Via University of Otago

As the Senate sends the Health Care Reconciliation Bill back to the House to make minor adjustments/vote on it, I find myself expectantly looking to Comedy Central at 11pm, but finding only the emptiness and bitterness that comes with a rerun of The Daily Show.  But some part of me keeps hoping against all rational thought that Jon Stewart and his team have randomly decided to come back to comment on the insanity of the situation, the dickishness of all involved and the hyperbole of the media.  But instead, I find only week-old jokes about Chris Dodd's wattle.  And then I realize how often it seems that The Daily Show goes on a break and some large news story happens that gets the media abuzzing and falling overthemselves to declare things in the most superlative and unsubstantiated ways possible.  Some of these news events seem planned to coincide with the infotaining show's leave of absence, while others are just bizarre coincidences.  It seems like it's quite often that Stewart and his crew are unable to lend their rational, deflating voice to the partisan squabbling that clogs up much of the airwaves.

I'm not one of the large demographic of people that gets his news from The Daily Show.  I tend to frequent New York Times and Huffington Post for that.  However, I am someone who turns to The Daily Show's invaluable army of interns and media libraries as they expose all the various instances of hypocrisy that I tend to miss while I avoid cable news channels.  And it seems I'm not the only one who deeply misses Stewart's clarifying call for accountability and civility.  The Huffington Post generated this list of the 12 largest news stories that occurred while Daily Show was on a break.  And so, in light of this collective longing for the humorous and insightful critique of our government and media, I humbly propose that The Daily Show develops...The B Team!

I should first point out that I know many other people have made similar suggestions on the web - but whatever, it's my website.  Deal with it, America!  Also - I recognize that the show doesn't just need to give Stewart a break, most of his production and writing staff are probably entitled to the vacations as well.  Or else they're using the time to shoot remote bits or interview random people around the country.  But what I'm proposing isn't simply a guest host - it would be an entire unit.

Basically the B Team (or Bee Team, if you want it to be helmed by Samantha Bee) would be a collection of producers, writers and comedians who would have the opposite schedule of Stewart.  They would cover for him and the regular staff whenever they go on a break.  It could be the same people who work on the show now, or a totally different group brought in - but selected by Stewart, et al and mentored by the entire staff.

"But Monkey," you say, "isn't that cost prohibitive?  I mean, you're basically doubling a staff for one show."  To which I respond, "why's it always gotta be about the money with you, man?  You've changed.  You've changed."  But yes, it is true that hiring additional workers - even if it's only for small amounts of time - would not be the best choice financially - but only in the short term.  However, in the long term, Comedy Central would be investing in an ongoing mechanism with the potential of paying off in a bunch of different ways.

This B Team is a chance to grow the Daily Show brand - create more "spinoffs" like The Colbert Report, recruit more talent to develop other shows like they did with Demetri Martin's Important Things with Demetri Martin or just have a deeper stable of artists to go to as the correspondents and writers leave to pursue other opportunities (like Ed Helms, Rob Corddry, Steve Carell, etc.).  If the B Team needs more regular work than just a few weeks in a year, then they can develop web content or begin working on a follow-up to America: The Book.

So I implore you, Daily Show producers and Comedy Central big wigs (and even a few of you Comedy Central petite wigs), please consider implementing the B Team so we can have an unbroken streak of laughter for many, many years to come.