I am aware that the embedded clips that I put of The Daily Show and The Colbert Report are not viewable in some other countries.
It seems like you can watch them though, at least in Canada, via this site and this site.
Another site suggests ways of viewing them in the UK.
This website (suggested by commenter freetheworld) seems to show an easy way of watching those two shows as well as Real Time with Bill Maher, though I am not sure if it works only for the UK.
Reader F in a comment to an earlier post has one suggestion for getting around national boundary restrictions:
Using a proxy address can help. One geo-associated with the U.S., in this case. You can even get browser extensions or small programs that make this really easy if you have occasion to proxy much.
I use proxies occasionally to watch AU, NZ, or UK items. Oddly, I don’t think I’ve ever needed one for content from any other country.
If there are readers of this blog in other countries who have yet other ways of seeing these clips, please let me know in the comments so that I can at least compile a list to help other readers.
Thanks.
Update 1: Josh Andrews in the comments adds:
All you have to do is modify the X-forwarded-For header field to a US ip address. I use the modify headers extension for firefox to do this.
For full instructions
http://ohryan.ca/blog/2009/08/15/how-to-watch-comedy-central-videos-from-canada/
Update 2: Jeremy in the comments adds:
If you search “hotspot shield” and use the free version, you will have access to a US-based VPN that allows you to access anything as if you were in the US. I use it to watch The Daily Show and Colbert, as well as Pandora, Netflix, etc.
Update 3: Danielle in the comments adds:
TunnelBear has made my life a lot easier. It’d be very difficult for me to get my Daily Show fix, otherwise.
Update 4: Watching in Canada
The Daily Show can be seen here and The Colbert Report can be seen here.
Update 5:: Synfandel gives a strong recommendation for Proxmate which can be downloaded here.
I’ve used FoxyProxy extension in FireFox, in the past, to proxy into the BBC content. It can be a pain though to find a working UK IP address.
Mano;Providing the broadcast date is helpful.
All you have to do is modify the X-forwarded-For header field to a US ip address. I use the modify headers extension for firefox to do this.
For full instructions
http://ohryan.ca/blog/2009/08/15/how-to-watch-comedy-central-videos-from-canada/
I was going to say the same thing. Simply clicking on the video will often take me to thecomedynetwork.ca. The question is, what am I supposed to be watching when I get there?
Here in Taiwan, some clips work and some don’t. Comedy Central almost always does. I find it mind boggling that sites will prevent viewing of five minute clips just because you’re outside their country. It makes me feel like I’m living in the PRC instead of here.
And yes, anonymous proxies do work, though only in a read-only and view-only capacity. I’ve used them in several countries without a hitch.
.
The Daily Show fix works a treat from the UK. Great info, this has been bugging me for a few months, thank you.
If you search “hotspot shield” and use the free version, you will have access to a US-based VPN that allows you to access anything as if you were in the US. I use it to watch The Daily Show and Colbert, as well as Pandora, Netflix, etc.
Thanks. I’ve updated the post to make your suggestion more visible.
TunnelBear at http://www.tunnelbear.com/ has made my life a lot easier. It’d be very difficult for me to get my Daily Show fix, otherwise.
All I can say is in Poland and Germany you can watch whole episodes as well as clips without any problems.
A little info for those who live outside the US. This method is far easier.
If you want to watch: The Colbert Report & The Daily Show, go here:
http://realtimewithbillmaherspot.blogspot.co.uk/
As you can see from the link, you can also watch the latest realtime as well.
A simple plugin for firefox that solves this problem is X-Forwarded-For Header.. Install it, then go to the ‘add-ons’ tab in Firefox, click the ‘options’ button for the add on and in the IP Address window insert ‘12.13.14.15’ without the quotes, and you are done.
There are other add ons for Firefox that will allow you to do this, but this one is the simplest I have found.
For Windows users, another useful tool that works with any browser is Ultrasurf, a small little app that routes all your requests through its US proxy servers and doesn’t need installing, just extracting from the zip and run.
FF, Chrome and IE* should just work with it whenever it is active, assuming no changes have been to those browsers’ proxy settings.
* IE is its browser of choice and by default will start and close with Ultrasurf, but this can be disabled in Ultrasurf Options.
Opera however needs a manual setup, In Opera, go to Tools/Preferences/Advanced/Network and Click ‘Proxy Severs’.
Click ‘Use Manual Proxy configuration’
Under Protocol Click HTTP and alongside enter 127.0.0.1 and 9666 for the port. The port can be changed in Ultrasurf Options.
Click ‘Use this for all protocols’ and OK your way out.
If you always want to use Opera through the Ultrasurf proxy start Ultrasurf then in Opera go to Tools/Quick Preferences and click ‘Enable Proxy Servers’ and your done.
However, if you want to choose when you want to use Opera through Ultrasurf repeat the above step to Enable Proxy Servers and to disable Opera working through Ultrasurf just repeat the above and Uncheck ‘Enable Proxy Servers’.
Another thing that might help would be the addons from http://hola.org/ (I think there’s at least an extension for Chrome and one for Firefox). It sounds like it does exactly the same thing as Ultrasurf but implemented as an extension (which I think I would find preferable to playing with proxy settings) and it gives you the choice of proxies in different countries. It looks very easy to configure (you get a button which is off and, if you turn it on, you get a choice of countries to proxy from),
Another Firefox extension that lets you watch is “ProxMate”. It automtically proxies a whole range of region blocked sites.
I just installed the Proxmate extension for Firefox and it works like a charm. No configuration required. It just works. There’s also an extension available for Chrome.
http://proxmate.dave.cx/
It’s free to download, but the creator welcomes contributions.
Thanks. I have added it to the list of suggestions.
I just installed proxmate and it worked great for me. The easiest experience in add-ons I’ve ever had!
The http://realtimewithbillmaherspot.blogspot.co.uk/ address has died and can no longer be used.