Thread: America's most popular satirist Jon Stewart

Can we survive summer without Jon Stewart?

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Jon Stewart (Getty Images file )

March 07, 2013 By Hector Luis Alamo Jr., @hectorluisalamo | For RedEye


Three months. That's how long you'll have to go without America's most popular satirist—and, awkwardly enough, its most trusted newsman.
Jon Stewart is taking a three-month hiatus from "The Daily Show" this summer to direct his first movie, "Rosewater." Written by Stewart, the movie tells the true story of a former guest who was jailed by Iranian authorities while reporting on the elections there.

Obviously the film won't be in Stewart's sweet spot, comedy—which is like Steven Spielberg directing "The Hangover Part III" or James Franco writing poetry.

Less funny than Stewart's directorial debut will be the three months we'll have to survive without his uncanny ability to give us pertinent day-to-day information while reminding us how absurd it all is.
Sure, we'll have the stand-in, John Oliver, who is funny and witty and British to boot. But John is certainly no Jon.
There's something indescribably irreplaceable about Stewart. Even the equally famous "Daily Show" alum Stephen Colbert doesn't quite measure up to his old boss. Stewart comes across as more respectable, serious and trustworthy. Maybe it's all the gray hair.
Or maybe it's because unlike Colbert, who's playing a character, Stewart's just being Stewart, which allows him to be more versatile.

Stewart is sometimes a clown, sometimes a satirist, sometimes Joe Blow, sometimes an elitist, sometimes a raging liberal and sometimes a poised moderate. Just when you think he's merely a working-class comic who got lucky landing a hit show, he'll come at you with straight-up facts and critical thinking.
And you don't fully appreciate just who Jon Stewart is and what he does until you actually tune in and he makes you laugh at something the rest of the world seems to be losing hair over.

Yes, he can get a little Rachel Maddow-y here and there with his insistence that civilized society has begun its slow and inevitable circling of the drain. But for the most part, Stewart's the voice of reason telling everybody to calm down—unlike Maddow, who mounts her high horse every night and yells into the camera, "The Republicans are coming! The Republicans are coming!"
Jon never does that. He's more likely to get on a unicycle and warn, "The Republicans and Democrats are coming!"

That's what he means to America, or at least to millions of young people like me. He's the wisecrackin' uncle, the 21st century's Mark Twain, America's Oscar Wilde. Stewart is the guy who puts a reassuring hand on your shoulder and calmly points out the B.S.—which invariably turns out to be virtually everything.

This might read like a premature obituary for a man who's taking only three months off, but the fact that Stewart won't be there this summer to help us make sense of stuff is a discomforting thought. Lord knows the likes of CNN, MSNBC and Fox News won't help us make sense of any of it. (I'm still shaken up by the "Snowquester.")
Stewart makes you laugh and think. He tells you to be serious and relax. I'm just glad he won't be gone for good.
You need him. I need him. America needs him. Hurry back, Jon.

Hector Luis Alamo Jr. is a RedEye special contributor.

Can we survive summer without Jon Stewart? - RedEye Chicago

I LOVE Jon Stewart!

Thou shall not kill. Thou shall not commit adultery. Don’t eat pork. I’m sorry, what was that last one? Don’t eat pork? Is that the word of God, or is that pigs trying to outsmart everybody?

If America leads a blessed life, then why did God put all of our oil under people who hate us?

We called her Mother Earth… because she gave birth to us, and then we sucked her dry.

If you don’t stick to your values when they’re being tested, they’re not values: they’re hobbies.

More than 150 heads of state attended the UN Summit, giving New Yorkers a chance to get in touch with prejudices they didn’t even know they had.

It’s as if a guy drove me into a ditch and said, ‘Don’t worry, I know how to drive us out of this.’

If “con” is the opposite of pro, then isn’t Congress the opposite of progress?

"After college, Stewart held numerous jobs: a contingency planner for the New Jersey Department of Human Services, a contract administrator for the City University of New York, a puppeteer for children with disabilities, a high school soccer coach, a caterer, a busboy, a shelf stocker at Woolworth's, and a bartender at the Franklin Corner Tavern, a local blue-collar bar.^[6][20][21] In college, Stewart was friends with former Congressman Anthony Weiner, who is the only politician to have received campaign donations from Stewart"


Jon Stewart - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Don’t eat pork. I’m sorry, what was that last one? Don’t eat pork? Is that the word of God, or is that pigs trying to outsmart everybody?

Jon Stewart discussing how different schools of Judaism deal with homosexuality:

ORTHODOX: Homosexuality is an extremely serious sin and a violation of G-d's law.
CONSERVATIVE: Homosexuality is an extremely serious sin, but -- oh, what a gift they've been to Broadway!!!
REFORM: Homosexuality is something that happened this one time in college.

http://kinostok.tv/video/185921/The-...tsyi-o-russkih

Anand Giridharadas - The Daily Show with Jon Stewart - 01/24/11 - Video Clip | Comedy Central

April 30, 2014 - Martin Gilens & Benjamin Page - The Daily Show - Full Episode | Comedy Central

The show has closed captioning





A number of IRS employees owe back taxes to the IRS.

