How to watch ‘The Daily Show with Trevor Noah’ in the UK.

READ THIS – LATEST VERY IMPORTANT UPDATE 2nd Dec 2015 Well I suppose it to happen eventually. Comedy Central got wise to, or more likely finally got around to stopping, the ingenious little video unblocking workaround that I detail in the post below. And lo there was much lamentation and speaking of naughty words. But just when all seemed lost there came a man, and it wasn’t me this time, who informed of a new easy way of watching The Daily Show. His name is Archbishop Shaggy and he posted a comment down below on the 2nd December 2015, with a follow-up from this humble scribe explaining in just a little bit more detail, on how you might once more resume your TDS viewing. So read my post if you wish (I just have and boy it seems dated now but it was written in 2011) but really the way to go now I believe is detailed in the comments below on 2nd December.

Update Oct 2015: Ok, so obviously things have changed since I first wrote this post back in 2011, namely the host of The Daily Show, hence a name swap in the title. But the method still works exactly the same and so read on, follow the simple instructions and enjoy the show still.
Although I fear just not quite as much as you would with the old host.

Ok folks this one is not like other posts, it’s very personal, is aimed very specifically at a particular group of people and if you don’t even know what a ‘Daily Show with Jon Stewart’ is then frankly you need not read any further, this one will not concern you.

For those it does however, this may be the most important post I will ever write.

Because this one is written in the fond hope you found me by Googling something like the title above. This one is because I desperately did the very same thing and eventually found the priceless information I’m going to share. And this one is because like me you love watching ‘The Daily Show with Jon Stewart’ and can’t anymore because More4 have f***ing cancelled it!

(*I wrote this in Jan 2011 when it had just happened remember, obviously we have Comedy Central UK to thank for returning Jon back to us since) (And they’re not showing it either now!)

God knows it was bad enough when FX canceled ‘The Colbert Report’, but this, this was like getting shot in the face by Dick Cheney.

Of course it wouldn’t matter so much if you could just watch them on Comedy Central’s own websites. Trouble is, as I’m sure you’ve already discovered, that none of the lovely videos play once they realise that you’re not visiting from the U.S.

Well, they don’t…unless you make ’em think you are visiting from the U.S.

And it turns out that you don’t need expensive kit or some dodgy download, you just need to use Firefox as your browser (and you ought to anyway, it’s waaaay better than Internet Explorer, click here to get it), install a single legitimate Firefox add-on and follow these simple instructions that probably even most ‘Fox News’ presenters could manage.

(Breaking news – 18/6/12. It used to be that you had to use Firefox for this type of workaround but now there’s a very similar method for Google Chrome. So if you are an ardent Chrome user, still scan the instructions here to get the gist, but then look down to my comment dated June 18 2012.)

1. So assuming you already have Firefox and have it open, go to http://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/967 and install an add-on called Modify Headers.
2. Firefox will now ask to restart, let it and once it has, look to the top menu bar and go to Tools -> Web Developer -> Modify Headers.(OR, if you’re on a PC and running the newer Firefox that doesn’t show the menu bar by default, go to the orange Firefox tab on the top left -> Web Developer -> Modify Headers)
3. Either way, a separate smaller window will open and you’ll see towards the upper left a ‘Select Action’ dropdown box, click it and choose ‘Add’.
4. You’ll also see 3 input boxes, in the first after ‘Add’ enter “X-Forwarded-For” without the quotation marks.
5. In the second box enter “12.13.14.15” without the quotation marks. No spaces and no full stop after the 15.
6. Leave the third box empty and click the other button with ‘Add’ to the right of it.
7. Ok, so now you have created the clever little filter you need, confirmed in the space below along with a green circle, all that’s left is to click that funny looking smiley face in the top left that says ‘Start’.
8. And that’s it, you’re all done, give yourself an Emmy.
9. Next for the best bit, head directly to The Daily Show or ColbertNation websites, giggle with happiness and emit shouts of whooooooo like you’re in the audience when the videos come on.

How the magic works I don’t fully know and I don’t really care. I know that it hides your IP address behind a proxy one so that your real geographical location is disguised, and even if it does sometimes interfere with video on other sites, I also know that all I have to do is go back to the Modify Headers interface and disable it temporarily. No, bugger all that, all I actually care about is that I can watch Jon Stewart AND Stephen Colbert again. Hallowed be their names.

So if this works for you, and it really should, you’ll now share my overwhelming sense of relief, but it can’t end there.

Nation, we have to rally to restore the sanity for every hero. Go forth and spread the word about this on Facebook, Twitter, forum websites or on toilet walls even. Or perhaps leave a simple grateful comment on here confirming that it works.

And let it be a moment of zen to those assholes at More4 who made us do this.

.

(I really have to give a tip of my hat to someone called Saiftk on Reddit Canada. His is the original information I’ve adapted and while those details are a bit out of date now, it was the means that has made me and hopefully many others very happy.)