Tag Archives: Jon Stewart

First class

Posted on October 20, 2011 | 1 Comment

You can’t put a price on friendship.

But let’s face it — a friend whose brother is a writer on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart is inherently worth more.

I was in the audience for yesterday’s taping of the The Daily Show.  It’s not the first time I’ve been at the show; that’s one of the perks of living in New York City.

It was the first time I was considered a VIP guest and entered through the appropriately-named VIP entrance.  The first time I got to hang out in the staff lounge before the show instead of outside in the rain with the ‘regular audience.’

The first time I sat in the front row in the seats closest to Jon Stewart and guest Al Sharpton.  The first time I got to take a tour of backstage and the The Daily Show offices.

Yeah, it was the first time I was in the same room with the head writer and Samantha Bee and John Oliver.  And the second time I met staff writer Kevin Bleyer, who I sat next to on a very delayed flight from North Carolina many years ago.  

(I remembered way more about our meeting than he did — imagine.)

And I imagine I will remember yesterday in vivid detail for years to come.


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Posted in Celebrities, Comedy, Commentary, Entertainment, Friends, Humor, Life, News, Television, TV

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Action!

Posted on September 4, 2011 | Leave a comment

The Daily Show may be smarter and funnier.…and The Colbert Report more cutting edge.

But The Onion News Network?

They’ve got action figures.

And not just dolls of the lead anchors like you might expect them to sell — even Stephen Colbert has one of those — but action figures for names that appear daily in their newscast…like ‘missing sorority girl,’ ‘trunk mom,’ and ‘noted author pundit doll.’

Awesome sauce.

It’s the quality you demand in your children’s action figures. They want to play with ripped-from-the headlines toys, and The Onion News Network is bringing them to their playrooms and sandboxes.

Here’s the commercial for the figures, but be warned.  If your kids see it, they’ll want ‘em.

So be prepared…to take action!

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Posted in Advertising, Children, Comedy, Entertainment, Family, Games, Humor, Life, News, Television, Toys, TV

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Kiss and tail

Posted on June 12, 2011 | Leave a comment

The Tony Awards are tonight!

As excited as I am to see the incomparable Neil Patrick Harris host the festivities, and watch performances from the most exciting lineup of nominated shows in years…

I’m really psyched about the red carpet.

You see, the Tonys are in my ‘hood this year, at the Beacon Theatre on the Upper West Side.  You may remember it as the site of Comedy Central’s Night of Too Many Stars, A Benefit for Autism, hosted by Jon Stewart.

Rory and I happened upon that red carpet quite by accident.  A small crowd of people had gathered on the sidewalk across the street from the red carpet, so we stopped to see who we could see.

Most of the celebs got out of their cars and went straight into the media tent, but a few acknowledged the crowd.  Amy Poehler and Will Arnett waved.  Jack Black did a high energy running high-five.

And Jimmy Fallon kissed my dog.

I was holding Rory in the crush of people.  Jimmy was shaking hands and working the crowd — this was right before Late Night went on the air.  When he stepped in front of me, he said “Your dog is so cute,” and then kissed Rory right on the mouth.

Rory never heard from Jimmy again.

Success will do that to a person, I guess.

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Posted in Broadway, Celebrities, Dogs, Entertainment, Humor, Life, Television, Travel, TV, Walking

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Put ‘em up

Posted on June 7, 2011 | 2 Comments

If you’re a fan of Late Night with Jimmy Fallon or The Colbert Report (or both), you know the two hosts are in the middle of a feud that threatens their ‘six-month friendship.’

Colbert has slammed Fallon for using a photo of his recent appearance on Late Night in Emmy promotional materials, when the two hosts compete in the same category.  Colbert even took Fallon to task in a spoof of his “Thank You Notes” segment, which is now a New York Times best-selling book.

Fallon responded to Colbert’s accusations last night on Late Night, doing a little spoofing of his own. Here’s how it all went down:

I love this.

Kudos to Stephen Colbert for seeing an opportunity to create some late night mischief, and to Jimmy Fallon for lobbing the ball right back at him.  I hope the two keep this ‘feud’ going throughout the Emmy nomination process, the awards show and beyond.

With a fight this good, they might just have a chance at snatching that Emmy away from Jon Stewart.

You know…it kinda makes The Sticky Egg wanna get into a feud with another blog.  Gonna start looking around today.

I’m itching for a fake fight myself.

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Posted in Blogs, Celebrities, Comedy, Entertainment, Humor, Television, TV

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King of cameo

Posted on September 25, 2010 | 1 Comment

Move over, Jon Stewart.  Stephen Colbert, this is the word:

Brian Williams, anchor of “NBC Nightly News.”

We know he’s funny.  He was the first news anchor invited to host “Saturday Night Live” …and he killed it.  Now he’s popping up everywhere, adding his dry wit all over the television lineup.

In case your DVR isn’t quite as active as mine — hey, TV viewing makes you more well-rounded — here are some choice scenes from recent weeks you may have missed.

