The Daily Show revisits some crazy-sounding interview subjects, mines new comedy gold

Jessica Williams pulls back the curtain
(Image credit: The Daily Show)

The Daily Show is probably best known for Jon Stewart skewering conservatives, cable news, and Arby's, but some of its greatest segments don't have Stewart in them at all. Over the years, Daily Show correspondents have delivered field pieces from as far away as India and as close as midtown Manhattan, and some of the most memorable interviews involve people saying really crazy things on camera. The most-asked question of Stewart in his recent sadistic Q&A, he said on Tuesday's show, is "are the people in the field pieces real?"

Senior Correspondent Jessica Williams came on to answer that: "They are real, and they do know who we are, and they don't care because we bring a camera with us.... Jon, it's like Girls Gone Wild, except they flash us their controversial ideas." To prove her point, Williams went and re-interviewed two previous subjects who, as she said, are "still returning our calls." One man, gun rights advocate Noel Flasterstein, said enthusiastically that he still likes to watch his interview with friends, and the doubling-down by Harlem pastor James David Manning — with a new, unpalatable flavor of crazy thrown in — has to be seen to believed. You can watch below. Peter Weber

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Peter Weber

Peter Weber is a senior editor at TheWeek.com, and has handled the editorial night shift since the website launched in 2008. A graduate of Northwestern University, Peter has worked at Facts on File and The New York Times Magazine. He speaks Spanish and Italian and plays bass and rhythm cello in an Austin rock band. Follow him on Twitter.