When the Comedy Central programs go on hiatus, often some big news event happening during that time where you want to hear what Jon, or Stephen (or now Larry) would have to say about it.
This time The Daily Show is the source of that story. As is likely widely known by now, Jon Stewart will be succeeded by the newest Daily Show correspondent, Trevor Noah. While new to the program, and still unfamiliar to most Americans, Noah is well known in his native South Africa, and has toured extensively around the world. While it’s too early to know how many of the current program staff will remain (long-time correspondents Jason Jones and Samantha Bee have announced their departures, and Aasif Mandvi is on leave while pursuing other projects), the selection of Noah suggests to me that there will be a more international flavor to The Daily Show than there has been to date. Mandvi will be on with David Letterman on Thursday, so we might hear a little bit about the switch then. (As I mentioned above, The Daily Show and its fellow programs are off this week.)
Tonight (Monday) you can see Oscar Isaac on The Tonight Show. He plays a key role in Ex Machina, one of the many robot movies that have come out recently. The film is released on April 10 in the U.S. As for the rest of the week, it’s a bust.
A week into the new Late Late Show, it’s hard to suss out a trend in terms of how the show might address science and technology topics. It’s even too early to know if James Corden will have on authors and scientists like Craig Ferguson did. It is worth noting that Corden may be airing only four nights a week. This is consistent with Jimmy Kimmel’s program and Last Call with Carson Daly. Corden’s timeslot competitor, Seth Meyers, occasionally airs a repeat on Fridays, but not always.
Now that The Nightly Show is two months in, I’m comfortable in saying that the show is addressing science and technology topics. As the show continues to find its groove, this may well increase. Host Larry Wilmore considers himself a nerd, and to me that is a green light for more appearances in these posts.
In this week’s collection of segments I didn’t catch in advance, we have something from The Daily Show. On the March 25th program, Jon covered consequences of climate change in Florida and California.
If you still need some science and technology content, check your local PBS station. The cancer documentary The Emperor of All Maladies premiers tonight and runs through Wednesday.
Pasco Phronesis 