Gawker: valleywag, jon stewart

Daily Show Discovers Twitter

Owen Thomas — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 11:04:19 EST

What do you do when you're late to a trend? Mock yourself! Watch Jon Stewart's Daily Show writers, one of whom only started using the banal messaging service on Oscars night, try to catch up.

The subtext of the opening clip, which sets up the media's relentless fascination with Twitter: Every other media outlet in the world picked up on Twitter before the Daily Show did. Welcome to Twitteronia, kids.

Here's the full segment:

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Twitter Frenzy

The Revenge of Amazon.com's 'Chuckling Maniac'

Owen Thomas — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 02:00:22 EST

Jeff Bezos turned up on the Daily Show couch to promote Amazon.com's newest Kindle e-book reader. And as this clip shows, he laughed, and laughed, and laughed. Why wouldn't he?

Host Jon Stewart seemed discomfited by his guest's wild, table-slapping howls. But any tech reporter who's interviewed Bezos knows that the Amazon.com's CEO hooting laughter is his most distinctive personal quality, the hook of every headline.

As the '90s bubble burst, observers wondered if Bezos's online bookstore would survive, as it lost money with every shipment. In 2000, then-Red Herring editor Jason Pontin called him a "chuckling maniac" running a "terrible company." Oops! Amazon.com survived and thrived while hundreds of other online retailers perished. Every profile writer since then has felt obligated to trot out a tired line about Bezos "getting the last laugh."

Yet that misunderstands Bezos. The laugh is part of his schtick. He's having fun! He's got a surprise! Where Apple CEO Steve Jobs wooed audiences with imperious cool, Bezos plays it loose and goofy. (Like the time he bragged about having sex at a commencement speech.) Just when you think you've got him figured out, he changes his story. It goes something like this:

You thought Amazon.com was a bookstore. No, wait, it's a retailer, the Wal-Mart of the Web. It's a bricks-and-mortar play, with superefficient real-world warehouses. No, it's a software maker whose Web services underpin the likes of Twitter and SmugMug. Oh, never mind — now it's all about the Kindle, which is clearly the iPod of the book world!

By shifting Amazon.com's focus, Bezos gets Wall Street to think about Amazon.com's starry potential rather than the grinding reality of its workaday business, which is a low-margin, highly competitive retail business. Bezos would never get on the Daily Show to talk about Amazon's latest discount electronics offers. That's the real joke here. And that's why Bezos is really laughing.

(Video by Ryan Tate)

Stephen Colbert blogs about his Twitters

Owen Thomas — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 16:00:00 EST

Whenever I read a Twitter, part of me wonders if the person who sent it has any actual work to do. Jon Stewart, cohosting Comedy Central's election-night coverage, wondered the same thing about cohost Stephen Colbert.

Jon Stewart mocks Congress for discussing Second Life

Jackson West — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 21:00:00 EDT

Pictured is a screen capture of the avatars assembled in Second Life for ~~yesterday's~~ last week's congressional hearing about virtual worlds. Why is congress giving Linden Lab the time of day? Terrorists, silly! According to Jane Harman, D-California, "Islamic militants are suspected of using Second Life, the Internet virtual world, to hunt for recruits and mimic real life terrorism." That's quite the bait to dangle in front of congress for free publicity, Linden Lab PR team! Full clip from the Daily Show after the jump.

Letterman, Stewart striking side deals with striking writers

Nicholas Carlson — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 18:39:10 EST

The Writers Guild of America (WGA), which represents TV and film writers striking over their Internet pay, has decided to negotiate with individual bosses instead of the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. Late-night hosts David Letterman and Jon Stewart will be the first to take the bait and negotiate side deals to get their shows back on the air, the New York Times reports. We're pretty sure Viacom will settle with Stewart's writers quickly. As the Daily Show scribes themselves pointed out, the company's $1 billion suit against Google/YouTube indicates they must understand the value of video online.

Colbert and Stewart ratings slip as writers strike

Nicholas Carlson — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 15:19:30 EST

The TV and film writers' strike over a share of Internet video revenue forced Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert out from behind their desks. Now, their absence is starting to take a toll on Comedy Central's ratings, as the channel airs outdated reruns of the always-topical shows. TV Decoder reports that among viewers ages 25 to 54, The Daily Show is down 35 percent and The Colbert Report is down 28 percent. But don't expect the "very successful entertainment executive, who is also quite young for his position" featured above to cave anytime soon.

Viacom spin machine deserves overtime pay

Nicholas Carlson — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 14:43:20 EDT

Yes, PR flacks are typically mindless automatons programmed to spout the company line. But sometimes I feel for them. Take Viacom's Jeremy Zweig, for example. Man's got to be dizzy from all the spin. First, he tells us that Viacom general counsel Michael Fricklas is "delighted" with Google's new YouTube Video Identification tool. Then we spot him telling others the lawsuit is still on. Because Viacom sues people it's "delighted" with? Not exactly.

The line Zweig has to give is that while Google is behaving now, the damage is already done. When clips go on YouTube, the argument goes, it degrades their value. But now, to explain why it put 13,000 clips of "The Daily Show" on the Web, Paul Beddoe-Stephens, VP at Viacom's Comedy Central, said that the success of Comedy Central clips on YouTube helped Viacom recognize the true value of putting archives online. Zweig's response to the latest? No comment. We don't blame him. (Photo by chefranden)

Viacom, Google show indecision in legal battle

Owen Thomas — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 16:38:08 EDT

It's not odd at all for a media company to plug its properties on others. So there's nothing inherently surprising in video ads for Comedy Central's "Indecision 2008" appearing on political blog Talking Points Memo. Unless, that is, you're aware of the troublesome legal history between Viacom, the ad's purchaser, and Google, the company which placed the ad on Talking Points.

Viacom and Google, last year, had agreed to experiment with distributing videos on Google's AdSense network, the system that Talking Points and other blogs use to carry ads. That trial, a Google spokesman told me earlier this year, had run its course and wasn't renewed — unsurprising, as Google and Viacom revved up legal hostilities over charges of copyright infringement on Google's YouTube video site. That raises the question: Is this a one-off ad placement — or a sign of detente between the online-video powers.

Google wants to depose Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert

Owen Thomas — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 17:27:49 EDT

Well, this should be good for a laugh: In its pending copyright spat with Viacom, Google has listed comedians Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert as some of the Viacom employees it wants to depose, Silicon Alley Insider reports. No doubt it wants the fake newsmen to fess up to how much of their popularity they owe to free distribution on Google's YouTube. Read the entire legal filing here (PDF).

Times captures Stern, Stewart moments before prison camp internment

Nick Douglas — Mon, 30 Oct 2006 10:04:30 EST

Anyone can report that YouTube deleted loads of clips from Comedy Central, including South Park and the Daily Show.

But only the New York Times can capture the moment when Howard Stern and Jon Stewart are accosted by the police and forcibly dragged off the site — Jon cackling in disbelief, Stern already submissive to his captors.