The Daily Show went the extra mile to stand up to Paramount Monday night—and booking a choir to call out the corporation was only part of it. The show managed to get a special upgrade of its broadcast rating in order to let the F-bombs flow uninterrupted, changing its usual TV-14 rating to a TV-MA.
And flow they did, with Jon Stewart following up an already cutting monologue about the cancellation of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert—complete with several F’s—with a grand finale return of the show’s “Go F-ck Yourself Choir” that, as its name suggests, repeated the profanity ad infinitum. Together with the choir, Stewart repeated his message to corporations too eager to capitulate to President Donald Trump: “F-ck, f-ck, f-ck yourself. Just go f-ck yourself!” Stewart belted out, encouraging the audience to join in the refrain.
Under usual circumstances, The Daily Show’s Comedy Central broadcast (and the YouTube clips from said broadcast) would have bleeped each instance of the profanity. Monday night, however, it went bleep-less.
As Stewart shared with the show’s studio audience during the commercial break, Daily Show executive producer Jen Flanz managed to finagle the TV-MA classification ahead of the taping.
Per the TV Parental Guidelines rating system introduced by Congress and the FCC in the late 1990s, a “TV-14” rating advises that parents are “strongly cautioned,” with material potentially unsuitable for children under the age of 14 for various reasons. (In the case of The Daily Show, this is typically “strong coarse language,” denoted by an ‘L’ supplementing the TV-14 rating shown onscreen at the beginning of the linear broadcast).
TV-MA, indicating “mature audiences only,” is the next step up in severity. Among other reasons, language that moves beyond “strong coarse” to “crude indecent” can necessitate the change.
With The Daily Show delivering over 40 F-bombs Monday night, it’s safe to say the TV-MA rating was warranted. For context, that pace of F-bombs-per-minute would put it somewhere between Donnie Brasco and Scarface.
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Thank you Jon for standing up to the Trump administration and standing up for your friend whom his and your fans love the ThattecLate Show With Stephen Colbert. We all know the real reason Colbert got 86’ed. and it was due to money alright. $16 million in fact. Colbert has shown restraint and courage as he loses a big part of America. We grieve for him but we will celebrate that next dream he conquers with grace, intellect and humility.
Jesus, can you do that again in English?
if you disagree with someone, but that’s the best retort you have, it’s usually a sign you’re standing on shaky ground.
Hey just wanted to shout out a Congratulation Josh!!!! One of the funniest and poinant young comedians I have seen. Cannot wait to watch him cook!!
Who is Josh? Are you on drugs?
Josh Johnson is hosting the daily show for the rest of the week.. he is fantastic.. are you on drugs??