Burn Noticed - The Daily Show - Video Clip | Comedy Central


"Last night the Daily Show did a segment on climate change, specifically how either stupid or bought-and-paid-for-by-Big-Oil some members of Congress on the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology are. One climate change-denier in particular who drove Stewart to come close to beating his head against his desk is Republican Congressman Steve Stockman of Texas.

In a clip from a recent hearing, Stockman actually says the following: “Think about it, if your ice cube melts in your glass, it doesn’t overflow. It’s displacement. This is some of the things that they’re talking about that mathematically and scientifically don’t make sense.”

To which Stewart responded, “Are you f*cking kidding me? ARE YOU F*CKING KIDDING ME?! I don’t even…I don’t even know what to do with that.” He then brought out a glass of water and a bowl of ice cubes to demonstrate how melting Arctic ice causes sea levels to rise so that even a simpleton like Rep. Stockman can understand."

I never watch it but have heard similar opinions:

Feature: ‘Daily Show’ Guest Explains How Jon Stewart Deceptively Edits Interviews To Smear Conservatives

Scott

http://www.mnn.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/blogs/sneak-peek-jon-stewarts-animal-rescue-farm






Jon and Tracey Stewart share new mission with "Do Unto Animals"

Jon Stewart Returns to ‘The Daily Show’ to Scold Congress


12/7/2015

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Jon Stewart Could Be Back on TV in Time to Save the 2016 Election | Vanity Fair


“He has free rein to do whatever he wants.”
BY

• JOANNA ROBINSON

" When Jon Stewart announced he was leaving The Daily Show last February, he probably couldn’t have known how crazy the upcoming presidential election would get. He did, however, see some of the writing on the wall. The final weeks of Stewart’s run coincided with Donald Trump deciding whether to get into the race. “If Trump’s not running,” Stewart joked at the time, “then these last shows are going to be nothing but a cup of hot sadness.” But Trump did run and, as of this week, has secured his place as the presumptive Republican nominee for the presidency. And with the Democratic party experiencing its own internal turmoil over presumptive nominee Hillary Clinton—the hashtag #dropoutHillary was trending all day Wednesday—the nation is now facing one of the most divisive elections in recent memory. And, for the first time in 16 years, Jon Stewart isn’t here to help us laugh about it. But maybe that will change soon.

HBO chief Richard Plepler gave an interview to CNN’s Brian Stelter Thursday where he expressed his wish to have Stewart—who signed a four-year deal with the cable network—back on air before the November election. “I’m hopeful,” Plepler said with a wry, knowing smile. But he clarified that Stewart isn’t eager to jump back into his old role just so he can take shots at Trump. “I think he’s clamoring at the bit to do something that he knows is going to stand out and be a new part of his artistic expression.”

No matter when he returns, Stewart’s TV presence likely won’t do anything to affect the outcome of the presidential race. It’s early yet, but polls have Clinton easily outstrippingTrump and most outlets concede that Trump is not really a credible threat to her. But Stewartcould save the nation from some of the divisive rancor that has sprouted up around this election.

Politico posits that even if Clinton were to win, her victory would not inspire the atmosphere of hope that attended the Obama presidency. “She may still face a hellish four or eight years in office without a crisper organizing theme that pledges fundamental change, because so many voters in the opposition party—and her own—will be nursing bitter disappointments from Day One. She’s already in danger of pre-alienating the Democratic base, with many Sanders supporters vowing never to support her.”

An air of conflict and fear, both between parties and within them, has hit a fever pitch this election with the media often gleefully throwing fuel on the fire. In a recent parade of media apologies over handling the election incorrectly, the Times’s Jim Rutenberg said the political media was “wrong, wrong, wrong” because it “lost sight of its primary directives in this election season: to help readers and viewers make sense of the presidential chaos; to reduce the confusion, not add to it; to resist the urge to put ratings, clicks and ad sales above the imperative of getting it right.” Many of the biggest names in late night comedy went softon Trump. For Stewart—and very few other comedy news hosts like John Oliver and Seth Meyers—“getting it right” seems like the number one priority.

Sure, it’s no guarantee that Stewart’s return will restore peace to a fractured America. In fact, by his own admission, it might be too late to save us. When asked if he would consider returning to TV if Trump were elected president, Stewart said last September, “I would consider getting in a rocket and going to another planet because clearly this planet has gone bonkers.” And it’s also worth noting that Stewart’s new HBO project is no Daily Show or Last Week Tonight. He’ll be producing short form, technologically innovative content. Still, his is a guiding voice that is dearly missed and, according to Plepler, Stewart has “free rein to do whatever he wants.” Could healing the nation be at the top of his list, please? "