The video: Viewers of "The Daily Show" got a shock last night when they were greeted not by Jon Stewart, but by pint-sized pop idol Justin Bieber. The teenage singer began the show in Stewart's trademark style, playing with his pen and swivelling on his chair, before the hoodie-clad host burst in, claiming to have Bieber's spirit stuck in his body. Riffing on the 1988 Fred Savage body-swap comedy Vice Versa, Stewart made Bieber touch a mystical skull so that the two could return to their real bodies.
The reaction: The gag was "part of an elaborate, semi-comedic scheme" to promote Bieber's new biopic, says Jen Chaney at The Washington Post, and, if nothing else, made us "imagine a world with Bieber as talk show host. It's okay if you spontaneously shivered just then." It's actually too bad they switched back, says Dave Itzkoff at The New York Times. "We really would have liked to have seen Mr. Bieber interview Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, later in the show." Watch Bieber take a spin in Stewart's chair (and body?) here: