The Daily Show, the last stance for satire in America, has long been heralded as one of the great comedy shows of our time. It does, however have the unique status (along with The Chappelle Show) of being one of the best American comedies and yet generally unavailable on European TV.
It’s a shame, but I can see the logic. Both shows, The Daily Show especially, are dedicated to American cultures and fads. They both feature satire of American current affairs and marketing and they both refer to things that most Europeans wouldn’t be able to relate to. Saying that, a show like The Daily Show covers international stories a lot, and by international I mean American.
Here John Stewart gives a slick one-two to the likes of Bill O’Reilly; as a matter of fact he references an article that I spoke about some weeks ago. He does it with more style, wit and impact but that’s hardly the point.
We need this show in Ireland, even just at midnight on TV3. Either that or we need our own version*.
* A little known fact is that Xit-File (and Xit-Poll), the ill-fated current affairs satire that ran on RTE for a short while was infact an Irish port of The Daily Show but one that lacked the over all talent needed to carry such a genre. Colin Murphy was good, the rest were terrible. BBC are due to launch their own port of the same in the coming months, apparently.