Stewart then showed Fox News praising him in the past for going after Obama administration officials on the “Daily Show” in contrast to slamming him now for speaking to the president.
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Moreover, Stewart’s success set off a wave of imitators that many commentators say makes it unlikely to see the meteoric rise of a similar figure, at least in the near future.
On September 28, Trevor Noah, who has appeared in a handful of episodes of “The Daily Show” as a correspondent, will succeed Jon Stewart in the anchor chair. And if there has been one theme from the beloved comedian and political commentator’s time on The Daily Show, it is his ongoing love-hate relationship with Fox News. In 2010, he and fellow Comedy Central fake-news host Stephen Colbert even organized a rollicking “Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear” that drew tens of thousands to Washington’s National Mall. Jon Stewart surfaced the insidious motivations, he articulated the corporate conflicts, he called out the bias, and he exposed the agendas of the news organizations.
Jon Stewart has been the host of “The Daily Show” since 1999.
“I think of us as turd miners”, he said.
It could be one of those intensely moving instances when Stewart let down his satirical guard, as when teenaged Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai described how she would reason with Taliban forces wanting to kill her, or Stewart’s poignant opening remarks post-9/11. I like being on both shows.
In announcing his departure in February, Stewart said, “In my heart, I know it is time for someone else”.
Lassally certainly thinks so, and elaborated (in an unused portion of that earlier piece) about how Stewart’s mix of intelligence, quickness and comedic timing couldn’t be readily replicated. And of course, the satirical comedian grew into the Jon Stewart we’ve all learned to love, breaking down political controversies that at first appeared to be incredibly complicated in a way that showed us how truly simple they were. “OK, to prove improper collusion, find a memo from me to the president giving the president advice about my area of expertise: communication”.
But he is inheriting a show in which his words will be parsed and judged; he’s the face of a show known for having a significant influence on public opinion and young voters. In the Clinton years, he became the home of America’s favorite zipper jokes, majority savage. Stewart exclaimed with mock enthusiasm.
When Carlson and Begala shot back that “The Daily Show” could use work, too, Stewart uttered his now-famous zinger: “You’re on CNN!”
At Comedy Central’s invitation, a few dozen critics attended Noah’s one-hour stand-up show on Tuesday night in Santa Monica – and the chatter afterward was mixed.
Jon Stewart is 52 years old. He left “The Daily Show” to launch his own companion show, which he hosted for a decade.
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Journalists should ask themselves if they aren’t perhaps overdoing the “incomparable cultural significance” part, especially when Stuever acknowledges in this gushy review that Stewart’s presence isn’t ending mass shootings, human rights outrages, and foreign policy crises.
