Josh Gad on the Daily Show

[tomtheflash]

New guy Josh Gad on the daily show...

Anyone know anything about him? What did you think?

[BillBrasky]

I didn't see him on the Daily Show, but I know he started out doing that spelling bee show on Broadway, and then he was on the Kelsey Grammer show "Back to You" and in the movie "The Rocker". He's in two pilots that might become shows next season: ABC's superhero sitcom "No Heroics", and CBS's "Waiting to Die", starring Nick Thune and T.J. Miller. (I think he would be a recurring character in the former, and a regular on the latter).
He's all right. Kind of reminds me of Chris Farley mixed with a more toned-down Jack Black.

[Aaron1933]

Originally Posted by BillBrasky

He's all right. Kind of reminds me of Chris Farley mixed with a more toned-down Jack Black.

So you're saying he's fat.

[BillBrasky]

His sweaty energy reminds me of Chris Farley in "Chris Farley Show" mode.
Yes, he's fat, but it's more his mannerisms.

[BillBrasky]

Josh's first piece:

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	M - Th 11p / 10c
Bank Stress Tests
thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Economic Crisis Political Humor

[yumitree]

josh gad was also on the young republican episode of party down.

[tomtheflash]

He does seem chris farley-esque...

That kind of rough, aggressive comedy seemed out of place on the daily show for me though. Lewis Black pulls it off cos it's presented as his own segment, but it felt weird with Josh as a correspondant.

[scamboogah]

I agree. I'll hold off on final judgement until after a few more appearances, but his energy just didn't work for me at all in this piece.

[tomtheflash]

Josh Gad's first feature yesterday...

I think he did a better job this time. He's still a bit too fat.

[Harry Bongers]

I caught a bit of it and didn't like him at all. Maybe on something else but seems way out of place on TDS.

[Wizz]

Gad's piece didn't do much for me either, but i distinctly remember HATING John Oliver and Aasif Mandvi at first as well, and eventually warming up to them. Hopefully the same will happen with Gad.

[aenemaTron]

Face it, the Daily Show stinks now.

[Umlaut]

Originally Posted by aenemaTron

Face it, the Daily Show stinks now.

I don't know if you are kidding, and if you are, disregard this:

The Daily Show is on four nights a week 40 weeks a year. I'd say their batting average of good/great episodes & segments is somewhere around where SNL's is. The quality of the show is contingent on what kind of a news day it was, both in events and coverage. Typically, slow news days leads to uneventful coverage leads to mediocre Daily Show.

When there's a spirited/stupid public debate happening, and certainly in any election season, it is indispensible.

You are a sourpuss.

[DiscoInferiorityComplex]

I want more info on how they managed to wrangle that panicked crowd in the park at the end of his segment. That came off creepily realistic.

[bridgetosolace]

Originally Posted by Umlaut

The quality of the show is contingent on what kind of a news day it was, both in events and coverage. Typically, slow news days leads to uneventful coverage leads to mediocre Daily Show.

Even a 'bad' daily show is still charming and interesting. SNL is too harsh a comparison, I think. The daily show has consistently been solid since I started watching.

I wasn't crazy for Gad's segment, but I didn't dislike it. I think they're trying something new by bringing in someone with different sensibilities. As much as I love Cobert, it's a nice change of pace to have someone who's doing a twist on that same old character.

I predict Jon Oliver is the next major breakout star of the show, similar to Corrdry. You can tell Stewart loves to have him on because they're comfortable improvizing with eachother.

[tomtheflash]

Originally Posted by bridgetosolace

Even a 'bad' daily show is still charming and interesting. SNL is too harsh a comparison, I think. The daily show has consistently been solid since I started watching.

I agree, a "bad" Daily Show still has it's moments, and I think charming is a really good way to put it.

When SNL is bad it just seems obnoxious and irritating...

My main feeling was at least Josh Gad improved upon his first appearance, at this rate he'll end up being perfectly fine.

[aenemaTron]

I don't want to derail the thread - though this really isn't worth its own - but really, the person I dislike is Jon Stewart. He's worse every day, I am not exaggerating. That's all. I really like the correspondents.

[bridgetosolace]

Originally Posted by aenemaTron

I don't want to derail the thread - though this really isn't worth its own - but really, the person I dislike is Jon Stewart. He's worse every day, I am not exaggerating. That's all. I really like the correspondents.

If you don't want to elaborate for the sake of thread cohesion, feel free, but curious as to what you don't like about Jon. Too much message, too much 'Jon reacting to ridiculous news' things or did you just never find him particularly funny?

Because I could not disagree more. I've seen him do stand up twice, and even in a college sports arena he manages to make it feel intimate and special. Oh, and hilarious.

[aenemaTron]

I haven't seen him do stand up since forever, and I don't really recall it anyway. But I am just talking about the Daily Show. The mugging, the stupid voices, the pandering to the studio audience... it's the opposite of what I consider to be good comedy. Yes, he's made some good points that are fairly unheard of in the mainstream. But he doesn't make me laugh, and is really annoying. I couldn't care less how intimate his stadium set was.

[Dimsdale]

I think Jon Stewart is a really smart/funny guy, and I'd say politically I agree with him a large majority of the time, but I think as a comedian he has certain crutches that he falls back on too easily (namely, the stuff that aenemaTron mentioned). I think it's mostly a byproduct of having to fill a half hour of time a show, because whenever I see him outside of the show (either stand-up or guesting on someone else's show) he's really good. But sometimes I feel like when they can't find enough material for a show, they just decide to have Jon mug his way through another segment which can be basically be boiled down to 'gee, 24-hour news networks really exaggerate and sensationalize things, don't they?'. It can be funny in small doses (especially when they find particularly egregious examples of this, like Glenn Beck or someone) but on a nightly basis it gets tedious.

On the other hand, I know Conan has said that his show is designed for people who don't watch it every day...maybe The Daily Show should be thought of the same way.