Miller asked for a cite about the backing down. The clown nose incident most well known is his appearance on Crossfire, when he said the show was hurting America and Carlson responded that his show isn’t particularly intelligent at times either. Like how he softballed John Kerry just before the 2004 election. “How you holdin’ up?” To which Stewart responded that Crank yankers follows his show.
Stewart has always skillfully tread the line between being taken seriously and not being taken seriously. He’s been able to have it both ways: taken seriously when the show makes good points, “it’s just a comedy show” when they get accused of being dumb. A new host may not be as skillful at walking that line, but really all it takes is just to back down when controversy threatens the show. Doubling down or getting into real honest to god verbal wars with more serious journalists or shows would hurt the show.
**Miller **asked for a cite of him putting on the clown nose and saying it’s comedy when he gets into trouble. His lambasting of Crossfire was wonderful and he was never in trouble.
The lambasting of Crossfire was kinda lame, although I’ll grant that history has been kinder to Stewart than Begala and Carlson in that regard, so I won’t dispute that part of it. But he did defend himself on that show by putting on the clown nose. “It’s a comedy show!”
So from then on, I regarded it as a comedy show, even when it was at its most brilliant. I’m a big fan, but the show can’t be both unless it’s willing to put itself out there and say something controversial and be held to account for it.
In that instance, he was not defending himself from any controversy, nor did he back down from anything. He was pointing out that of course his show is “not particularly intelligent at times” (or whatever they said; I’m quoting you), and the reason is because it’s a comedy show. Unlike Crossfire.
That’s a completely different thing than sidestepping controversy by saying “it’s just a joke.”
Ones that were clearly intended to convey basic factual information that was intentionally false and not corrected?
If the show was merely entertainment and nothing else, it wouldn’t have been so popular that’s the difference between Craig Kilbourne’s “Daily Show” and Jon Stewart’s.
Stewart’s major weakness has been a frequent willingness to engage in a cynical “both sides are equally bad” meme.
Jon was more popular than Kilbourne because he’s more likable and put out a brilliant piece of work. But let’s not put the man on a pedestal. He’s an entertainer. But he was given great material (both by his writers and the media he skewered), an outstanding staff and a nice budget. I would’ve laughed and loved it equally even if he had lied about earning the Purple Heart in Desert Storm.
I’m hoping an entertainer replaces him, not Walter Cronkite or Mr. Rogers or even a Jon Stewart clone. Honestly, I’d be okay with TDS ending with Jon. I kinda feel like we’re going to be watching Sammy Hagar’s Van Halen as opposed to David Lee Roth’s. Both have their merits, but really, Sammy’s version just isn’t the same. And for many people, the new host just won’t stand a chance. We can only pray that we don’t end up with Gary Cherone.
Brian Williams could do it just as well as anyone, and be entertaining. In fact, I’d love to see him fill that seat, if that seat needs to be filled. You don’t like it? Meh. You probably don’t have anything to worry about.
Sorry, are you suggesting that his Crossfire appearance was an example of Stewart backing down? Because I don’t think most people would come away from that show with the same impression.
I also think you’re misrepresenting the argument behind, “It’s just a comedy show.” Tucker Carlson was trying a fairly pathetic tuo quoque after Stewart argued that Crossfire was failing in its duty to inform the public. Stewart was rightly pointing out that, as a comedy show, the Daily Show has no such duty. The purpose of a comedy show is to entertain. The purpose of a news show is to inform. The minute Carlson tried to compare them, he’d already lost the argument, because he’s conceding that his news show works to no higher standard than disposable light entertainment.
I’d still like a site for that. You gave one for him admitting to being wrong about something, but nowhere in that apology do I see him try to defend or deflect responsibility by referring to the fact that the Daily Show is a comedy.
Sorry again, but are you saying that Jon Stewart never got into serious arguments with journalists? I know you saw the Crossover interview. Did you not see him on Chris Wallace? Or any of the multiple times he went on O’Reilly? Or the time he and O’Reilly had a formal, moderated debate? To say nothing of the dozens of times some dipshit on Fox would try to call out Stewart over something, and Stewart would absolutely destroy them in response.
Stewart isn’t afraid to apologize when he feels he’s screwed up, but he’s also never been afraid to stand behind his arguments when he feels they’re valid. And he’s done a lot more of the latter than he’s ever done of the former.
I don’t know how much these guys get paid, but if Comedy Central wanted to play it totally safe and just steal Bill Maher, would that be a promotion of sorts for him?
Bill Maher wouldn’t be the safe choice. Every story about the announcement would reference why Politically Incorrect was canceled (his comments about soldiers launching missiles being cowards and terrorists crashing planes being brave) which become the story.
Plus I doubt he would want to deal with Basic cable Standards and Practices. Also he bailed on Comedy Central once (PI used to be their show and he took it to ABC) so it’s possible there is bad blood there on either side or both.
I’d love to watch Tina on TV 4 days a week too but no way is she leaving television and movies for a hosting gig. Jon is leaving to get to be where she’s at!
I like Trevor Noah. I’ll keep this classy and refrain from saying how I like how he looks and sounds. A lot. Erm uh…I think he would be a good fake news man.
Worthy of consideration. I’ve enjoyed his poise. It would good to see a fuller sense of his persona - John Oliver’s acceptance has been fun and interesting to watch. If Noah could bring his audience along for the ride the way Oliver does, his perspective would be fresh and engaging.