The Problem with Jon Stewart

[up_the_hampipe]

Jon Stewart's got a new show on Apple+ in September. There was a sort of trailer released yesterday, essentially just an appropriately timed sketch regarding the space race between Bezos, Branson and Musk. It has Jason Alexander as Bezos and someone I won't mention doing the voice of Branson, there's some good jokes in it https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3LPiM9d5QUM

Not sure what the show is going to be specifically, but it has been taped in front of a studio audience already and each episode will focus on a single issue. Also, it won't be released daily or even weekly, and there will be a companion podcast. So yeah. Still not sure what happened with Stewart's HBO stand-up special that was announced like 4 years ago. Saw him live in 2018 and he'd put together a good set.

[thr0b]

His recent appearance on Colbert was tremendous, straddling the line between  "is he doing a bit or being serious" very uncomfortably.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSfejgwbDQ8

There was also a further bit after the break which appeared to be edited with shears, so it's pretty clear he went nuttier.

It was great.

[Proactive]

Christ that sketch is fucking weak.

[up_the_hampipe]

If anyone still cares, it's out on 30th September. Trailer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBMqejibrGg

[Famous Mortimer]

His "hey liberals, let's just have a laugh at those daft conservatives" shtick seems like a relic of an earlier much more naive time.

[up_the_hampipe]

His "hey liberals, let's just have a laugh at those daft conservatives" shtick seems like a relic of an earlier much more naive time.

I think that's a fairly reductive view of what he did on The Daily Show. There was a lot of incisive stuff in there. In retrospect, a lot of segments on that show served as a warning of what was to come. Your view might be that because he would always lead with the funny, but he wouldn't just leave it there. Not to overstate his impact too much, but I think he did a lot in enlightening Americans as to how fucked up their political and news media system is.

[Famous Mortimer]

I think that's a fairly reductive view of what he did on The Daily Show. There was a lot of incisive stuff in there. In retrospect, a lot of segments on that show served as a warning of what was to come. Your view might be that because he would always lead with the funny, but he wouldn't just leave it there. Not to overstate his impact too much, but I think he did a lot in enlightening Americans as to how fucked up their political and news media system is.

And I think you're giving him way too much credit. The sum total of his years of enlightening Americans was the election of Trump, and mainstream Dems deifying Obama at the same time as becoming increasingly desperate to stop Bernie Sanders from getting the Presidential nomination. There's a case to be made that his impact on politics was negative.

[up_the_hampipe]

And I think you're giving him way too much credit. The sum total of his years of enlightening Americans was the election of Trump, and mainstream Dems deifying Obama at the same time as becoming increasingly desperate to stop Bernie Sanders from getting the Presidential nomination. There's a case to be made that his impact on politics was negative.

That case could be made if he pushed any of those things. He was critical of Obama, feuded with Trump and defended Bernie even from the earliest parts of his campaign.

[Mister Six]

Say what you will, he is the best Green Lantern.

[Famous Mortimer]

That case could be made if he pushed any of those things. He was critical of Obama, feuded with Trump and defended Bernie even from the earliest parts of his campaign.

You're making my point for me. You claim "he did a lot to enlighten Americans", but the sum total of his enlightenment was the thin end of fuck all.

[up_the_hampipe]

You're making my point for me. You claim "he did a lot to enlighten Americans", but the sum total of his enlightenment was the thin end of fuck all.

He didn't save America, but he did more than fuck all. For instance, by going on Fox News to repeatedly embarass their gobshites, and regularly dismantling their reporting, I think he did at least something to highlight their fuckery to a lot of people. Conservatives will always win the day, as they do over here, but I wouldn't say that fuck all would be different if he had never been around. But it seems like you have a dim view of that sort of political satire generally, so I guess I can't change your mind on that.

The type that exists now seems to largely be ineffective though, as it leads more with disdain for the opposing side than an interest in reaching a larger audience.

[KennyMonster]

I used to really like The Daily Show when it was on More4 but since I've seen what a shit gibbon Bill Maher is on international politics I worry he'll be the same (they are friends aren't they?), so I've steered clear.[nb]Mainlyreferencing Maher's stance on the USA's right to intervene and destabilise countries in "their backyard"[/nb]

I find a lot of left leaning satirists from America seem to be really good on how corrupt the machine of right wing politics can be in America but have a real blind spot when it comes to America's effects overseas.

[Mister Six]

Stewart's a good egg, I think. His fury at Congress over their failure to pay for healthcare for 9/11 first responders has won him a lot of shrift in my estimation.

Yeah, he's part of that smug, rich New York liberal set that thinks having Hillary Clinton as president would have been a bold progressive step for America, and those people are generally annoying as fuck, but as an individual he seems like a good egg, and The Daily Show under his tenure did say and do a lot of the right things, even if it was still too centrist for me personally.

I am amused that the thread's title is supposed to refer to the name of his new show, but ended up becoming a prescient description of the ensuing discussion.

I used to really like The Daily Show when it was on More4 but since I've seen what a shit gibbon Bill Maher is on international politics I worry he'll be the same (they are friends aren't they?), so I've steered clear.[nb]Mainlyreferencing Maher's stance on the USA's right to intervene and destabilise countries in "their backyard"[/nb]

Maher's a centre-right bore on a lot of things and takes the wrong side on some culture war stuff in a very predictable and dull rich boomer way, but I don't think it's fair to taint all his friends by comparison.

[KennyMonster]

........I don't think it's fair to taint all his friends by comparison.

Fair enough,

I'm just weary of looking again after being let down, such as I have in the UK, post Corbyn by the likes of

Webb
Brooker
Ianucci
Herring
Steel etc. etc.

[olliebean]

This started last night. Anyone watched it yet?