  • On last night’s “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon,” Brian ‘slow jammed’ the news headlines with Jimmy and the Roots.  See how Brian counters a shot at his manhood from Jimmy.
  • Last Thursday, Brian popped up again on Jimmy Fallon, this time to pay homage to guest Jon Hamm.  (Apparently, Brian is a big “Mad Man” fan.)  The entire episode is online; Jon pops up — complete with Brian cameo — at the 19:00 mark.
  • Brian even crossed the aisle and visited “Late Show with David Letterman” last month, where David tortured him about doing Jay Leno.  Be sure and watch the entire clip — the ending is classic.

I’ve even spied him doing shtick on the plaza on “Today.”  A cameo from Brian is a hit every time.

Brian, if it were up to me, you would be the host for tonight’s season premiere of “Saturday Night Live”…but since the show went another way, I’ll just have to keep my fingers crossed that you’ll ‘pop up’ later this year.

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Posted in Celebrities, Comedy, Entertainment, Humor, News, Television, TV

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NYC saves

Posted on September 15, 2010 | Leave a comment

In the most recent issue of New York magazine — which features Jon Stewart mugging on the cover — a sidebar stat jumped out at me more than any feature story could.

It compared suicide rates nationally versus those in New York City.  (The percentages quoted were per 100,000 population.)

Nation:  11.4 %

New York City 5.7%

(The numbers for Manhattan drop to 5.2% if you take away the out-of-towners who come to our lovely metropolis to off themselves.)

Surprised?  I certainly was.  I think we all assume that city living is more stressful, and higher stress leads to more thoughts — and acts — of ending it all.

And then you see these numbers.

But then — maybe I shouldn’t be so surprised.  Because even if New Yorkers think about ending it all, there is so much here to distract us from taking that final step!

Having a bad day?  You can go see a Broadway show!

Is your job is driving you insane?  Walk home through Central Park or just sit along the Hudson River and you’ll feel instantly renewed.

Life can seems meaningless and without merit…and then you have the opportunity to hear a great writer speak or witness an amazing piece of artwork up close and personal.  Even when your world seems small and claustrophobic, you can look around and see the diversity and beauty that is New York City.  I’m sure that fact alone saves people every day.

Oh…and Jon Stewart.  He keeps us going as well.

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Posted in Beauty, Celebrities, Commentary, Health, Home, Humor, Life, Magazine, News, Travel

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Gatefest

Posted on June 17, 2010 | 2 Comments

Today is the anniversary of the Watergate burglary, the day the word “gate” took on a whole new meaning.

I was just commenting on this the other day after I attended “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.  He coined the phrase “AssFest 2010″ to commemorate Obama’s pledge to kick some ass in the BP oil spill fiasco.  But my first thought was,

“Where’s the gate?”

There have been some great gates over the years.  Perhaps it’s a sign of age, but I’d enjoy a look back at some of my favorites.  Shall we?

  • Billygate — President Jimmy Carter’s brother Billy — the one with his own beer — represented the Libyan government as a foreign agent.  That’s okay, Billy.  We liked to forget you were an American, too.
  • Camillagate — A taped conversation of the then illicit relationship between Prince Charles and Camilla Parker-Bowles was leaked.  (They’re married now, so it’s all good.)
  • Fajitagate – I just heard about this one Tuesday in a cab in Modesto, CA.  Three off-duty San Francisco policeman arrested two men carrying bags of steak fajitas mistaken for drugs.  The chief of police was eventually fired (and the fajitas were eaten).
  • Nannygate — Rob Lowe’s nanny sues him for sexual harrassment.  Rob Lowe sues her right back, and nothing comes of it.  You can’t mess with Rob Lowe.  He’s that good-looking.

You’ll notice the original Watergate didn’t make my list.  It never will.  The hearing coverage preempted the afternoon soaps for weeks.

That kinda thing really scars a kid.

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Posted in Humor, Politics, Travel

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Otherwise engaged

Posted on June 9, 2010 | Leave a comment

After being lucky enough to be in the studio audience yesterday for “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart,” my friend Leah and I wandered the city, in search of the perfect post-show place for drinks and dinner.

Obviously, Manhattan is an embarrassment of choices; that’s why it took blocks and blocks to settle on a rather touristy final destination: the Heartland Brewery near Radio City Music Hall (because their burgers really are very good).

During our long walk — which didn’t seem long at all because it was such a gorgeous night — I was reminded of another evening in New York City, long before I moved here, that ended up at that ultimate of tourist’s traps, the Hard Rock Cafe.

I was working at Hallmark Cards then, and we were launching a line celebrating the 20th anniversary of “Saturday Night Live.”  To speed along the approval process — usually handled via snail mail — we brought all 100+ cards to New York City and met with the SNL Creative Director ‘live.’

In one afternoon, we received approvals on all 108 cards with only four changes.  It was somewhat of a record that I’ll bet still stands in the Hallmark Hall of Licensing.

Somewhat giddy, we headed to Hard Rock where we did many, many shots and, by evening’s end, I found myself engaged — in name only — to the very married director of the licensing design studio.  (He’s never made good on that proposal, by the way.)

And people wonder why I decided to move here…

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