for a piece making fun of the doublespeak used to avoid calling this thing a war. After all, a war needs to be authorized by congress, something the administration didn’t do. It ended with them using Obama’s own words against him, which was more of an oof moment than a hilarious one. Sort of a theme for the night.
They also had John Oliver come out to do an extended infomercial bit about America’s “Freedom Packages†— that is, the various responses America has to oppressive regimes, depending on said regime’s strategic worth. Again, it was funny to a point, but also sort of tough to watch.
The episode was a reminder of what we missed by not having The Daily Show on the air last week; these were perspectives we weren’t really seeing on cable news. While it’s certainly fucked up that we need a comedy show to get them out there, I’m glad that this one exists, even if it can sometimes make you squirm more than it makes you laugh.