Daily Show: Indecision 2004

DVD Reviews | Jun 26th, 2005

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Starring Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert, Rob Corddry, Samantha Bee, Ed Helms, Steve Carrell
Written By:
Directed By:
Studio: Paramount/ Comedy Central
Buy on Amazon.com link

I’ve been waiting for some type of DVD from Daily Show for a long time now and one has finally arrived. If you thought the Indecision 2004 episodes were great, well now you can own them on DVD…plus it’s uncensored! Which makes the show even funnier, or the way it was meant to be heard!

Daily Show has been going strong for quite some time and this is the first type of DVD to hit the shelves. The show’s format wouldn’t really work on DVD because there would be way too many discs to include a full season, plus a lot of the topics are out of date. So…the first volume of the Daily Show is their classic shows from the past tragedy, I mean election. Their cleverly named Indecision 2004 episodes are all included on this DVD set, or the ones where they went to Boston for the Democratic National Convention and came back to New York City for the Republican National Convention. The first disc is the Democratic National Convention and before you can go to the main menu, there’s an introduction with Jon Stewart. He says that the content on the DVD is old but who cares and watch it anyway, if you haven’t downloaded it already. He also says that Punky Brewster made it on DVD before they got on DVD, which is really funny/sad when you think about it. There’s a lot of great highlights on the first disc like Stephen Colbert singing to the camera in the Democratic crowd; Rob Corddry interviewing his hometown friends & his father; Samantha Bee, Stephen Colbert, Rob Corddry and Ed Helms annoying people at the convention; and how the media were a bunch of tools when Al Sharpton spoke at the convention. I thought it was great how at the end of one of the episodes, Jon Stewart basically said, form your opinion. Don’t listen to any of these douchebag news stations, and even the Daily Show; they’re just a comedy show that reports “fake news.” What’s good about the Daily Show is they don’t just attack Republicans, they make fun of everyone including the Democrats. That’s why the show has been successful over they years because it’s not one sided. Even though, you can tell where Jon Stewart, the other fake reporters and the audience stands on a lot of issues.

Disc 2 is all the shows from the Republican National Convention in New York City. The DVD intro is given by Stephen Colbert, he takes you around the set of the show with light classical music playing. During the intro, 10 seconds goes by as he’s using the bathroom. Afterwards, he chugs a whole bottle of water and goes to the bathroom again. As far as the Republican National Convention is concerned, It’s kind of sad how many times the speakers used 9/11 in their speeches and the Daily Show demonstrates that. It’s weird how the Daily Show makes fun of people they might have on the show the next day, but I guess that’s good that some politicians have a sense of humor. Some of the hilarious highlights included Stephen Colbert dancing around with a bunch of guy strippers, Arnold’s RNC speech, Plus seeing Rob Corddry amongst the protesters as a reporter was fantastic. I wonder if they warn the people before they interview them, that they are going to make fun of them. They really have a big set of balls for the type of stuff they say to guests & the ‘regular’ people they interview. The segment on Bush’ and the word he uses was perfect, and Colbert talked about how Bushie turned everything from Osama to Iraq & Saddam. It’s sad & creepy that people voted for this idiotic dictator. Though, probably the funniest part of both conventions was lunatic Zell Miller’s speech, and challenging Chris Matthews to an old fashion dual. I guess he forgot to take his crazy pills that day. One can’t forgot Lewis Black’s “Back in Black” segments on the show. Lewis Black is crazy himself but crazy in a good, funny way, not Zell Miller way. I wish he was on the show more but I guess what’s so funny about his segments because it’s a weekly wrap- up of crazy crap going around the world.

Disc 3 has the 45 minute Election Night episode, which was live that night. All the cast members are there, including the rare return of Steve Carell. Carell has been making various movies and in his own series, The Office so he’s not really on the Daily Show anymore. He’s probably my favorite cast member of the entire series’ run. Also on the disc is the first round of debates between Bush and Kerry, which is a laugh out loud riot! Disc 3 is also devoted to bonus features and each cast member has their own little section. When you click on their face, the menu is animated with the cast member saying something they usually say. I think another reason why the show is just fantastic is how the cast speak their lines. They really do spoof newscaster and reporters. Granted they weren’t the first show to do it (Not Necessarily the News) but they certainly do it the best! I think the best cast member on the show right now, besides Jon Stewart, is Stephen Colbert. I kept saying he was going to replace Stewart, if he ever left the show. But, Colbert is getting his own political show now and I think that’s great! He’s a super funny, intelligent guy. His extras just make me giggle because they are mostly interviews, and I’m shocked how he can keep a straight face for most of them. The Don King & Sharpton interviews are on here and definitely worth watching. The Minority Retort segment is in the extras as well, and it’s when Colbert rounds up all the minorities from the conventions and asked their views on certain topics. He asked an Indian lady if she was Indian; She said yes, and he then proceeds to ask her: Gandhi or Sitting Bull? I thought that was funny. The whole cast is great but I also think Rob Corddry is a standout “reporter.” I think he’s the funniest when he’s interviewing people at locations like at the Democratic Debates. Samantha Bee, Ed Helms and other miscellaneous extras are also included as well.

Daily Show’s Indecision 2004 is a good start for DVD, but I hope the next DVD release is a best of, containing all the funniest segments, and interviews from the start of the series. I remember Vance Degeneres, Brian Unger, Mo Rocco, Laura Kightlinger, Nancy Walls, Matt Walsh and Dave Attell, and of course Steve Carell who have a ton of absolutely funny segments that should be put on DVD. Something like the Chris Rock Show did, just put all the funny segments together and forgot the interviews. Late Night with Conan O Brien should do the same thing and put all the funny skits on DVD as well. I think the interview portion of the Daily Show is the weakest part; especially when they get some boring politician on. Yeah it’s a political show but they are fucking boring! If you have been watching the Daily Show from the start, like I have, then this DVD is a must have for any fan.

Features:
DVD Introduction by Jon Stewart
Original Segments featuring Jon Stewart and the Correspondents
Stephen Colbert’s Award-Not-Winning Featurette Requiem for a Show That Was Daily
Voice-Over Commentary by Rob Corddry, Ed Helms and Samantha Bee
Our National Anthem sung in 4-Correspondent Harmony

Audio:
ENGLISH: Dolby Digital Stereo CC

Video:
Standard 1.33:1 Color

Subtitles:
English, French

Favorite Scenes: All the episodes, the interviews with Don King & Sharpton, Steve Carell’s extra segment
Rating: NR
Running Time: 299 minutes
Extras Rating:
Overall Rating: