As you may have heard, Jon Stewart is taking the summer off to work on a film project and John Oliver is taking over as host of the Daily Show in his absence. With that said, last night was Oliver’s first in the new role and it was admittedly a little, well, weird. And Oliver himself acknowledged that at the start of the show.
“I am John Oliver and let’s all acknowledge for a moment that this is weird,” he said. “This looks weird, it feels weird, it even sounds weird. And this is my actual voice.”
With that said, the show really didn’t miss a beat in the early going. Where’s Stewart’s absence was felt, however, came during the interview portion of the show, where Oliver seemed a little out of his element. (In Oliver’s defense, his interview with Seth Rogen last night marked the first time he’d ever interviewed a celebrity.) It doesn’t help that Stewart is such an amazing interviewer — it only serves to make Oliver’s inexperience and weaknesses in that regard all the more glaring.
Anyway, here’s the opening of the show where Oliver himself admitted that the whole thing felt kind of weird…
And here’s a skit that was done later in the show in which Daily Show correspondents express their dismay at being passed over to be be Stewart’s substitute while he’s away for the summer…
