The only people who might have had a wilder roller coaster ride than Trevor Noah this week were the owners of Memories Pizza in Walkerton, Indiana. (That's the place that announced Wednesday morning they would not be willing to service the burgeoning market for breadsticks and nacho cheese dip at gay weddings. By Friday, they had been forced to close temporarily because of all the harassment and had seen half a million dollars raised for them on the site gofundme.com.)
Anyway, we're not talking about Indiana on The Nose today. We promise.
But we are talking about Noah, the guy given the plum job of replacing Jon Stewart. Then came the furor over his old Tweets. And the assertion that the host of The Daily Show must embody a higher standard than the average comedian. Several of us on today's show have watched Noah's stand-up special, maybe a greater measure of his talent than his tweets. We'll talk about his prospects. One thing he'll discover is that there are entire websites devoted to catching him out on one particular type of transgression. The current cycles of outrage have led to a new meme: your fave is problematic.
Next topic. We have very high standards for the host of TDS, but he or she probably doesn't have to love dogs. How about the presidency? Scott Walker may have a problem if, because of allergies, he just doesn't do dogs. Not liking dogs is one of those preferences that -- even in a pluralistic society -- you're almost not allowed to have. Can you be president if you don't like dogs?
Lastly, what should you be allowed to do in your car? The new "U drive, U text, U pay" crackdown revealed a lot about people's expectations.
GUESTS:
- Theresa Kramer - writer and the editor of E-Content Magazine, where she covers the world of digital media.
- Carolyn Paine - actor, dancer, and choreographer
- Rand Cooper - author, essayist, and restaurant critic for the New York Times
