When the Comedy Central program The Daily Show With Jon Stewart canned its original set for a slicker, newsier replacement, much wailing and rending of garments could be heard throughout the land.
But while the old set may be sorely missed on TV, one group of die-hard Daily Show junkies plans to resurrect it for a cross-country tour -- and a new life online.
The fans purchased the old set in an eBay auction held earlier this year benefiting 826NYC, a nonprofit youth-literacy center in New York City.
Using the name Mouth of America Network, or Moan, the winning bidders now plan to produce an internet project called "The Daily Set Without Jon Stewart," to consist of podcasts, a blog and video webcasts that chronicle the adventures of the old set as it travels cross-country.
The fans also plan to hold Stewart look-alike contests at various points along the set's travel route.
Moan "spokesfan" Hal Bringman says the podcasts will be made available for mobile-phone download by way of mobile podcast service provider Pod2Mob. Bringman is part owner of the company.
The "Daily Set" project has also launched an online tip jar to cover fuel costs for set transport, which the group estimates to be around "$500 a gallon ... thanks to the current administration," with a portion of proceeds after costs to be donated to 826NYC and Habitat for Humanity.
Speaking to Wired News en route to New York, where he plans to pick up the set and begin the tour, Bringman says Daily Show staffers recently offered to give his group another, smaller chunk of the show's original set that was auctioned off separately on eBay. The winning bidders in that separate auction failed to pony up the cash, and the Daily Show folks decided not to re-auction it.
Bringman says that while Daily Show staff members are aware of the planned hi-jinks and have given "an informal blessing," they cannot endorse the project for legal reasons. "But so far, no Viacom lawyers have called!" said Bringman.
