Trivia for
"The Daily Show" (1996)

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• The theme song is called "Dog on Fire".
  
  
• The "head-smasher" clip that was used during Craig Kilborn's 5 Questions segment is from the film _Lai wong (1991)_, or The Story of Ricky.
  
  
• Host Jon Stewart was the guest on Craig Kilborn's last shows as host. Since Kilborn is so tall, he gave Stewart a phone book to sit on to mirror his height.
  
  

• At the end of each show, a short clip from the broadcast, usually offbeat and slightly bizarre out of context, is replayed as a "Moment of Zen". The first "Moment of Zen" was file footage of a yak giving birth.
  
  
• At the beginning of every episode, the announcer lists the full date (month, day, year). On the first show of the year 2000, the year was listed as 1900, as a joke about the Y2K bug.
  
  
• According to a 7 October 2003, USA Today article, the show is pulled together in this way: a researcher scans major newspapers, the Associated Press, and cable news channels, then gives possible topics to the ten writers. These meet to discuss headline material for the lead news segment. By 11:15 a.m. they meet with Jon Stewart, and by 12:30 they have come up with jokes for the day's show. The cast hold a rehearsal, then the show is taped at 6:30 in front of an audience.
  
  
• Sen. John Edwards announced his intention to run for president on the show. Candidate Carol Moseley-Braun dropped out of the race the day after she did her interview on the show.
  
  
• Beginning in 2004, every couple of weeks or so, before a commercial break, Jon Stewart would introduce a "new, exciting, already cancelled spin-off" of the Daily Show, followed by "clips" from "The Colbert Réport" with Stephen Colbert adding "It's French, bitch!". The brief segments consisted of Colbert ranting about news stories and yelling at politicians in fake interviews using archive footage. These segments became so popular that "The Colbert Report" did actually become a spin-off in 2005.
  
  
• Comedy Central also produces a version of the show for viewers on CNN International called "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart: Global Edition". It is shown every weekend, and contains excerpts from the past week's episodes, giving more focus on global rather than US issues. The Global Edition runs in the format of headlines, report, celebrity interview. Jon tapes an exclusive introduction and outro for the Global Edition (sometimes in front of the audience, other times not), and the "moment of Zen" is called "the international moment of Zen".
  
  
• Jon Stewart auctioned off the interview couch from the show.
  
  
• During the 2007-2008 Writer's Strike, the show was renamed "A Daily Show with Jon Stewart". Stewart stated that the show was not "The Daily Show" without his writers.
  
  
• In the first few weeks, there was no audience. In the following weeks, staff members were encouraged to watch the show just offstage and laugh at the jokes. For the second season, a studio audience was brought in and this format remained for the rest of the show's run.
  
  
• Craig Kilborn was suspended for two weeks without pay in 1997 after he made disparaging remarks about head writer Lizz Winstead and other female show staffers in an interview for Esquire magazine. Winstead quit the show a month later.
  
  
• Bill Weir auditioned for the job of host after Craig Kilborn announced he was leaving the show.
  
  
• When the show was originally being developed, the producers offered Jon Stewart the job of hosting the show but he turned it down. When original host Craig Kilborn left in 1998, Stewart was approached again and he accepted.
  
  

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