# Who is Jon Stewart’s greatest Apprentice? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 14, 2017, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-jon-stewart-s-greatest-apprentice/804523 "2017-12-14T18:41:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2017, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-jon-stewart-s-greatest-apprentice/804523/41 "2017-12-15T23:08:44Z")
> [@Johnny\_Bravo](#): > > I think “heir” might be a better word, and I think it’s a much shorter list > > These are comedians who worked on the Daily Show and later moved on to their own satirical news platforms. Exactly. If I was just voting favorite personality I might give it to Kristen Schaal, who should win _all the awards_. But political satire is not particularly central to what she does. In context I went for Oliver who( perhaps partly due to his venue )seems the hardest hitting and most adroit of the former Stewart stable. ---
**Author:** ![caligulathegod](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/caligulathegod/32/9685_2.png) [@caligulathegod](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/caligulathegod)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2017, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-jon-stewart-s-greatest-apprentice/804523/42 "2017-12-15T23:23:12Z")
I picked Colbert. His years on the Report earned him that. Glad to see he finally settled into The Late Show after a rough start. I love Oliver, but he’s essentially just doing a clone of the Daily Show, good though it is. Even the delivery is essentially the same. Read the story and insert humor by random silliness. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2017, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-jon-stewart-s-greatest-apprentice/804523/43 "2017-12-16T00:11:41Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > I picked Olivia Munn because she’s hot. I won’t dispute such an obvious truth. But I don’t think we can credit Stewart for it. As for Munn’s career, I’d give more credit to Aaron Sorkin. ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2017, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-jon-stewart-s-greatest-apprentice/804523/44 "2017-12-16T00:59:59Z")
I voted for Colbert. Right now the tally is Colbert 56, Oliver 54, Carell 8, Bee 5, Olivia Munn (!) 3, and some ones. That’s mostly what I’d expect: heavy weight toward Oliver and Colbert. Steve Carell is a great comic actor, and Oliver has a good investigative team. I like the others I named well enough. Larry Wilmore and Trevor Noah are pretty cool too. But I think Colbert is like an ‘institution’ now. ---
**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:** [December 16, 2017, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-jon-stewart-s-greatest-apprentice/804523/45 "2017-12-16T01:08:10Z")
> [@foolsguinea](#): > > I voted for Colbert. > > Right now the tally is Colbert 56, Oliver 54, Carell 8, Bee 5, Olivia Munn (!) 3, and some ones. That’s mostly what I’d expect: heavy weight toward Oliver and Colbert. > > Steve Carell is a great comic actor, and Oliver has a good investigative team. I like the others I named well enough. Larry Wilmore and Trevor Noah are pretty cool too. But I think Colbert is like an ‘institution’ now. I expected Colbert & Oliver to lead the poll, but I never expected them to collect 83% of the vote between them. ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2017, 8:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-jon-stewart-s-greatest-apprentice/804523/46 "2017-12-17T08:25:09Z")
Imma let y’all finish, but Trevor has the greatest show of all time! of all TIME!!! :o Seriously, he’s better then Oliver and Colbert. I’m curious as to whether you who voted for the others have been watching him? Oliver’s show is OK, but I don’t think he’s really achieving more in depth coverage than Noah is. They are on the same side, and fighting the same fight, but Noah is the clear winner IMHO. Obviously, he’s not as far along career wise as Carell or Colbert, but in terms of really making a difference in today’s political climate, I think Noah wields comedy like a ninjatō against the lies and propaganda that spew forth from Fox and the GOP. He understands how to kneecap a narcissist with humour, and how to untwist the GOP messages while still making us laugh. His clips are actually useful in clarifying points to confused, glassy-eyed Tea Partiers. And I don’t feel exhausted and oppressed after watching him. I’m enlightened, and armed with better arguments, and refreshed with laughter. The Daily show’s cultural guests are also beautifully curated. The music, film and literature he chooses to highlight are all excellent. Colbert is also fighting the good fight, and he does reach a wider audience. Colbert makes me laugh and he scorns the right things, and lends his voice to good arguments that are out there to be repeated, but he doesn’t give me new, useful arguments. I like him better since he dropped the cowl. Colbert’s great, but Noah is already better and I believe his overall arc is aimed higher and longer. Oliver is a distant third. He’s good, but he has a desperate quality that holds him back and makes his timing clunky. He also resorts to obnoxiousness too often. His show is only on once per week, and then he skips weeks at least once per month, and then he’s gone for a season. He’s helpful while he’s there, but nothing like the sustained effort that Noah is having. And he gets side-tracked with stupid, unimportant and unfunny crap like the train set and that whole thing with wax figures? WTF? I frankly don’t get the love for Carell at all. His movies make me wince more than they make me laugh. It must be acknowledged that I’m not his target demographic. Samantha Bee has that same forced, purposefully awkward quality. It’s just off-putting. So yeah, when I’m thinking “greatest” my yardstick is “Effect on society”. I’m comparing them to Carlin and The Smothers Brothers and Richard Pryor. History will discuss Noah and Colbert, and maybe Oliver as being part of the societal bulwark that saved us from this storm. The others are just trying to be funny. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2017, 10:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-jon-stewart-s-greatest-apprentice/804523/47 "2017-12-17T10:42:04Z")
