Al Madrigal
Unfortunately, I didn’t catch it on TV a few days ago, but The Daily Show has a new correspondent– and no, it is not the awful Olivia Munn. Veteran Bay Area comic Al Madrigal debuted on the show Tuesday night to a pretty well-written bit about the lack of diversity on The Daily Show. Madrigal noted that the show had two Canadian correspondents before it had its first Latino.
This is one of those cases of a glaring mistake only being noticed once its pointed out. Yes, The Daily Show has never been a place for diversity. In Living Color it ain’t. The Daily Show is a bastion of in-joke whiteness, and you just sort of accept that going in. The one omission I always noticed on the show was female correspondents. Samantha Bee stood out in a sea of dudes like Aasif Mandvi, Rob Riggle, Wyatt Cenac, Jason Jones, Ed Helms, Larry Wilmore, Steve Carrell, Stephen Colbert…well, you get it. This issue was only exacerbated by pretty face Olivia Munn. The fact that a coveted spot on The Daily Show was going to an unfunny lady who was mostly hired for sex appeal. So the intended audience of the show was revealed: young middle-class dudes.
Make that young, middle-class white dudes. I would be curious to know if there is some informal or formal data on Latino viewership of The Daily Show. I can say that just from my own observation, white friends love The Daily Show, and Latino friends are indifferent. Maybe more Latinos will tune in to see the genial Madrigal on Jon Stewart’s show. Or more likely the existing fan base of The Daily Show will get increased exposure to a Latino point of view. To this I say, bravo.
The Lebanexican 
Leave a Reply