laphenix's review against another edition
4.0
A fun, funny, and heartbreaking read. The Daily Show hasn't been the same since.
katstermonster's review against another edition
5.0
Incredible. Made me laugh to the point of crying, then actually cry. So good.
jrails1983's review against another edition
4.0
Not only was this a fun behind the scenes history of one of my favorite shows, but I found the recap of the Bush years to be oddly comforting in that we survived that and therefore I don't think the next four years are as daunting.
lgiegerich's review against another edition
5.0
If you are a fan of the Daily Show, this book is wonderful. I stayed up way past my bedtime the past few days reading it, bc I couldn't get enough of the stories & behind the scenes gossip (although there wasn't as much gossip as maybe I salaciously hoped). Keep device ready, bc I kept looking up clips of the bits they described. It also made me wish we still had Jon Stewart on the air in these uncertain times!
nunelson's review against another edition
4.0
I didn't know what I was getting into with this book, and once it started its not my normal kind of read, but I really enjoyed it. To progress through the Jon Stewart Era of the show and how he and his team built it into the powerhouse it is, was interesting. . . And the whole thing is told through their direct comments.
shelfimprovement's review against another edition
5.0
If you asked me who I missed more, Jon Stewart or my deceased mother, I'd have to stop and think before answering.
I started watching Jon in college, during the '04 election. I thought the war in Iraq was shady and amoral, but the Republican mantra (at the time, anyway) was that disagreeing with the President made you unpatriotic. Jon Stewart was the only one I saw actually challenging that idea. I consider him one of most important factors in my understanding of the world and I have so much respect for him and the way he did his show. He was always so smart and thoughtful and exacting on top of being ridiculously funny.
I didn't become a serious devotee until after graduation, though, probably in early 2007. At that point, I threw myself into it: I once drove from Philly to Atlantic City and back in the same night to see him do stand-up, and I drove to DC for the Rally to Restore Sanity with a raging hangover from the Halloween party my roommates hosted the night before. I bailed on a night out with coworkers in Toronto to sit alone in my hotel room and watch his final show. I feel significantly less informed now that he's not on the air.
This book seems to be flying under the radar a bit. I only heard about it a few weeks before its release, a blip in a Vulture monthly roundup, and I think that's the only press I've seen. Almost none of my Goodreads friends have shelved it, which seems odd. It's not even available at my local library system (just outside DC, the selection is usually not particularly limited). I was grateful to have received it as a Christmas gift.
So it's not making headlines, but any fan of Jon Stewart and The Daily Show ought to check this out. Oral histories can be tricky. They're often lax about providing context and sometimes assume the reader already knows a lot about the topic, but this was incredibly comprehensive. They talked to everyone, with the notable exception of Wyatt Cenac, and they talk about everything, including the Wyatt Cenac stuff. They went into the good, the bad, and the ugly, and it seemed like they were trying to be fair and honest about the bad and the ugly. Except for Wyatt, they got all the sides of the stories. And they left no story out. This book was filled to the brim with facts and tidbits I didn't know and it made me giggle relentlessly. It was so enjoyable that I read all 400 pages in a day and a half.
But, really, what I loved most was remembering all the funny bits from over the years--I can't believe I forgot about the Gitmo puppet. I wish they'd do a follow-up book about The Colbert Report, because I might miss that show more than Jon Stewart and my mother combined.
Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go watch a bunch of clips on YouTube.
I started watching Jon in college, during the '04 election. I thought the war in Iraq was shady and amoral, but the Republican mantra (at the time, anyway) was that disagreeing with the President made you unpatriotic. Jon Stewart was the only one I saw actually challenging that idea. I consider him one of most important factors in my understanding of the world and I have so much respect for him and the way he did his show. He was always so smart and thoughtful and exacting on top of being ridiculously funny.
I didn't become a serious devotee until after graduation, though, probably in early 2007. At that point, I threw myself into it: I once drove from Philly to Atlantic City and back in the same night to see him do stand-up, and I drove to DC for the Rally to Restore Sanity with a raging hangover from the Halloween party my roommates hosted the night before. I bailed on a night out with coworkers in Toronto to sit alone in my hotel room and watch his final show. I feel significantly less informed now that he's not on the air.
This book seems to be flying under the radar a bit. I only heard about it a few weeks before its release, a blip in a Vulture monthly roundup, and I think that's the only press I've seen. Almost none of my Goodreads friends have shelved it, which seems odd. It's not even available at my local library system (just outside DC, the selection is usually not particularly limited). I was grateful to have received it as a Christmas gift.
So it's not making headlines, but any fan of Jon Stewart and The Daily Show ought to check this out. Oral histories can be tricky. They're often lax about providing context and sometimes assume the reader already knows a lot about the topic, but this was incredibly comprehensive. They talked to everyone, with the notable exception of Wyatt Cenac, and they talk about everything, including the Wyatt Cenac stuff. They went into the good, the bad, and the ugly, and it seemed like they were trying to be fair and honest about the bad and the ugly. Except for Wyatt, they got all the sides of the stories. And they left no story out. This book was filled to the brim with facts and tidbits I didn't know and it made me giggle relentlessly. It was so enjoyable that I read all 400 pages in a day and a half.
But, really, what I loved most was remembering all the funny bits from over the years--I can't believe I forgot about the Gitmo puppet. I wish they'd do a follow-up book about The Colbert Report, because I might miss that show more than Jon Stewart and my mother combined.
Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go watch a bunch of clips on YouTube.
cheryl6of8's review against another edition
4.0
One irritation/negative comment -- they kept quoting Mo Rocca, pronounced "Row-Kuh", but I listen to him on Wait Wait, Don't Tell Me, and Mo pronounces his last name "Rock-A".
This was a warts and all look Jon Stewart and The Daily Show that made me fall in love with him all over again, although I never fell out of love. I admire his commitment to the truth and his willingness to tell the truth even when it means he looks like a jerk. I love the insight into John Oliver and Stephen Colbert and even some of the correspondents that irritated me, like Jason Jones and Jordan Klepper. I really didn't understand how much of the show was really Stewart's vision, that he wasn't just a talking head or a part of the creative team, but the actual driving force. Jon Stewart changed the world by changing how we look at the world. I know he doesn't think he did enough or changed enough of the awful things, but he fought and he inspired us to fight, and if he does nothing else ever, the world is a better place for his passionate scrutiny of it.
This was a warts and all look Jon Stewart and The Daily Show that made me fall in love with him all over again, although I never fell out of love. I admire his commitment to the truth and his willingness to tell the truth even when it means he looks like a jerk. I love the insight into John Oliver and Stephen Colbert and even some of the correspondents that irritated me, like Jason Jones and Jordan Klepper. I really didn't understand how much of the show was really Stewart's vision, that he wasn't just a talking head or a part of the creative team, but the actual driving force. Jon Stewart changed the world by changing how we look at the world. I know he doesn't think he did enough or changed enough of the awful things, but he fought and he inspired us to fight, and if he does nothing else ever, the world is a better place for his passionate scrutiny of it.
lcy_rose's review against another edition
funny
informative
reflective
slow-paced
3.5
Very interesting history, the audiobook readers are excellent.
kszr's review against another edition
5.0
hilarious telling of the Daily Show - and I remember each episode!