DI has a new take on this.

I Was Browsing information on the Berkeley Pit in Butte Montana.
I came across
this Article that showed me just how the Daily show gets the people to look so stupid on film.
Sesso's story provides a pretty good illustration of how the Daily Show goes about creating its segments. The effusive Sesso tells Gelf he was interviewed for roughly two hours. "They asked me everything under the sun," he says. "I was pretty well prepared, though, and apparently was pretty boring to them. So they closed by asking me to tell a joke."

Courtesy Montana Legislature Jon Sesso
|
|
Sesso was unable to come with anything clean, he says, hence the pregnant pause that dominates much of the segment.
I visited the pit about 10 years ago and I thought that it was interesting.
Another long winded, but interesting read
Here.