I find that he generally laughs only when he feels a joke has bombed or is just dumb; it’s more self-deprecating than anything. I could be wrong, my memory’s not perfect, but that’s how it comes across to me.
Either way, it works for me. There’s no pretense of an act, as if he were trying to be like a real news anchorman the way Craig Kilborn was. Stewart just gets up behind the desk and starts talking shit.
Agree. I really don’t like his on-air persona - the constant mugging, the smarminess, the terrible one-note impressions… It’s frustrating because I can tell some of the writing is good, but Stewart is so off-putting it’s hard to watch. (So I don’t: haven’t watched regularly in ages, so in fairness this all may have improved, for all I know.) He gets credit in my book for (apparently) being the guiding hand for a lot of the writing, but I really wish they’d put someone better on camera.
That’s how I see it, too. When he laughs for real, it’s usually at the correspondents.
The mostly improvised episodes towards the end of the writer’s strike were enlightening. I think both Colbert and Stewart, in having to go back to their standup/improv roots, showed how talented they both really are.
Which is very talented indeed.
Actually the act that is getting old, imho, is the one coming out of Fox.
Of COURSE Stewart’s act is getting old. ANY TV or radio show that’s based solely on the notion that “Our side is wonderful and the other guys are dangerous idiots” is bound to get old and tiresome in a hurry, even if the host is genuinely talented and funny.
I’m a conservative, and I have no idea how anyone could keep listening to Rush Limbaugh for 20 years- even if you AGREE with him. After 20 years, I would think a listener had already HEARD pretty much everything Rush has to say. Yes, Rush, I get it! Liberals are morons! He ran out of gas years ago.
Jon Stewart is no different. He has nothing to say except “Fox News sucks! They’re phonies. Oooh, let me repeat something Glenn Beck said and then make a goofy face!”
Even his biggest fans know he’s run out of gas.
Sorry, that still ain’t sayin’ much!
Best wishes,
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Nice response. I totally agree. Jon Stewart ran out of gas long ago. New viewers like him because they haven’t heard the same rants for years. I watched Stewart and Rush for years. In some ways Rush is funnier because I know he is full of shit. I can’t take anything he says seriously. Stewart and Rush are opposite sides of the same coin.
I’m just curious what basis all the people who haven’t watched “The Daily Show” in years have for saying that Jon Stewart “ran out of steam long ago”? Stewart was never particularly outrage-based like Rush or Bill Maher (at least on his HBO show) and the evolution of “The Daily Show” from a straight-up satire talk show to an almost-exclusively political satire show has been slow but interesting and rarely non-entertaining. Stewart relied heavily on the Bush administration for material mainly because it was such an easy and accessible source. Now that Bush is out of office, it seems they’re relying on Fox News for much the same reasons - particularly because it is so popular.
You don’t actually watch the show, do you? He goes after Democrats and liberal pundits when they screw up. Hell, he only recently mocked the hell out of Olbermann.
It’s not really his fault conservatives provide so much more fodder for jokes, and you can hardly call it biased when he shows clips of direct hypocrisy.
Agreed.
Agreed. His act is getting old to me, and to a lot of my friends - people in their early 20’s. My own parents don’t, but most of my friends’ parents fit the stereotypical 'doper - in their 50’s, academics, agnostics, etc - so they still lap it up (as I see many posters still are). His interviews are getting awful - look at the Madoff whistleblower interview. He could have really plumbed the depths of how awful and how corrupt the SEC is - instead he just had his dick in his hands the entire time.
I vastly prefer Colbert - except for his nagging the PM from Canada about his caste during his Olympic coverage. The poor man was nearly in tears, I thought it was wildly distasteful and inappropriate. Colbert is a great interviewer - nobody can hold a candle to his “Better Know a District” segments. I watch Stewart a few times a week, but only because I DVR it and can fast-forward through his blatantly crappy stuff. He’s a horrible interviewer. The Daily Show at this point is held up by the strength of its correspondents - Wyatt Cenac is in a league of his own, followed by Jason Jones and Samantha Bee and Aasif Mandvi.
