Remember former CNN anchor Rick Sanchez? Remember him making anti semitic comments targeting Jon Stewart, which resulted in him being fired from CNN? Well Rick has changed his tune about Stewart, writing the following in his personal blog.

“I was on receiving end of Jon’s jokes for a long, long time. I was thin-skinned enough to think that I was a target due to my ethnicity. And I was wrong,” writes Sanchez.

“Jon’s not a racist or a bigot — not even close. The insinuation that he is any of those things, hiding under the cover of comedy, is just plain wrong. The assertion that Jon ‘gets away’ with jokes because FOX classifies him as a liberal, and that a conservative would get eviscerated for saying the same things, doesn’t hold water. Unless we’re ready to classify Sean Hannity, Bill O’Reilly and Rush Limbaugh as comedians rather than pundits, anchors or hosts on a news network, then any comparison to Jon is a false one.

“Jon’s goal every night is to inform and illuminate, and to be funny while doing so. Whatever Jon’s political leanings, he is an equal-opportunity comedian and satirist. Whether you’re black, brown, green or purple, whether you’re Hispanic, White, African-American, Arab or Chinese, whether you’re liberal, conservative, libertarian or just plain apolitical, Jon just goes where the funny is (and sometimes it’s the jugular). Nobody gets a pass.  And that’s exactly the way it should be.”

Unfortunately Rick it’s a little too late for sorry. You made your bed and you tried to pick a fight with one of the most powerful TV personalities. Now he is on top of the ratings, and where do you work now?

In case you forgot Sanchez’s comments, below is an excerpt from the interview that got him in trouble.

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Jay Leno certainly isn’t what he used to be. Remember when everyone liked Jay Leno? Remember when he was the unquestionable late night king? Well those days may have come to an end as Jon Stewart’s The Daily Show has beat Leno in the ratings.

According to the recent ratings, Stewart has beat Leno in some key viewer demos. Leno still has a larger audience overall, but Stewart dominated in the crucial “Adults 18-49″ demographic.

For 2011′s second quarter, Comedy Central is claiming Stewart’s show drew 1.295 million (compared to a ‘Tonight Show’ total of 1.292 million) in the advertiser-friendly demo of viewers between age 18-49.

And let’s also not forget that Stewart’s show is only available via an expensive cable package, while Leno is available to anybody with a TV and an antenna.

Could this be a sign of a new king of late night? Who do you watch, Leno or Stewart? Or are you a Conan fan?

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The Huffington Post is reporting that the attendance numbers for the Rally to Restore Sanity that took place this past weekend in Washington DC could clock up to 250,000 – just under three times the numbers that came out to Glenn Beck’s rally in August.

Political pundits Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert, hosts of Comedy Central’s The Daily Show and The Colbert Report respectively, hosted the event.  The two jointly applied for a rally permit for 25,000 people, a cap that was obviously insufficient. The rally was an interspersion of comedy and politics and included performances from Sheryl Crow, Jeff Tweedy, and (unfortunately) Kid Rock.

The National Mall’s park services estimate that “well over 200,000” people attended the rally, many donning ‘Stewart/Colbert 2012’ t-shirts.

When these numbers are added to the satellite rallies taking place in most major US cities including Chicago and Seattle, attendance records could be off the charts.

It’s nice to finally see some sane political action coming out of the States, especially after Christine O’Donnellgate and the Tea Partiers. Continue your important work, Colbert/Stewart!

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You probably remember a little while back when Oprah Winfrey gave her entire studio audience a free trip to Australia.  As PopEater reports, the talk show legend isn’t shy to give to other shows either.

She appeared via satellite on The Daily Show to give the audience a huge gift—a free trip to the “Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear” in Washington D.C., which is being held by Jon Stewart and fellow Comedy Central star Steven Colbert.  Oprah showed up on screen and made the big announcement.

“So Jon, remember when you were just here on my show, [and] we talked about how I was taking my audience to Australia,” Winfrey said. “And you said that your audience never gets anything.”

“I wanted to show my support for you, Jon, and also for your audience. So here’s what I did, I had my staff sneak into your studio early this morning with a little gift.”

Oprah instructed the audience to look under their seats, where tickets had been hidden, and shouted, “You’re going to the rally! You’re going to the rally! You’re going to the rally! Everybody’s going to the RALLY! … Now get out there and restore some SANITY.”

