{"id":779570,"date":"2026-07-23T09:09:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-23T09:09:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/779570\/"},"modified":"2026-07-23T09:09:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-23T09:09:10","slug":"how-an-ugly-cat-inspired-the-daily-shows-moment-of-zen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/779570\/","title":{"rendered":"How an Ugly Cat Inspired The Daily Show\u2019s Moment of Zen"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img width=\"1500\" height=\"1000\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/kilborn1400.jpg\" alt=\"Craig Kilborn, The Daily Show\" decoding=\"async\" fetchpriority=\"high\"  \/><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\tCraig Kilborn on The Daily Show, Circa 1996\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Short of The Tonight Show\u2019s opening monologue, there may be no more enduring late-night ritual than <a href=\"https:\/\/latenighter.com\/tag\/the-daily-show\/\" type=\"post_tag\" id=\"53\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">The Daily Show<\/a>\u2019s \u201cMoment of Zen.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Since the Comedy Central series\u2019 very first episode on June 22, 1996, viewers have been sent off with the same deadpan benediction: \u201cHere it is, your Moment of Zen.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The segment is credited to Daily Show co-creator <a href=\"https:\/\/latenighter.com\/tag\/madeleine-smithberg\/\" type=\"post_tag\" id=\"1277\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Madeleine Smithberg<\/a>, the program\u2019s first executive producer. But Smithberg won\u2019t accept full glory for it. As she tells LateNighter, the bit\u2019s true inspiration was her disagreeable cat, Lillian.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cShe was an ugly cat,\u201d Smithberg recalls of Lillian, a half-Persian with \u201ca face that looked like somebody just pushed it in.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cShe was nasty,\u201d she says. \u201cShe didn\u2019t like me. And I didn\u2019t like her.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Lillian was not just unpleasant. She was also, according to Smithberg, spectacularly lazy\u2014the kind of cat who could make you wonder whether she was asleep or decorative.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But once a week, Lillian roused from her stupor when she heard Charles Kuralt\u2019s voice coming from Smithberg\u2019s television.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On the CBS News show Sunday Morning, Kuralt would end each broadcast by introducing some serene bit of nature footage\u2014\u201cthe western osprey mating in the wetlands of northern Idaho,\u201d Smithberg says, slipping into his folksy baritone.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cAnd then it would be nothing but two and a half minutes of birds in the nest.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Lillian was transfixed.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cShe would go right near the TV, and her tail would be twitching,\u201d Smithberg says. \u201cShe would be mesmerized for the entire two and a half minutes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That image\u2014her cranky, inert cat suddenly hypnotized by a peaceful nature segment\u2014stuck with Smithberg as she and the staff <a href=\"https:\/\/latenighter.com\/features\/daily-show-at-30-unlikely-making-late-night-institution\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">were building The Daily Show<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cLet\u2019s end our show with the most disturbing videotape we can possibly find and call it \u2018the Moment of Zen,\u2019\u201d Smithberg remembers suggesting.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">How disturbing? Smithberg\u2019s favorite early \u201cMoment\u201d involved news footage about Lay\u2019s Wow Chips, the fat-free potato chips made with Olestra. The additive came with a memorably unfortunate side effect, introducing the phrase \u201canal leakage\u201d into the American snack-food conversation.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe were laughing so hard,\u201d Smithberg says, \u201cbecause we were like, what crunch could be worth that?\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That night\u2019s \u201cMoment of Zen\u201d featured footage of potato chips frying in vats of Olestra.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThat, to me, was the classic,\u201d Smithberg says.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Nearly three decades later, the \u201cMoment of Zen\u201d is still there, still doing more or less what Smithberg intended: giving The Daily Show one last strange exhale before the credits.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Like Andy Rooney at the end of 60 Minutes, Smithberg says, some closing rituals are hard to replace.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe people at The Daily Show were smart in keeping it there because it works,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s a really great way to let out a little air before the end of the show. \u2018Before we leave you, we\u2019re going to give you something where you can take a breath and be uncomfortable.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Neither Lillian nor Smithberg ever received a note from Charles Kuralt. Nor, Smithberg adds, do either of them see any Daily Show residuals for inspiring the concept.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cBut we created something, Lillian and I, that has really endured,\u201d Smithberg says. \u201cI can imagine my gravestone: \u2018Here lies Madeleine Smithberg. Her cat invented the Moment of Zen.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Get stories like this in your inbox:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/latenighter.com\/newsletter\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Sign up for LateNighter\u2019s free daily newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Craig Kilborn on The Daily Show, Circa 1996 Short of The Tonight Show\u2019s opening monologue, there may be&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":779571,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[54],"tags":[332161,88,330083,332162,332163,9610,29300,332164,92],"class_list":["post-779570","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-charles-kuralt","tag-entertainment","tag-madeleine-smithberg","tag-moment-of-zen","tag-the-daily-sho-with-craig-kilborn","tag-the-daily-show","tag-the-daily-show-with-jon-stewart","tag-the-daily-show-with-trevor-noah","tag-tv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/779570","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=779570"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/779570\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/779571"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=779570"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=779570"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=779570"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}