So it’s not just you. Even if this thread is out to show you that it is.
Hmmm. Jon Stewart is one of the few (the only?) who actually listens to what the interviewee says and then responds to that. Yes, he has notes, but he doesn’t just do the talking points bit that so many interviewers/“journalists” do. And this makes him a crappy interviewer? :dubious:
There are times he does softball the interview. There are other times it goes off the rails. Thing is, Stewart is first and foremost a comedian–it’s not his responsibility to hold the SEC’s feet to the fire.
You do realize that Colbert is playing a part when he is doing his interviews, right? He’s being his fatally clueless character, not Mr Journalism. Colbert can work on several levels, but he tends to lose his guests and his interviews can end up strained and flat.
OH CHRIST HOLD THE PRESSES. COLBERT IS IN CHARACTER, HE’S NOT BEING SERIOUS ON HIS SHOW!?!?!?!?11!1!1!1! You got me there, sister. I had no fucking clue :rolleyes:
Onto being serious again…Stewart is a good interviewer when it’s 1) A subject he knows a lot about 2) A subject he’s wildly interested in, even if it’s a recent interest 3) The Mets and 4) When the person is of near identical political affiliation with him. He’s a horrid interviewer for people on the right - and they’re the people I want to see out of their element, not consistently over-talked and interrupted by Stewart. He also used to read or speed-read the books of people he had on his show 2 years ago - you never see him say “in this part of the book” anymore. He’s phoning it in a lot of the time.
You’ve got to be SHITTING me on the Colbert “loses his guests” part. Robert Gibbs has stated very directly that he won’t let Obama on because nobody has survived a Colbert “Better Know A District” segment. Now that’s what I call successful journalism - when politicians are afraid you’ll expose them for the asses they are.
Given that their element is getting fellated on FOX, I’d say that qualifies.
Why Jewish, though? Jon doesn’t strike me as the type who would discriminate against a good comic just because of hi/r ethnicity.
You’re awfully worked up about a difference of opinion.
Well, not quite–he gave the Bush speech writer (don’t recall his name) a hard time. If you are saying he is soft on some interviews, I agree. It’d be great if he DID hold the dicks’ feet to the fire, but again, he’s not a journalist. He’s an entertainer who found he could be both intelligent and funny.
So, nobody gets interviewed because they are too intimidated to go on the show. That’s helpful. Several of his Better Know segment victims did not realize they were on a comedy show, and their discomfiture was obvious (and painful) to watch. It’s funny, but it’s not successful journalism to watch a pol squirm because s/he’s not sure how to take a question instead of being cornered by insightful
questions. Colbert is also not a journalist–he is satirizing shows like O’Reilly etc.
If anyone is deserving of contempt and disgust, it’s the MSM which does NOT do its job in keeping TPTB accountable.
How’s this for you: Both Stewart and Colbert are talented entertainers and we are lucky to have our choice of whom we prefer.
I like them both.
I agree with the OP somewhat. But again, Fox News does make itself an easy target. As some other people have pointed out here, few others in the media are willing to take a close look at them. Yes, a lot of media critics will state the obvious, they they have a conservative bent, but with very few exceptions no one has deconstructed their “news” operation the way Stewart has.
The problem is that he’s basically preaching to the choir. I doubt many loyal Fox watchers are also fans of the Daily Show. In other words the people who most need to be made aware of Fox’s shenanigans are also those who are likely to dismiss Stewart as just another “liberal elitist” douchebag who’s out of touch with America.
As for his repetitiveness, he does have an annoying penchant for saying the words “skullfucking” and “truck nuts.”
He’s trying to wean himself from saying NAMBLA, that’s all 
I find that some of his themes are repetitive, but to me that is a byproduct of the repetitive nature of politics, etc…not him.