Oprah is reportedly paying for airfare as well as hotel accommodations for Stewart’s audience, letting them take part in the October 30th rally that is aimed to promote voter turnout for midterm elections from all political walks of life.

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It hasn’t been a good few days for former CNN anchor Rick Sanchez. After making some racist and inappropriate comments regarding Jon Stewart and the “white, liberal establishment point of view” while appearing as a guest on XM Sirius, Sanchez was fired from CNN.

Rick’s wife Suzanne issued a statement on her Facebook page Monday updating people on Rick’s situation. ”Rick apologized to jon stewart today.” She also blamed her husband’s comments during the now infamous radio interview last Thursday on an intense work schedule that caused him to “mangle his thought process,” reports Fox News.

“They had a good talk. jon was gracious and called rick, ‘thin-skinned,’” she wrote.

“His exhaustion from working 14 hr days for 2 mo. straight, caused him to mangle his thought process inartfully. he got caught up in the banter and deeply apologizes to anyone who was offended by his unintended comments,” added the stay-at-home-mom — who has four children with Sanchez.

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Here’s something we don’t think anybody knew – until last night at least. Jennifer Aniston was a guest on “The Daily Show” yesterday where she revealed her and Jon Stewart once dated!

The couple apparently had one date at a New York City Italian restaurant, but the love affair quickly ended after that. Ah well – everything happens for a reason.

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Full Winners List:

Outstanding Lead Actor In A Comedy Series – Alec Baldwin (30 Rock)

Outstanding Lead Actress In A Comedy Series – Toni Collette (United States Of Tara)

Outstanding Lead Actor In A Drama Series – Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad)

Outstanding Lead Actor In A Mini-Series Or A Movie – Brendan Gleeson (Into The Storm)

Outstanding Lead Actress In A Mini-Series Or A Movie – Jessica Lange (Grey Gardens)

Outstanding Comedy Series – 30 Rock

Outstanding Drama Series – Mad Men

Outstanding Made For Television Movie – Grey Gardens

Outstanding Miniseries – Little Dorrit

Outstanding Reality – Competition Program – The Amazing Race

Outstanding Variety, Music, Or Comedy Series – The Daily Show With Jon Stewart

Outstanding Supporting Actor In A Drama Series – Michael Emereson (Lost)

Outstanding Supporting Actress In A Drama Series – Cherry Jones (24)

Outstanding Writing In A Drama Series – Kater Gordon & Matthew Weiner (Mad Men)

Outstanding Lead Actress In A Drama Series – Glenn Close (Damages)

Outstanding Supporting Actor, Miniseries or Movie – Ken Howard (Grey Gardens)

Outstanding Supporting Actress, Miniseries or Movie – Shohreh Aghdashloo (House Of Saddam)

Outstanding Supporting Actor In A Comedy Series – Jon Cryer (Two And A Half Men)

Outstanding Supporting Actress In A Comedy Series – Kristin Chenoweth (Pushing Daisies)

Outstanding Directing For A Comedy Series – Jeff Blitz (The Office)

Outstanding Directing For A Drama Series – Rod Holcomb (ER)

Outstanding Directing For A Variety, Music, Or Comedy Series – Bruce Gowers (American Idol: Show 833)

Outstanding Directing For A Miniseries, Movie, Or Dramatic Special – Dearbhla Walsh (Little Dorrit)

Host, Reality or Reality-Competition Program – Jeff Probst (Survivor)

Original Music and Lyrics – “81st Annual Academy Awards: Song Title: Hugh Jackman Opening Number”

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Canadians aren’t the only ones paying attention to our current parliamentary turmoil — Jon Stewart is, too!

The comedian poked fun of the political crisis on his “Daily Show” program Monday, calling it Canada’s biggest challenge since the “controversial decision to reshape bacon.”

Stewart expressed confusion about efforts to oust Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

“I mean, this guy — his approval rating is 46 per cent and they’re trying to kick him out,” said Stewart. “You know what we call a 46 per cent approval rating down here? President Clinton.”

He also took a not-so-subtle jab at his own country’s leader.

“Force [Harper] from office? You can do that?” asked Stewart. “Because we’ve had no confidence in our guy for quite some time now, and he’s taking forever to leave.”

The host then brought in fake “foreign” correspondents from Britain and India, who ridiculed Harper for “running to mommy” when he asked Gov. Gen. Michaelle Jean — the Queen’s representative — to prorogue parliament.

