If we've learned anything from the Daily Show being in Washington, it's that we need a lot more practice with the whole television taping process. Yesterday, yours truly showed up for the taping about a hour too early, spending the next 240 minutes either enjoying the Harman Center pavement's non-existent ergonomic qualities, standing in a line waiting to be let into a studio or sitting in a seat as a very odd mix of Rihanna, Aerosmith and the Hold Steady blared over theater speakers. In short: television production involves a lot of waiting around -- more so when the President is involved. DCist has several contributors who are already on the Harman scene this morning. DCist's operatives note that a line has already started to form and the red velvet queuing line has already started to go up. (If if total dryness thanks to the building's overhang is something you wish to obtain, best get down there quickly.) According to our sources, security "will apparently be a bear." Can't get there until later? Based on my experience yesterday, there weren't too many people turned away -- of course, President Obama is a little bit bigger of a draw than Senator Ted Kaufman, no disrespect intended to the gentleman from Delaware. more ›

Jon Stewart and the jokesters behind the Daily Show have arrived in town and will begin a week's worth of tapings of the popular late night program this afternoon at Sidney Harman Hall. If you were one of the lucky few to get tickets, you'll get the chance to see interviews with Council Of Economic Advisors Chairman Austan Goolsbee today and Senator Ted Kaufman (D-DE) on Tuesday. Oh, right and some Obama guy on Wednesday. (Nah, your DCist editor isn't bitter at all about having to listen to some guy from Delaware instead of one of the most important figures of the 21st century. Not at all.) more ›

Jon Stewart's Rally To Restore Sanity now has a place on the National Mall. In the Frequently Asked Questions page of the rally's website, the location for the event is revealed as "the far eastern end of the National Mall between 3rd Street and 7th Street, known as East Seaton Park and Henry Park." D.C. residents will be really familiar with the location -- it's where Screen on the Green happens every summer. (Though we imagine there will be a bit less HBO Dancing at the Stewart rally.) more ›

Always wanted to see a taping of the Daily Show, but never got around to doing it in New York? Well, you're in luck. Jon Stewart and company will be filming in Washington between October 25 through 28 as part of Comedy Central's Indecision 2010 midterm elections coverage. Tickets to the afternoon sessions at Sidney Harman Hall are free, but going fast. Those looking to attend one of the tapings of When Grizzlies Attack: The Daily Show Midterm Teapartyganza can reserve up to two tickets here, but you'll need to hurry. UPDATE: Wow, that was really fast. All the tickets are gone. more ›

SFist witnessed a new apartment building tszuj the skyline with spectacular, gaudy turquoise aplomb, the (informal) renaming of the Mission/SOMA neighborhood border, the return of the Maltese Falcon, the Mayor Gavin Newsom mea culpa-ing over his Hawaiian getaway during the oil spill, and double-decker buses hitting the streets of San Francisco. Oh, and some baseball player named Barry Bonds is a liar whose pants, it seems, are totally on fire. LAist continues to cover the... more ›

Good morning, D.C. Did any of you stay up watching the filibuster, or pre-filibuster, or anti-filibuster, or whatever the heck we're calling it? Yeah, us neither. We did manage to catch a moment of it while en route to the Daily Show, and were greeted with a slightly disheveled-looking legislator gesticulating wildly at a chart of a Humvee. Unfortunately, we have no idea whether the sleepless showdown is likely to produce anything other than entertaining... more ›

The nicer the weather gets, the busier we get across the Ist-A-Verse. But we like being busy. Here's a peek at what we've been up to since last week! Chicagoist had an interview with Audrey Niffenegger, whose popular book, The Time Traveler's Wife, was based in their fine city. They also had a heated discussion about Rush Limbaugh's controversial Barack Obama parody, talked about whether Uncle Julio's Hacienda is a good place to get... more ›

In case you missed last night's Daily Show, the writers decided to poke a little fun at White House Press Secretary Tony Snow's comparison of Washington, D.C.'s former murder rate to the level of acceptable violence the Bush administration hopes to one day see in Baghdad. We don't want to spoil any of it for those of you who haven't seen it yet, so enjoy.... more ›

