These are what we call the 'YMMV items.' Things that some people find in this work. We call them 'your mileage might vary' because not everyone sees these things in the same way. This starts discussions in the trope lists, a thing we don't want. Please use the discussion page if you'd like to discuss any of these items.
Crowning Music of Awesome: Done for comedy in the "Tiger Woods Newzak" segment on 12/2/09 certainly qualifies for setting the inane questions to an elevator-music version of Bohemian Rhapsody - that and another Take That to the national media for an obsession with a trivial event when actual news is going on. Let ESPN and E! cover it, folks.
All of Jon's West Side Story-inspired oil slick songs. All of them.
Fridge Brilliance: With the running gag involving "Jon Stewart innuendo involving children" segments, it could be an enormous Take That at Mallard Fillmore, which ran this strip - implying that Jon Stewart was a pedophile - 8 months after America (The Book) came out, due to its parody of Mallard Fillmore in the Comics section.
Fridge Horror: The Daily Show (a show whose lead-in was once a show featuring muppets making prank phone calls) is seen as a beacon of journalistic integrity. Think about that for a second.
Saying that Bob Novak contains "the cure for the cure for cancer", only for it to be revealed a week later that the man had brain cancer, could not have been what Jon Stewart intended. In addition, later in the segment, he says that Novak is having an "end of life crisis". Novak died a year later from the aforementioned brain tumor.
Sending Jason Jones to Iran just before the 2009 elections for interviews that would air the week after led to some last-minute editing workarounds when they couldn't not air the material, but the prominent opposition supporters they had interviewed in typical Daily Show style had since been rounded up by the government. And Maziyar Bahari actually had the footage used against him while he was in prison.
The Daily Show coined the phrase "Indecision 2000" to describe the 2000 election. The day after election night, an exhausted looking Stewart, still in the studio, said solemnly that he no longer found the title all that funny anymore. Also, THIS
Back when Jon was still young and innocent, on the first day after a break, Stewart ran a story about financial troubles, and when he saw Bush's... Bush-like commentary on the subject, his response was a cheerful "we're doomed!" He then went on to do a story about oil dependency and alternative energy. The date? September 10, 2001. The show's break would be extended a bit.
In a 2000 show intro, Stewart jokes that marathons are a lot like elections in that they're always won by a Kenyan or a Moroccan.
February 17, 2011 Aasif Mandvi makes up the fake "Qu'osby Show" to help people adjust to Muslims like the Cosby Show supposedly did for African Americans, and his "test audience" (who thought they were watching a real show) insisted that the family was too normal and needed "a terrorist uncle in the basement" or were "secretly very jihad" to seem like they were really Muslims to viewers. Cut to December 13 and the show All American Muslim is getting flak for showing Muslims as "normal people" and not focusing on the more extremist parts of the religion.
Growing the Beard: Jon Stewart is generally credited with turning the show from a light parody of local news to a deep and incisive political satire.
"Indecision 2000" started as a funny play on words, then got funnier when it turned out to be the perfect title for that particular election.
And recently, with the underwear bombing, there was this.
There's also a segment from a 1991 HBO comedy special with Jon Stewart talking about the first Gulf War and complaining about how short it was when the pundits were fearing it would become 'a second Vietnam'. Twelve years later...
Michael Steele, the former chairman of the Republican National Committee, talks about the coming of a left-wing protest group at 06:50 in this clip. A month or two later...
Ho Yay: Played for humor many times, especially between Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert.
Jon and Stephen seem to actively encourage it.
Not to mention Jon and Steve Carrell in the July 20th interview.
Steve: I missed you!
Jon: I missed you!
Audience: Aww
Jon: Talk about a third wheel.
Jon and Brian Williams in any of their interviews.
Jon talking to his latest Emmy
Emmy: I should have slept with Colbert when I had the chance.
There was also the moment in the introduction to the 2006 Oscars ceremony where Jon wakes up in bed next to George Clooney and does a happy dance when George tells him it's not a dream.
As of August 17, 2011, there is Ho Yay between John Oliver and Wyatt Cenac.
I Am Not Shazam: The host of the show is Jon Stewart, not Jon Daily. Jon has on occasion referred to himself as that, though—once when he made a "mistake" and chastised himself verbally, referring to himself as Jon Daly as he did so.
This bit, thanks to the 2011 State of the Union address:
(shows clip of Kathy Proctor looking to the side and pointing to herself proudly) Jon: What the—no! No! Kathy Proctor, you are not [insert relevant activity here]!
Willie Geist's disapproving glare is well on the way to this.
Misaimed Fandom: Quite a few people get their news from the show, much to the chagrin of the producers. Jon Stewart even recorded a promo once yelling for those people to stop. In recent years, however, he's seemed to embrace his position as the voice of reason in the news world.
Nightmare Fuel/Paranoia Fuel: During his interview with Jon Ronson, author of The Psychopath Test, Ronson revealed that one psycho (and psychos in general) really want people to like them because, "you can manipulate them to do whatever you want them to". He also showed that psychologists believe 1 in 100 people are psychopathic.
Older Than They Think: The Indecision (year) titles for elections actually predates the show, going back to the Comedy Central coverage of the 1992 election, hosted by Al Franken and Arianna Huffington.
Once Acceptable Targets: Subverted. Jon Stewart (a Jew) gives all his correspondents passes to make as many Jew jokes as they please.
The Scrappy: It's a little bit jarring how few laughs Olivia Munn can get from the audience compared to other correspondents.
Special Effects Failure: During a Chroma Key segment, Michael Steele, seen here telling a waiter there is a fly in his soup, leaves his night time barbecue to answer the door. It then shows an actual Michael Steele clip, happening at day. When Steele returns, Jon asks why it took him an entire day to answer the door.
The chroma key backgrounds can occasionally fail. The correspondents are pretty good at going along with it (Stephen Colbert pulling off some of the best of them).
Squick: During the fake press conference after the Anthony Weiner resignation, Jon cuts himself while making a frozen daiquiri. He tries to turn off the blender by pounding the buttons with the side of his hand... while still holding the glass in that hand. For a brief moment when he lifts his injured hand, you can see the glass sticking out of the fresh gash in his hand.
All versions of the I Give Up segment. While Jon does his best to be funny, its really horrifyingly depressing to know that our Government is either: A) This fucking horrible or B) more broken than Bioware's fanbase.
Vindicated by History: Charlton Heston's speech at the NRA conference, which occured shortly after the Columbine shootings was given poignant context and praised in light of the "Ground Zero Mosque" debate.