I watch Trevor’s show, and like most of it, but most every night, my enthusiasm dive-bombs as soon as the mugs come out. If they dropped the (IMO, shitty) guest interview segment as a regular bit, I’d rate it higher. I get he’s getting important cultural figures on, but they’re mostly crap interviews. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2017, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-jon-stewart-s-greatest-apprentice/804523/48 "2017-12-18T15:44:02Z")
> [@foolsguinea](#): > > I voted for Colbert. > > Right now the tally is Colbert 56, Oliver 54, Carell 8, Bee 5, Olivia Munn (!) 3, and some ones. That’s mostly what I’d expect: heavy weight toward Oliver and Colbert. > > Steve Carell is a great comic actor… Carell is a great actor, full stop. His performances in “Foxcatcher” and “The Big Short” should put to rest any doubt at all that the man is a Grade A actor. He’s 50-50 to win an Oscar in the next ten years if he really concentrates on meaty roles. I don’t think Carell really merits mention here, though. He’s not really a Stewart apprentice; he was on “The Daily Show” a lot, but it was not as pivotal to his career as it was for the likes of Oliver, Colbert, or Bee. The turning point in his already reasonably successful career was “The Office.” ---
**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:** [December 18, 2017, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-jon-stewart-s-greatest-apprentice/804523/49 "2017-12-18T16:08:39Z")
I suppose alumni may have been a better word than apprentice, but apprentice felt good at the time. ---
**Author:** ![singular1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ba9def/32.png) [@singular1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/singular1)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2017, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-jon-stewart-s-greatest-apprentice/804523/50 "2017-12-18T18:34:33Z")
I think Last Week Tonight is a much more focused take on current events than Colbert’s, although they are quite close. Oliver is willing to hit a bit harder, and he’s not held back by a network. ---
**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:** [December 28, 2017, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-jon-stewart-s-greatest-apprentice/804523/51 "2017-12-28T14:56:23Z")
So it looks like Colbert will win by a small margin over John Oliver. The rest are not in the running at all. ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2017, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-jon-stewart-s-greatest-apprentice/804523/52 "2017-12-29T03:17:35Z")
Larry “Bud” Melman. No - wait. ---
**Author:** ![Fiveyearlurker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/da6949/32.png) [@Fiveyearlurker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiveyearlurker)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2017, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-jon-stewart-s-greatest-apprentice/804523/53 "2017-12-29T03:20:15Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > I picked Olivia Munn because she’s hot. I’d like to change my vote because this is a convincing argument. ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2017, 7:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-jon-stewart-s-greatest-apprentice/804523/54 "2017-12-29T07:37:02Z")
/gratuitous perving/ True, Olivia is fine, _fine_, but I also applaud Samantha’s attention to nice, form-fitting clothing and sometimes low heels. Paying off - going to that spinning class (which she and VIPS like Masha Gessen occasionally barge through to access Sam’s sneaky Subterranean Panic Room). Indeed, hints of Sammie’s danged T & A can be seen, all-too-briefly, [here,](https://youtu.be/hrDeKf1Cpbo?t=351) struttin’ to get Scott Pruitt a little hot under the collar. Olivia is sexier only in a glamorous sense; in terms of earthy, feisty, shook-me-all-night-long-ness, I’ll take Sam. /gratuitous perving/ ---
**Author:** ![Saintly\_Loser](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saintly_loser/32/4045_2.png) [@Saintly\_Loser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saintly_Loser)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2017, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-jon-stewart-s-greatest-apprentice/804523/55 "2017-12-29T13:50:40Z")
> [@Guest-starring\_Id](#): > > /gratuitous perving/ True, Olivia is fine, _fine_, but I also applaud Samantha’s attention to nice, form-fitting clothing and sometimes low heels. > Paying off - going to that spinning class (which she and VIPS like Masha Gessen occasionally barge through to access Sam’s sneaky Subterranean Panic Room). > Indeed, hints of Sammie’s danged T & A can be seen, all-too-briefly, [here,](https://youtu.be/hrDeKf1Cpbo?t=351) struttin’ to get Scott Pruitt a little hot under the collar. > > Olivia is sexier only in a glamorous sense; in terms of earthy, feisty, shook-me-all-night-long-ness, I’ll take Sam. /gratuitous perving/ Well, if hotness is the primary criterion, I’m still going with Jessica Williams. Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-jon-stewart-s-greatest-apprentice/804523.md?page=2)