MONDAY Richard Preston, fresh off his Daily Show appearance, where he confounded Jon Stewart, brings his unique perspective on some of America's oldest residents, California redwood trees, in The Wild Trees. Politics and Prose, 5015 Connecticut Ave. NW, 7:00 p.m. TUESDAY With the glut of celebrities proclaiming themselves Buddhists, it's sometimes hard to pin down the historical and ethical roots of this ancient religion. Author Lama Surya Das, who the Dalai Lama calls 'The American... more ›

The DC Independent Film Festival kicked off last night at the UDC campus. Here's a look at three films playing there this weekend (all films showing in the UDC auditorium, bldg. 46): Intellectual Property (81 min. -- Sunday, March 4, 6:55 p.m.) Intellectual Property, from director Nicholas Peterson, is a grimy paranoiac thriller that should seem familiar to fans of Dark City, Pi and Memento. Set in a claustrophobic McCarthyite society that could be the... more ›

Can you stand all the excitement that comes along with sifting through so many election results, race by race, this morning Washington? For political junkies like us, and we're sure, like many of you, last night was an up way past our bedtimes, whiskey-infused, edge of our seats, shouting about the relative quality of cable news commentators' hair dye jobs kind of time. And it's not totally over yet. But before we get to the... more ›

It's a drizzly Thursday morning out there, D.C., and it seems like every ... single ... local news headline ... we've run across has to do with this Tuesday's election. Rest assured, we'll have DCist's own election guide for you later this afternoon, but we'll also have plenty of our regular music, food and other odd goodies. Because lord knows we could all stand a break from the Midterm Midtacular (hat tip to The Daily... more ›

MONDAY When it comes to examining the state of contemporary theatre, Robert Brustein has few peers. Expect a stimulating discussion when Brustein comes to the J to offer his viewpoint on how the post-9/11 years have played out on stage — issues he takes on in Millennial Stages: Essays and Reviews 2001—2005. District of Columbia Jewish Community Center, 1529 16th St. NW., at 7:30 p.m. $8. Also, from the McSweeney’s camp of writers come Kevin... more ›

This has been a rough week for your -ist pals, though you wouldn't know it from the great posts all over the network. Plagued with server problems, our tech team (led by the great Neil Epstein) toiled around the clock to solve the glitches as they arose. Seriously, we've said, typed, and thought the phrase "server problems" more in the past week than we have for the last 35 years combined. Why not say it... more ›

FRIDAY: >> Get in line early tonight at the Rorschach Theatre in Columbia Heights for a special Pay-What-You-Can performance of their revival of Tony Kushner's A Bright Room Called Day. Set in Berlin in the 1930's, Bright Room is one of Kushner's (Angels in America, Homebody/Kabul) earlier plays, but by no means his least accomplished. If younger District residents aren't able to connect easily with Zillah, who is consumed by a hatred for Ronald Reagan,... more ›

FRIDAY: >> Here at DCist we like to pimp scrappy locals and industrious indies who are charging hard against the establishment. When it comes to stand-up comedy however, sometimes we have to make an exception. This isn't to say you shouldn't support up-and-coming local comedic talent. You should. But we'd be the first to admit that there's something particularly distasteful about amateur stand-up done badly -- when a comic punts on stage, you just have... more ›

FRIDAY: Tired of us telling you about good concerts that have already sold out? Ready to get your St. Paddy's Day celebrations started a week early? Well consider Fado Irish Pub as here to the rescue. They'll be hosting a raffle tonight at 8 p.m. for tickets to the sold-out Pogues concert at 9:30 Club this very night. So if you're desperate for the good craic and without tickets, run on down to the pub... more ›

6:30 p.m. Man, it's been a long day. We've been shuffling to and from meetings with members of the council, trying to convince that it's now or never with this stadium lease. Cropp's working her heart out, but it seems like an uphill battle with Barry, Gray, and Brown. And every chance he gets, Fenty goes on and on about MLB's greed. I could really use a cigaratte, a beer, and a good meal. Well,... more ›

