While not known for his sense of humor, Bill Clinton did prove he had one when he visited The Daily Show recently. He’s been making the rounds of talk shows lately and his appearances have been rather serious. So, a touch of levity demanded by The Daily Show was a nice change of pace. He still displayed his intelligence and pit bull determination to make his points, but seeing him lean back in his chair, laughing out loud and clapping and even grabbing Stewart’s arm several times, felt at least new to the current Clinton repertoire. (Stewart couldn’t resist saying at the end of the interview “[Oh and] that really hurt my arm.”)

Interestingly, he didn’t really talk about The Clinton Global Initiative that he was ostensibly there to promote. Not that laser-focused promotion is even possible on most nights with Stewart.  The appearance was additionally crippled by the fact that there were obvious edits, that one can only guess was due to the fact that the interview must have run long, although Stewart did give an uncustomary double segment. It makes it harder to critique a guest when that occurs because you don’t really see the natural flow of conversation and whether they achieved their goals. In this instance, however, I do believe Clinton allowed himself to be lead through The Daily Show comic minefield more than he expected, as he obviously felt compelled to fully answer the questions posed.

At one point Stewart asked Clinton how much he would win by if HE was running today? “20 points… You’d pretty much crush ‘em! You’ve still got it!” And whatever “it” is, he does… and now with a bit of go-with-the-flow humor, too.

In 1996, readers of FHM voted Gillian Anderson the “Sexiest Woman in the World.”  Over a decade later, now 40 years old and sporting an admitted baby bump, Anderson is still major sexy, and she scored big in her Late Show appearance by making David Letterman look sexy, as well!

Although she began her career as a young actress with a punk edge, Anderson has always walked the line between rebellious counterculture icon and respected mature professional.  That balance was evident when she walked onto the Late Show stage, dressed in sleek taupe and black, but with stray wisps of hair escaping her do, looking both elegant and mom-like.  Flirty and irreverent from the start, she asked Dave if he was sucking up to her.  He denied it but, glancing at her b-bump, replied “It looks to me…”  “…like someone else has sucked up to me!?” she finished.  The big laugh that got paved the way for the story of how she and Dave had made out the last time she was on the show.  (A clip provided proof.)   “You didn’t write, you didn’t call,” pouted Anderson, while Dave blushed and ate it all up.

Anderson connected to the show’s ongoing comic campaign coverage with a story about meeting Bill Clinton on the campaign trail.  When Dave turned the focus back to her motherhood, she still kept him tightly in the circle of attention by asking about his being a father.  And she always maintained the flattering flirtatious edge to the banter.  Referring to her ex-pat residence in London, she rued, “After you rejected me, I decided I was going to move…countries.”  By the time a clip from “The X-Files: I Want to Believe” was shown, all it needed to provide was a reminder of her chemistry with David Duchovny; she had already won us over as a star.

How does a deft display of talk showmanship like this pay off?   Anderson’s presence was so memorable that when Simon Pegg came on after her (it’s always good to have a comedian as a closer), he and Dave spent the first part of his appearance talking about…Gillian Anderson!