Guests of the Week: April 20-24, 2009

Oddly enough, the guest we're most looking forward to this week is Reza Aslan, the Iranian-American writer and scholar who will be plugging his new book, How to Win a Cosmic War: God, Globalization, and the End of the War on Terror, on Monday's "The Daily Show." Aslan is one of those always-reliably-great talk show guests, and has a nice chemistry with Jon Stewart. On Tuesday, Jon will chat with Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. Over on "The Colbert Report," public radio fans should rejoice when Ira Glass sits in Stephen's hot seat on Wednesday.

Tuesday on newly high def "Jimmy Kimmel Live," Billy Bob Thornton may or may not explain why he called Canadians "mashed potatoes with no gravy." Jimmy himself will guest on Ellen DeGeneres' show, also on Tuesday. Kal Penn will tell Tavis why he left "House" for the White House on Wednesday (subject to change; check local listings).

If you love Jamie Foxx, it's a banner week since he'll be on Letterman (Thursday), Kimmel (Friday) and Regis & Kelly (also Friday). Since both Kimmel and "R&K" are allegedly "live," we suppose that means Foxx will be hightailing it to the West Coast after taping the morning show in New York.