Top Five Daily Show Moments of 2008

You can get your news from many sources these days: on the Internet, through newspapers (both online and print) and of course the tried and true 6 o'clock network broadcast. I prefer my news with a twist of sarcasm, so I choice to get the latest bulletins from Comedy Central's Daily Show. Jon Stewart and crew cut through the crap and show me the news that's really important. I always feel like I'm up on current events and know the world situation after watching Stewart. Some moments in 2008 were standouts.

Oct. 2, 2008: Larry Wilmore just wants the black guy to win; he doesn't care which one it is. This was a great bit, with Wilmore as the Daily Show senior black correspondent describing why he thinks McCain is a black white guy. "Who's been working at his job 26 years waiting to get a promotion and some inexperienced Harvard egghead comes in and snaps it up? I think McCain's feeling pretty black right now." While some folks in the blogs were down on WiImore for painting blacks in a bad light, I think he puts in front of all of us the stereotypes that we know are there. I predict Wilmore will be the next Daily Show breakout star.

Sept. 18, 2008: Tony Blair explains his relationship with President Bush and why he supported the Iraq invasion. Jon probes deep to find out what it is about Bush that Blair likes. Blair is emphatic that allies should stick together and he doesn't want to get into the American debate over how Bush relates to the American public. A good look at how other countries and leaders view America and our leaders that you'll only get on the Daily Show.

July 29, 2008: Senator Ted Stevens may have known the Internet is a series of tubes, but he didn't realize that some of those tubes connect to the Justice Department. Way before Stevens ran for reelection, Jon Stewart and the Daily Show show us how the Senator got in trouble by accepting gifts to renovate his home. When all the nonsense about Stevens was coming out in the mainstream press in November, I knew what they were talking about because I saw in on the the Daily Show in July.

January 29, 2008: Presidential historian Doris Kearns Goodwin gives Jon a brief history of the State of the Union speeches. I love anytime Goodwin is on the Daily Show. She can explain all that messy political stuff in a way that makes you go, "oh, I get it now." In this episode she compares Bush's last State of the Union speech with others in history. Did you know that presidents will count the applause lines in the speech? Only on the Daily Show would I get this kind of information on presidential ego.

And now for your moment of Zen:

November 11, 2008: It looks as if Barack Obama has left the White House, but Fox News is watching the wrong gate. Leave it to the Daily Show to demonstrate how the "real" news stations many times get it wrong.