“Is this really Jon Stewart?!? What is this anyway?!?”

by Molly Kenney

On October 15, 2004, Jon Stewart appeared on CNN's Crossfire and knocked the wind out of a flabbergasted Tucker Carlson and much of the media. Stewart had the upper hand in the exchange. He traded his traditional funnyman role for a biting critique of the media and their failure in their responsibility to the public. He coupled that criticism with reminders of his comedic status with comments like, “You're on CNN. The show that leads into me is puppets making crank phone calls.” So why do American viewers, coincidentally voters too, take Stewart’s “fake news” more seriously than real news?

During this semester’s midterm rush of class presentation assignments, I’ve found myself turning to YouTube for clips from The Daily Show before video excerpts from real news sources, and Stewart’s commentary has proven far more effective in illustrating my points. I don’t think it’s because Jon Stewart and The Daily Show make politics fun or democracy hip. I believe it’s because the show leaves the average American laughing and better understanding the insitutions that elicit that laughter

This fake news pretends to make light of politicians’ follies, presidential misunderestimations, and campaign mudslinging. It mocks the pretension and hypocrisy of politics with bathroom humor and satirical wit simultaneously. Politicians, like Sen. John Kerry, Sen. John McCain, and countless others, will gladly appear on The Daily Show to show off their light-hearted sides and earn a few brownie points with the electorate. Those who attempt to engage Stewart in his efforts to banter and self-deprecate may gain the respect of the viewing voters or expose themselves as traditionally staid politicians.

In TIME magazine’s "100 Artists and Entertainers," from 2005, Tom Brokaw wrote, “Jon Stewart was our Athenian, a voice for democratic ideals and the noble place of citizenship, helped along by the sound of laughter.” By providing a forum for hilarity and inadvertent political education, Stewart fulfills the duty to which he holds the rest of the media accountable while his audience holds their sides in laughter. Stewart met Tucker Carlson’s condescending questions by saying, “You have a responsibility to the public discourse,” but he answered Carlson’s childish jabs with, “You know what's interesting, though? You're as big a dick on your show as you are on any show.”

Therein lays Jon Stewart’s genius.

(Stewart's appearance on Crossfire can be seen below.)

Television
Jon Stewart
Daily Show
cnn
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