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:
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
The princess and the PR: Meghan Markle's image problemTalking Point A tough week for the Sussexes has seen a familiar tale of vitriol and invective thrown the way of the actor-cum-duchess
-
Cuba's mercenaries fighting against UkraineThe Explainer Young men lured by high salaries and Russian citizenship to enlist for a year are now trapped on front lines of war indefinitely
-
Living the 'pura vida' in Costa RicaThe Week Recommends From thick, tangled rainforest and active volcanoes to monkeys, coatis and tapirs, this is a country with plenty to discover
