For
anyone not living under a rock and who enjoys good comedy, today is a pretty sad
day. Today we bid farewell to a man who
changed the way we think about not only comedy, but also news and information
in the post-millennial period. For 17
full seasons, encompassing over a decade and a half of material, Jon Stewart
has voiced the liberal slant of cultural and political economy in American society; and he did so
with a kind of hyper-realism non-existent in the actual media outlets. I decided to type up my own farewell to
Stewart, even if I don’t fully agree with him on everything, because of how
much he has impacted our culture over the years.
In the
mid-90s, Stewart interviewed one of the greatest philosophers and comedians of
the late 20th century, George Carlin. And in that interview, Carlin commented
Stewart’s future career. “You are going
to show us a lot,” Carlin told Stewart, “and I’m looking forward to it.”[i] Boy was he right. The interview, done independently but part of
Stewart’s resume for interviewing experience, focused on Carlin’s style and
approach to comedy as being philosophic and culturally enriching. I thought it was a perfect setup, because that’s
precisely what Stewart’s comedy became with The
Daily Show on Viacom’s Comedy Central.
Filling in the role of Craig Kilborn starting January 11th,
1999, Jon Stewart took The Daily Show
away from its original SNL-style “Weekly Update” format and created a new way
of presenting the news: Using the facts,
using un-edited footage, and still making a mockery of it. It was surrealism and comedy put
together. I personally remember watching
the transition, and I quickly became a fan of the new format. The
Daily Show presented to me—at the time a 14 year-old kid starting high
school at Torrey Pines—a way of understanding world events without having to
take it all so seriously.
By the
time George Bush Jr. took the presidency in 2000, Jon Stewart had made a name
for himself and the new format of The
Daily Show; Bush merely provided an endless stream of things to comment
on. Suddenly, Stewart’s impersonations
of Bush and Cheney made it easy to remember how pointless politics can actually
be. I watched the show throughout high school because I didn't like the developments going on in the world, and as an arrogant teenager didn't trust anything except for The Daily Show. The show discussed issues so wholly negative; the "stealing" of the 2000 election, the quasi-fascism of the post-9/11 Bush government, the questionable nature of "the Patriot Act"....etc. Contained within the negativity, however, was a way of coping with it.
But there was also something positive from it all: It reminded me how much we don’t live in a totalitarian dictatorship; despite what people may want to claim about Bush (and Obama today, for that matter). Stewart’s ability to transcend the office of the presidency and not face repercussions—but in fact be praised for doing it—stands as a testament to how much freedom of speech really does function in the first world. We can complain about its limitations in certain senses, sure—because nothing is perfect. But one thing we can be sure of is that we will not face ultimate judgement for standing up for what we think is right. We have the evidence, and anyone facing such judgement has an easy precedent to use.
But there was also something positive from it all: It reminded me how much we don’t live in a totalitarian dictatorship; despite what people may want to claim about Bush (and Obama today, for that matter). Stewart’s ability to transcend the office of the presidency and not face repercussions—but in fact be praised for doing it—stands as a testament to how much freedom of speech really does function in the first world. We can complain about its limitations in certain senses, sure—because nothing is perfect. But one thing we can be sure of is that we will not face ultimate judgement for standing up for what we think is right. We have the evidence, and anyone facing such judgement has an easy precedent to use.
By 2010, The Daily Show had become a beacon for the resurgence of a new leftism in the United States. This new left rejected the "old, New Left" in the sense that it rejected the nation-state as the sole arbiter of change. Suddenly we saw mass street protests in numbers rivaling the 1930s. The rising Occupy movement and the autonomism of anarchism found its home on the nightly coverage of The Daily Show; who did the precise opposite of mainstream media organizations: Stewart and his team recognized these movements, addressed their concerns, and did not outwardly dismiss them as irrelevant to the discussions of the day. Together with Stephen Colbert, Stewart and The Daily Show became the antithesis to everything contemporary news media was, and in many ways still is.
Today, I think The Daily Show sets a challenge to future generations of news reporting. My generation—both liberals and conservatives—grew up with The Daily Show and are all generally aware of its style, its effectiveness, and its broad appeal. Fox News and CNN even report on Daily Show clips, highlighting the manner and means by which news reaches younger audiences. Hell, The Daily Show was the first news outlet to utilize the hashtag (#thedailyshow). As my generation grows up, and as we continue to look toward the media for news….we will never forget the Daily Show nor Jon Stewart’s contribution to it. Stewart, in my opinion, gave us reason to watch the news and care about events….even if it was just for a laugh. It managed to take serious issues and depict them in a way that made us all care, even if in some instances we didn’t laugh at all.
Today, I think The Daily Show sets a challenge to future generations of news reporting. My generation—both liberals and conservatives—grew up with The Daily Show and are all generally aware of its style, its effectiveness, and its broad appeal. Fox News and CNN even report on Daily Show clips, highlighting the manner and means by which news reaches younger audiences. Hell, The Daily Show was the first news outlet to utilize the hashtag (#thedailyshow). As my generation grows up, and as we continue to look toward the media for news….we will never forget the Daily Show nor Jon Stewart’s contribution to it. Stewart, in my opinion, gave us reason to watch the news and care about events….even if it was just for a laugh. It managed to take serious issues and depict them in a way that made us all care, even if in some instances we didn’t laugh at all.
So I
say farewell to Jon Stewart, and I thank him and everyone working for The Daily Show for revitalizing the news
experience for myself, my friends, and all those from my generation who watched
over the years. I can only wait with
anticipation to see where both Stewart and The
Daily Show will take us in the next decade.
But who wants to wait? New
episodes of The Daily Show begin
September 22nd!!!!
Farewell
Jon, #jonvoyage
Sincerely,
Joshua Morris
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