# A plea to Jon Stewart **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 6, 2008, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-plea-to-jon-stewart/462356 "2008-09-06T16:53:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![anamnesis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eb8c5e/32.png) [@anamnesis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anamnesis)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2008, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-plea-to-jon-stewart/462356/81 "2008-10-23T00:47:59Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > … but that middle third- rarely worth watching any more. Jason Jones, Asiv Mandi, (sp?), John Oliver, Rob Riggle, or worst of all Jon Hodgeson or Dmitri Martin (whose success I’ve never understood) etc.- it’s just good for a bathroom break more often than not. The first third has so many moments of brilliance that I’d hate to say “get new writers”, but… do sumpin’, Jon. Handle it for me, kay babe? Tanks. I’ve found myself feeling this way throughout the life of the show. The quality found in the lineup of correspondents has gradually diminished over time, but a few have been able to find a niche. I really can’t stand most of the current crop of toilet humor goofballs they currently have to choose from, but I love that new girl Kristen Schaal. She isn’t on nearly enough. She excels at lampooning current hot-button topics with a high-brow understanding of the underlying irony of the issue, whereas most of the tenured correspondents on the show seem to elicit laughs by essentially farting mouthwords into the camera, very rarely with a good punchline. And yeah, this new guy Wyatt Cenaf really needs to find another line of work because I think a plastic bag has better comedic timing. Watching him monotonously drone on from the teleprompter and stumble on his words as he sets himself up for a comedic trainwreck is one of the more painful things I’ve seen anyone do on TV in recent memory. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2008, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-plea-to-jon-stewart/462356/82 "2008-10-23T00:51:43Z")
I’d like to see Sarah Vowell (essayist, NPR correspondent, and extremely well read on American history) or, if they could afford him, Seth Green (who’s always struck me as way more intelligent than most celebrities) do spots for them. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2008, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-plea-to-jon-stewart/462356/83 "2008-10-23T00:57:45Z")
I find John Oliver the best of the correspondents. He cracks me up most of the time. I think his timing his near perfect. Jon Hodgeson & Asiv Mandi usually do a good job and Larry Wilmore should be used far more often. He has a really dry sense of humor like Hodgeson that I enjoy. The more franctic ones I don’t really enjoy. Jason Jones has almost never been funny and is usually just painful. Rob Riggle is hit of miss as is Samantha Bee. ---
**Author:** ![bienville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@bienville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bienville)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2008, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-plea-to-jon-stewart/462356/84 "2008-10-23T01:01:52Z")
> [@eleanorigby](#): > > Wyatt may have talent, but they haven’t found a way to show it yet. I am waiting for them to put Wyatt Cenac to good use! The high concept comedy that I’ve been watching Wyatt Cenac do in the small clubs around L.A. for the past few years has been BRILLIANT! Particularly work he’s done at GarageComedy and the Upright Citizen’s Brigade Theater. He has stood out in a major way as one of the most interesting, original, intelligent, comics of the day- with an interesting perspective on every topic he addresses, taking a round-about route to his punchlines. He is immensely talented- please, Daily Show, allow him to shine!!! ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2008, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-plea-to-jon-stewart/462356/85 "2008-10-23T01:43:00Z")
> [@eleanorigby](#): > > (I read his first book–not all that funny, in fact, it got tiresome). Just to counter any evil effects your perfectly-within-your-rights expression of your own opinion may have had, I will register that I found the book to be laugh-out-loud funny the whole way through. (Though perhaps not to be taken all at one sitting.) -FrL- ---
**Author:** ![eleanorigby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2008, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-plea-to-jon-stewart/462356/86 "2008-10-23T02:23:57Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > Do you mean [Aasif Mandvi](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aasif_Mandvi)? Because he was born in Mumbai, which isn’t in the Mideast. Gah–I’m buying into their calling him Senior Middle East Analyst or whatever! Sorry about that. Yes, Aasif is who I mean (whom?). Mumbai is most definitely not in the MidEast… Tom Brokaw is on tonight–that should be “special”. I hope Jon questions him about the debate. **Frylock** -I read it late at night, and all at once. Not good. I kept thinking-this is some pretty ponderous humor. Then again, my father only has ponderous humor, so it was sort of like reading my dad, which was weird. And not that funny… ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2008, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-plea-to-jon-stewart/462356/87 "2008-10-23T04:46:48Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > I’m about half and half on the middle third. Rob Riggle and Jason Jones are almost the same guy – they don’t really need two of him. The rest are hit or miss – sometimes they are very funny, sometimes they just seem to act like jackasses on the theory that acting like a jackass is in itself funny. They both are working on series in the near future, so they’ll be moving on in the near future. (Sam Bee is a producer of the Jason Jones show). ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2008, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-plea-to-jon-stewart/462356/88 "2008-10-23T04:48:51Z")
> [@Indistinguishable](#): > > I don’t have much against the usual middle thirds, or at least I didn’t think I did, but last night’s Jon Hodgman was fantastic; the best I’ve seen in a long time. It’s actually causing me to start re-evaluating the others… The Hodgman bit was the post-modern book tour interview. Given that he is actually doing one, I guess, it was perfect. I like the Apple response to the Microsoft ads featuring a Hodgman look alike too. ---
**Author:** ![eleanorigby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2008, 12:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-plea-to-jon-stewart/462356/89 "2008-10-23T12:02:21Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > I like the Apple response to the Microsoft ads featuring a Hodgman look alike too. Link? I haven’t seen that one–I’ve seen the bake sale ad, which is also funny. Apple just does humor better. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-plea-to-jon-stewart/462356.md?page=4)