Among other things lampooned were Harper’s hair and Canadians’ famed politeness, with Stewart showing a video clip of a demonstrator shouting, “What are you afraid of, sir?” at Harper.

“‘Sir?’” Stewart repeated. “You’re heckling him. It’s not a job interview! Do you Canadians save all your obnoxiousness for hockey games?”

Watch Jon Stewart lampoon Canada here.

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Politicians have gone months without comedic jabs from popular political satirists Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert. But the boys will be back on air on Jan. 7 and they’ve got a lot of material to catch up on.

The hosts will return to their late night slots without their award-winning writing staff due to the ongoing strike between studio producers and the Writer’s Guild.

The news comes as a surprise since both shows rely heavily on scripted segments.

According to CBC.ca, the comedians issued a joint statement saying: “We would like to return to work with our writers. If we cannot, we would like to express our ambivalence, but without our writers we are unable to express something as nuanced as ambivalence.”

The writer’s seem unfazed by the announcement issuing a reaction stating that the shows that are returning will not satisfy viewers and saying, “The only way to get the writing staffs back on the job is for the [studios] to come back to the table prepared to negotiate a fair deal with the Writers Guild,” CBC reports.

The strike, which began on Nov 5., has caused most television show production and some films to shut down.

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Jon Stewart has spoken out on the faux “Stewart/Colbert ’08″ campaign for president, and it isn’t good news for supporters.

“Nothing says ‘I am ashamed of you my government’ more than ‘Stewart/Colbert ’08,’” said Stewart on Sunday, according to the Associated Press. He was being interview by New Yorker editor David Remnick at the magazine’s festival.

Stewart said that t-shirts promoting the idea of him and Stephen Colbert running for office “are a real sign of how sad people are” under the current administration.

The comedian also said that he’s constantly trying to get top members of President George Bush’s administration to appear on his program, “The Daily Show.”

“We have requests in there to everyone including Barney,” Stewart quipped, in reference to Bush’s Scottish terrier. “Only Barney replies.”

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Last night’s guest on “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart” was none other than Pervez Musharraf, president of Pakistan, the Associated Press reports.

After presenting the president with tea and twinkies, Stewart started his questioning with, “Where’s Osama bin Laden?”

“I don’t know. You know where he is? You lead on, we’ll follow you,” Musharraf replied.

The President also laughed at questions about U.S. President Bush, when Stewart asked him if the U.S. president “slept or watched television” during the meeting between the two leaders last week.

Musharraf was on the show to promote his autobiography. When Stewart asked if the current Iraq war was not mentioned because it was “going so well,” the President gave an honest answer.

“It has led certainly to more extremism and terrorism around the world,” Musharraf said.

It was an interview of opposites – Stewart was more polite and serious with Musharraf than he is with other guests, while the Pakistani president replied with humour. However, Stewart’s serious tone did not save Musharraf from Stewart’s seat of heat, when he asked the president who would win the popular vote in Pakistan – Bush or bin Laden.

“I think they’ll both lose miserably,” he answered.

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Comedian Jon Stewart is taking his “Daily Show” on the road this fall for a pre-election stint in Ohio.

“Battlefield Ohio: The Daily Show’s Midwest Midterm Midtacular” will run from October 30 through November 2, according to the Associated Press. On November 7, Americans will head to the polls for the 2006 congressional elections.

According to the show’s network home, Comedy Central, these special episodes will feature in-studio interviews with politicians and other figureheads.

The show’s team of correspondents — including Dan Bakkedahl, Jason Jones, John Oliver and Canada’s own Samantha Bee — will cover “stories” across Ohio.

This road trip marks the fifth time “The Daily Show” has left New York for “Indecision” election coverage. Stewart and co. have previously filmed episodes in Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Washington and Boston.

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The extensive search to find an Oscars host is over. Jon Stewart of The Daily Show will host the Academy Awards on March 5, organizers confirmed today.

Chris Rock and Billy Crystal both turned down invitations to host the 78th annual show.

Stewart has never hosted the Oscars before, but won critics over with his humour while hosting the Grammy Awards in 2001 and 2002.

The Comedy Central star made reference to Crystal, who has hosted the show eight times, in a statement.

“As a performer, I’m truly honoured to be hosting the show,” he said. “Although, as an avid watcher of the Oscars, I can’t help but be a little disappointed with the choice. It appears to be another sad attempt to smoke out Billy Crystal.”

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