Daily Show Anchor Goes To War

This week, Comedy Central is reporting that The Daily Show with Jon Stewart has gone where no fake news program has gone before—to war. Putting their money where their mouth is, or more accurately, their anchor where their green screen background usually is, The Daily Show sent anchor Ron Riggle straight into Mess O’ Potamia.

Luckily for Riggle, who is currently a Major in the U.S. Marine Reserves, his deployment “to actual Iraq, not greenscreen Iraq,” came not from the government, but from the show’s producers. While he may not be fighting on the front lines, Riggle, who has previously served in Afghanistan, Liberia and Kosovo, has definitely been keeping busy.

His week-long set of special reports aims to “provide in-depth coverage and insights from the front lines throughout the country where he was embedded with the troops.” In other words, the show is really making Riggle work for his promotion from The Daily Show’s Senior Caribbean Analyst to Senior War Correspondent.

In addition to filing reports for “Operation Silent Thunder: The Daily Show in Iraq,” Riggle, along with fellow Upright Citizen Brigade performers Rob Hueble and Paul Scheer, as well as fellow Saturday Night Live alum Horatio Sanz, performed various sketch and improv shows for the troops. The crew also performed in the USO’s Operation Feel the Heat tour.

Operation Silent Thunder: The Daily Show in Iraq can be seen next week on Comedy Central at 11:00 pm ET/PT. The clips can also be seen on www.comedycentral.com.