Daily's comet

John Edwards declared his candidacy, Matthew McConaughey talked about goat sex and Billy Crystal sat for a half-hour interview. Add another to the list of Daily Show milestones: On December 1, the White Stripes drop in on Jon Stewart and his pals for the show's first musical performance. (Hard-core TDS devotees might argue that They Might Be Giants have performed on TDS, but that was a special, not a regular segment.)

The White Stripes, while certainly an enjoyable and accomplished group, don't have any real reason to be the first band on the show, nor does December 1 indicate any major event for TDS. But this could be a big step in further broadening the reach and appeal of The Daily Show, and anything that encourages more viewers to incorporate TDS into their television diet is a good thing.

TDS has never been a more powerful brand both in politics and popular culture. The show has spawned successfully with The Colbert Report, and now that it's a political powerhouse, it could stand to revisit its entertainment roots, if only once in a while. Back in the day, TDS used to be on par with Talk Soup—funny, dorky, but a far cry from the satirical genius it is today.

On January 17, 1999, Jon Stewart—he of other failed late-night ventures and hot off a role in The Faculty—took over for Craig Kilborn, he of other successful late-night ventures and heading to a lucrative gig on CBS. Stewart et al. weaned us not only from Kilborn's signature five questions, but also his smarmy, frat-boy style. Stewart's stand-up comedy sensibilities and more academic writing lent themselves to different material.

That material wasn't always so closely tied to politics and punditry. The Daily Show used to be a lot sillier, if vaguely dumber; more of the jokes used to come from goofy skits rather than incisive editing or damning clips, and the correspondents used to have brasher and more specific personalities. The Colbert Report is a natural fit because Stephen Colbert has been perfecting the shtick for years. Hard-core fans of old-school TDS will remember "Even Stephvens," the segment that pitted Colbert against Steve Carell, whom we wouldn't mind seeing on a Daily Show spin-off of his own.

"Even Stephvens" relied on the boisterously absurd relationship between Colbert and Carell's personas. One segment featured them creating a puppet show, another "debating" the EliÁn GonzÁlez case, another showing Carell's bizarre flashbacks to obscene hazing rituals ("The guards act like the spanking is fun, but it's not. It's numbing, and it makes it really hard to carry a grape between your butt cheeks."). It was always funny, but not the same way the "Daily Show Rocks" midterm-election song is a brilliantly funny satire.

What's changed since 1999 is, of course, not just The Daily Show, but also the tenor and content of American arts, entertainment and culture. TDS firmly planted its political flag during its much-heralded "Indecision 2000" work, and Stewart-as-brand solidified after the moving, raw September 20, 2001, broadcast, the first after September 11.

But TDS still has some territory to conquer, and in its role as arbiter of taste, we wouldn't mind seeing Daily Show stamp its approval on a few more bands a little more regularly. The White Stripes don't need the hype, but TDS-as-venue is an idea that has legs. We don't want the formula to change too much, but one performance every two or three months wouldn't degrade the structure of the show. After all, a little flexibility has been crucial to The Daily Show's success.