For Jon Stewart’s loyal fans, it’s time to say goodbye to his “Daily Show“. But the 52-year-old comic announced last winter that he was getting restless and it was time to move on.
Advertisement
Armed with a razor-sharp wit and research team adept at finding video evidence of hypocrisy or unintentional comedy among the nation’s establishment, Stewart turned a sleepy basic-cable entertainment show into a powerful cultural platform. “Have I caused this?”
Jon Stewart’s final Daily Show began like any other, a satirical commentary on the absurdity of the political machine.
A line of people hoping to get in to the taping gathered outside of the Comedy Central studio on Manhattan’s far West Side. This may sound trite, but especially during the gloomy years of the Bush/Cheney presidency “The Daily Show” was like a small ray of sunshine emanating from New York.
He’d been away from the show for more than a decade, but Carell said that “becoming an worldwide superstar is just something I did while awaiting my next assignment”. Soon it was once again simply Stewart at his desk.
“When he is going on all cylinders, that show could be absolutely breathtaking and really informative and important to the civic conversation”, said Robert Thompson, director of Syracuse University’s Bleier Center for Television and Popular Culture. In the bit, Stewart illustrated a legitimately secret meeting he once had with Ailes using a clip from Ingmar Bergman’s The Seventh Seal in which a character confronts the Grim Reaper.
“I’m just gonna say “I’m gonna get a drink and I’ll see you around”, he added.
“I don’t know”, Hatcher said. “One of the nice things about this moment is that he’s doing this on his terms, on his timeline, when he feels like he’s done whatever it was he set out to do 17 years ago”. Stan Goldstein, a Springsteen expert, speculated on Twitter that Springsteen will be performing at the final show.
And finally, here is Stewart following Johan Santana’s no-hitter back in 2012. Stewart’s appearance on CNN’s “Crossfire” was a masterwork of deconstructive criticism, and it led to the cancellation of that show weeks later after Stewart called upon the hosts to “stop hurting America”.
“You were infuriatingly good at your job”, Colbert told Stewart. David Letterman signed off from CBS in May, to be replaced by Colbert. “Occasionally we pay attention”. “But we’ve given it our all every single time”.
Advertisement
While a generation of younger Americans may have exclusively relied on Stewart and “The Daily Show” for their news, the fact is that “The Daily Show” became destination viewing for numerous rest of us, augmenting and critiquing more sober news outlets.