MONDAY Counterprogramming this week’s State of the Union Address will be activist Cindy Sheehan, who will ostensibly be discussing her book Not One More Mother’s Child tonight at All Souls’ Church tonight at 7pm. For anyone who’s either been hiding under a rock this past year or who hasn’t yet experienced the pleasure of being clouted in the forehead with a ball peen hammer by a member of the Free Republic, this reading is a... more ›

Now that it's Tuesday and we've all officially recovered from our homecoming hangovers, we thought we'd take a little time out to recap some of the weekend's most memorable moments from Howard Homecoming and Colonials Weekend at GW. Make sure to add your experiences in the comments so we can all bask in the wistful reverie of college days gone past. Except for the first half of sophomore year when we lived with that girl... more ›

(DCist would like to take a moment to introduce one of our summer interns, Lindsay. Lindsay is a University of Maryland journalism major who is spending her summer interning for a new political comedy radio show End of Politics (think Daily Show). She also spends time in the local stand-up comedy circuit. Look for her posts on intern highlights and general around town bits and pieces this summer... well, if she can find time to... more ›

The Post must hate being scooped in their own backyard, but DCist has to give credit where it's due. The New York Times scored big this Sunday with an expose on the Bush administration's public relations tactics. It seems that paying journalists to toe the president's line on policy issues wasn't enough, as the administration has taken to writing, producing and disseminating its own news stories. The NYT reported that government agencies across the board... more ›

Set your DVR's, D.C.! Former Bush press secretary Ari Fleischer appearers on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart tonight at 11 p.m., to plug his new book. We know it's a Thursday night, and you're eager to get a head start on the weekend, but Gawker is billing this as the "Battle of the Boychiks" and we think it's going to be one worth watching. more ›

Well, D.C. It seems that we're almost through Inaugural Week. Though thousands of out-of-towners, constituents and other party-goers will be still around today and into the weekend, the city should be getting slowly back to normal. A quick question to those out there who are experienced travelers ... Considering the gargantuan number of fur coats brought in for Inauguration festivities, how do you pack a fur coat into one's luggage? It seems that if fur... more ›

It's Election Night. The thousands of polls; the elevation of towns like Wausau, Wis., to the national stage; the negative natterings of the nabobs -- it all comes down to this. Millions will be glued to the TV to (hopefully) watch the media put an endcap on what has seemed like the longest election campaign ever. And whether they come from Fox News to CNN, the great white board of Tim Russert at NBC to... more ›

Major networks across the board will sacrifice a crucial night of the November sweeps period in the name of civic duty. Election Night coverage starts at 8 p.m. on most broadcast networks and presumably continues on through the wee hours of the morning. Here's your handy-dandy guide to Election Night viewing. ABC News: Peter Jennings anchors Vote 2004 with the help of George Stephanopoulos and Terry Moran. Former Salon.com writer Jake Tapper will have regular... more ›

With 8 days and counting until the election, the airwaves are getting mighty crowded. Candidates, pundits and celebrities are all vying for some air time this week in a last ditch effort to bring their political views to the TV watching public. They NYTimes reports that the week ahead is chock full of political programming: Viewers can see Sean Combs...with Greta Van Susteren on Fox News tonight. Later in the evening, Madeleine K. Albright, the... more ›

Unless you've been skipping out on Wonkette, the Post's Lisa de Moraes or anyone who comments on the performance of political pundits, you've heard plenty about the comments of Jon Stewart of "The Daily Show" during a special visit to Friday's "Crossfire." more ›

We think everyone has caught on to our love for Jon Stewart’s irreverence here at DCist. We admit it, we have a crush. So, as we wipe the drool from our keyboards, we have an obligation to declare tomorrow a perfect day to play hookie from the office. Why? To catch the 1 p.m. Jon Stewart and Ben Karlin book signing at Politics and Prose, silly. more ›

DCist is on to you, Jon Stewart, et al. On last night's show "Daily Show" correspondent Samantha Bee was "reporting" live from Cleveland after the vice presidential debate with a busy street scene behind her. We all know that "Daily Show" correspondents do their thing in front of a blue screen in New York, but Bee's backdrop was not Cleveland, but Georgetown. If you spied the golden dome of the Riggs Bank at Wisconsin Avenue... more ›