The Daily Show

The Daily Show is a comedy news program that airs on the Comedy Central network, currently hosted by Jon Stewart. The show, helmed by Stewart since 1999, was originally hosted by Craig Kilborn.

Appearances

 * Miss Piggy appeared on July 19, 1999 to promote Muppets From Space. Stewart takes several cheap shots, including comments about her cleavage and her relationship with Kermit. Two days later, Stewart took part in a comedycentral.com live chat in which he commented on her appearance: "Besides being oddly erotic, you can't help but leave the interview hungry and I was always fighting not to mention pork products." Three years later, in an interview for his alma mater's newspaper, assistant news editor Meghan Williams noted that he has interviewed everyone from Ralph Nader to Miss Piggy. Stewart replied, "By the way -- the same person. Ralph Nader is Miss Piggy. Nobody knows that, it's very interesting."


 * Kermit the Frog appeared on the show, to promote nothing in particular, on February 13th, 2001. Mention was made of a new Muppet show that did not end up being produced. Contrary to Piggy's appearance two years prior, Stewart remarks that it's the Frog who's running circles around him (by way of taking the cheap shots).

Muppet Mentions


The show has also featured Muppet-related parodies in their stories from time to time.


 * February 8, 1999 - While teasing topics that will be covered in the next episode, Jon Stewart shows a picture of Monica Lewinsky and asks, "Check us out tomorrow at 11 when we'll find out... Which Muppet is this?"


 * November 2000 — During the weeks in which the United States was in the middle of a presidential election recount, footage of The Count was used to create the illusion that the Muppet vampire was appearing on the show via satellite. He is introduced as the world's foremost authority on mathematics.


 * May 6, 2002 — Stephen Colbert hosts a segment on Sesame Street’s "negative" impact on children. Colbert speaks to a group of kids and asks them if they'd eat cabbage if the Cookie Monster was "the Cabbage Monster."


 * May 8, 2002 — A segment on the topic of literacy claims that reading was made cool again by a streetwise gang in New York (illustrated with characters from Sesame Street).


 * March 18, 2003 — A member of the British Parliament is shown in news footage speaking on the Iraq war. Jon Stewart interrupts with a volley of indiscernible mumbling which he claims was provided by the 5th Lord of Waldorf and the Duke of Statler.


 * April 4, 2004 - This episode included a segment entitled "The Muppets Take Manhattan From Behind."


 * January 18, 2005 - In the intro to the show, Jon Stewart describes a concert he went to the previous night, which featured "Hilary Duff and, uh, Jojo, and the Muppets. Who the hell knows."


 * February 28, 2005 — A Palisades Toys action figure of Gonzo was used in a shot of Michael Jackson's jury, along with Corey Feldman and Jabba the Hutt. After the shot Stewart commented with, "That was Gonzo! Gonzo couldn't get out of jury duty!"


 * April 14, 2005 — Reporting on the 36th season premiere of Sesame Street, Stewart mentions the episode's dedication to healthy eating and names a few guest stars, and reports on the new "cookies are a sometimes food" initiative. "It's perhaps the biggest behavior change in a show regular since 1974, when the then popular Smokey Monster then switched to filter tips. Smokey tragically succumbed to cancer of the googly eyes in '83. We miss you, Smokey."


 * October 2005 — After senior White House official Scooter Libby was indicted on criminal felony charges, the story was covered on The Daily Show: "By the way, it's not the first time a guy named Scooter has been in deep with the law. We all remember a certain incident in 1982. [A Photoshopped picture of a beaten-up Scooter Action Figure is shown]. You think he looks bad, they had to hose Gonzo off the floor." Stewart then followed with what Muppet fans would recognize as Scooter's signature arm-swinging motion.


 * January 8, 2006 — A clip from the Harry Belafonte episode of The Muppet Show was used to illustrate a point in relation to Harry Belafonte's comments while speaking publicly in Venezuela. "Don't go in that dressing room. Crazy Harry's in there."


 * Starting in 2005, the show began concluding with a "check-in" to the show's spin-off The Colbert Report which airs directly following the program. On the June 19, 2006 episode, Stephen Colbert's show description paid homage to The Muppet Show, even including a video clip of Sam the Eagle from episode 104.


 * Stewart: Welcome back to the program. Before we go we're going to check in with our good friend Stephen Colbert at The Colbert Report. Steven.


 * Colbert: Thanks Jon. Up next on a very special episode: space travel, sure it's possible, but for pigs? An update on Scandinavian cuisine with our in-house chef, and then our very special guest star Harry Belafonte will lead Fozzie and the gang in a chaotic, and hilarious, version of the "Banana Boat Song"...Day-O! It's so good even Statler and Waldorf will allow themselves to smile. All that plus a final off-key trumpet note from Gonzo. Jon.


 * Stewart: Stephen, it sounds like you have a dubious collection of guests there.


 * Sam Eagle: (clip from The Muppet Show) With a few exceptions, the characters on this program are weird and peculiar and not to be trusted.


 * Stewart: That's our show, join us tomorrow at 11. Here it is, your moment of Zen.


 * July 12, 2006 — Jon Stewart features a spot on Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum in which his re-election campaign involved distributing flyers titled "50 Things You May Not Know About Rick Santorum." In what Stewart called a fun quiz for his audience, a list of things supposedly found in the flyer were displayed on-screen, some of which are meant to be real, others of which are not. The last in several of these "facts" cites that "Rick is voiced by character actor Frank Oz."


 * October 30, 2006 — Samantha Bee presented a segment where she re-visted her "home town" in Ohio (despite not actually being from Ohio). She visits a school that she claimed was her "old school." She begins to "reminisce" about her old school days when an administrator from the school asks her who her teacher was. She looked around the classroom and, upon seeing the Think Different poster with Jim Henson hanging on the classroom wall, hesitantly replied "Jim Henson."


 * December 18, 2006 — An image of Elmo was featured in a "This Week in God" segment for holiday toys that aren't suitable for children. Elmo morphs into an evil demon version of himself and remarks, "Tickle my ass."


 * January 25, 2007 — The check-in with The Colbert Report featured clips and jokes on Colbert's role in the Sesame Street special All-Star Alphabet, in which he played the letter Z.


 * May 23, 2007 — Discussing the passing of an Iraq war funding bill, Stewart says: "As a matter of fact, let me show you how far they've come. This is Harry Reid, describing a very similar bill put forward by Republican John Warner, Virginia senator and part-time Sam the Eagle look-alike." A picture is shown of Warner next to Sam. Stewart continues, describing the resemblance: "It really is close."


 * July 26, 2007 — While covering a doping controversy in the Tour de France, Stewart turns to footage of the day's race. It's initially shown as a clip from The Great Muppet Caper’s "Couldn't We Ride" sequence, admitting that they clearly had the wrong footage for that news feed.


 * October 4, 2007 — John Oliver reports from "Dickensian London" as The Daily Show’s Senior Healthcare Analyst. Dressed as Oliver Twist from Charles Dickens' novel and speaking in a heavy brogue, Oliver reports that 19th century Londoners support U.S. President George W. Bush's veto of the State Children's Health Insurance Program, suggesting that a 7-year-old shouldn't be getting his health care from the government, he ought to be getting it from where he works. Helping to bring Oliver's illustion to life is a backdrop borrowed from The Muppet Christmas Carol.