Michael Che Makes His Daily Show Debut; Daily Show Makes Sure You Know He's New

Standup comic Michael Che made his Daily Show début last night with a segment "about" the situation in Syria. If you watch The Daily Show -- or any other comedy show that trades in the fake news genre, you know why I had to use the quotation marks: his first segment is really about the fact that it's his first segment, and it's enough already.

Leaving aside the fact that Che's flat affect points up the fact that the show doesn't really need to hire any more standup comics as correspondents -- Jon Stewart already provides as much "too cool for school" energy as the show needs (...too much, actually, but anyway) -- the vogue for self-conscious introduction segments highlights how much the show has disappeared up its own ass. If we're on the internet at all, we already knew when Michael Che was hired, back in April; we found out yesterday via press release that he'd be making his first appearance in last night's episode. Even dedicated viewers who aren't online at all would have figured out that Che was new when he appeared to give his report and they didn't recognize him. And if casual viewers were to have seen Che deliver a standard report without anyone's calling out his status and not realized that he was a new arrival...who cares?!

The same thing happened back in March when Jordan Klepper delivered his first report.

The obvious difference between the performance style of a comic and that of an actor is pretty clear, in that Klepper seems like he cares and is trying to be entertaining? But still, it's a one-joke bit, and the joke is that Klepper is awkward because he's new. Wouldn't it have been more interesting for us to get to know what Klepper's character on the show was going to be like via an actual comedy segment on a topic that's not himself?

I'll say this for The Daily Show, though: at least its writers know that if you're going to draw attention to the fact that your fake-news reporter is reporting fake news for the very first time, there should be some jokes. You'd think that, as head writer of SNL, Colin Jost would have recognized this fact, but apparently not.

AHHHHHHH KEEP YOUR FEELINGS TO YOURSELF, WEIRDO! Save your earnestness for a fawning profile by Access Hollywood or Entertainment Weekly! Don't get it all over this comedy show I'm trying to watch! The best I can say for this display is that it was over quickly. And yet, the memory. It lingers.

I understand that if The Daily Show were a kid it would be close to finishing high school; Saturday Night Live is old enough to be getting junk mail from an over-eager AARP. (This is something that can happen even to very vibrant adults who are only in their late thirties, trust me.) But their edgy, outsider attitude never feels more like posturing than when people on them fall into the trap of thinking of the shows as comedy institutions, and making it a big fucking deal when a new guy (and it is almost always a guy!) passes initiation and sneaks into the clubhouse definitely qualifies. But like, we live in the world. We know when jobs change hands. You can have a little cake party to mark the occasion in the office. Those of us at home just want more jokes.