Obama didn’t merely lobby Stewart, but occasionally it seems he changed policies after The Daily Show host spoke out.
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“What took us eight years of walking the halls of Congress, Jon Stewart in 22 minutes literally moved mountains and gave us a heartbeat again when we were flat lined”, John Feal, an Army veteran, told Politico.
Stewart didn’t even directly announce a commercial break at the end of his segment.
Which is not to say they didn’t know when the segments were coming-White House chief economist Austan Goolsbee “acknowledged he would stay in touch with The Daily Show staff”, like his former classmate and improv partner, executive producer Scott Budow. He also argued his joke focused on Cain’s position on an issue, not on his race. He got incredibly defensive. ‘I remember he was like, ‘What are you trying to say? There’s a tone in your voice. It bothered me. It sounded like Kingfish.’ And then he got upset. “That I could just make stupid faces and grunt”. And he screamed it a few times….
Something like this, I represent my community, I represent my people, and I try to represent them the best that I can.
“I was shaking, and I just sat there by myself on the bleachers and fucking cried”. “Cenac’s next year – as a correspondent, but no longer in the writers” room, by choice – was “miserable”, and he left “The Daily Show” in 2012″.
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During an interview with Marc Maron on is WTF show, Cenac recounted an explosive confrontation between Stewart and himself in 2011 when Stewart was making fun of black presidential candidate Herman Cain by doing “a voice” Cenac said sounded liked the character Kingfish from the 1950s sitcom Amos & Andy, canceled after complaints about black stereotyping. He described an incident that runs counter to Stewart’s image (at least as portrayed by the media) as an above-it-all comedian who penetrates political hypocrisy by wielding sly snark and an unwavering ability to keep his cool. This kind of double standard will be Stewart’s legacy as he departs from the airwaves.
