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.
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Stewart, who announced his departure in February, leaves thousands of grieving fans and an outpouring of media tributes debating his legacy as the nation’s most popular political satirist. “The best defense against the bulls-t is vigilance”.
Jon Stewart’s run as the host of the “Daily Show” has come to an end. “I knew you were going to run this thing into the ground”.
Stewart opened the show at his desk to wild cheers, stating simply “Welcome to ‘The Daily Show, ‘ my name is Jon Stewart”, adding “I’ve got big news”. But, of course, they’re not; The Daily Show has developed a sharp writers’ voice independent of, while guided by, Stewart, and it takes an army to fake the news nightly: makeup folks and prop masters, accountants and researchers (including the media watchers, shown with blood coming out of their eyes), camera crew and costumers. “And we’re better people because we got to know you”.
Stewart’s main correspondent and BFF, Stephen Colbert, showed up to bid him a fond farewell, referring to himself as the Sam to Stewart’s Frodo: “Jon, one of us is adult size and does not have hairy toes”, Colbert quipped.
“We owe you because we learned from you, we learned from you by example how to do a show with intention, how to work with clarity, how to treat people with respect”, Colbert said.
“An artist I really admire said that he thinks of his career as a long conversation with the audience”, Stewart said in introducing Springsteen.
Stewart kept the show mostly issues-free, through he did take a few minutes at the end of the program to deliver one final editorial monologue on the “bulls-t” that is everywhere – taking another swing at topics like the Patriot Act, overleveraged banks and the influence of corporation in campaign finance. “I always looked forward to verbally jousting with the man even though, at times, I confused him with facts and I felt bad doing it”. Something has gotten better now that Stewart is leaving “The Daily Show“.
Stewart then bid Fox goodbye with an “Adios, motherf***ers!”, before realising he had three shows left. Stewart went on a rant and called the club “classless” the next day. “So if you smell somethin’, say somethin'”.
Trevor Noah, the South African comic who will replace Stewart in September, cheekily appeared to measure up the set and…Stewart’s crotch. “Search for Bruce Springsteen and E Road Band to be on Jon Stewart’s last present on Thursday”, he stated.
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The well-wishers included Oscar nominee Steve Carell, who told Stewart that “becoming an global superstar was just something I did while waiting for my next assignment”.
