So, “The Daily Show” is in town this week, and those funny lookin’ New Yorkers somehow managed to bring the Ebola virus with them. Or, at least that’s what we gleaned from the first episode of Jon Stewart’s show filmed here in Austin, which aired last night.
It’s not like they didn’t take precautions: Stewart even came out in a hazmat suit, bearing a plastic-looking AK-47. “What an honor to be here in Austin, Texas!” he said (watch the video below). “The only open-carry, Ebola state in the union.”
While quite a few of us here in Austin might take issue with that characterization applying to our city, “Daily Show” contributor Samantha Bee totally nailed many an Austinite’s attitude about Dallas when she called Austin’s northern neighbor “a steaming, concrete wasteland of traffic jams, big hair, and stupid belt buckles.”
Jessica Williams also hit one out of the park for the home team, mocking the idea that Ebola may travel from Dallas to Austin because, in her most sarcastic tone, “Austin is going to pick up something after Dallas.”
“No, Jon,” she said. “Austin sets the trends and Dallas finds out about them five years later.” And besides, Williams added, “Austin is already brewing its own locally sourced, small-batch, fair-trade, organic, cage-free, farm-to-table Ebola.”
“Keep Ebola weird!” she shouted to cheers.
Check out the excerpt below, then watch the full episode here.
We’re in for a whole week of this, Austin. Looks like it’s going to be a whole lot of fun. Even though the tickets are all sold out, you can still (probably) get seating for “Daily Show” writer and Peabody-winner Paul Mecurio, who is doing a series of shows at Cap City Comedy from Oct. 29-Nov. 1.
