Showing posts with label Jon Stewart. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jon Stewart. Show all posts

"We'll Be Right Back..."
(My Farewell to Jon Stewart)

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"We'll be right back..."

Something one of my heroes has said during each and every episode of The Daily Show.

Tonight, as of 12:01pm EST on the 7th of August 2015, that assurance ceases to exist in its current familiar form.

The Daily Show will live on, as will Mr. Jon Stewart. In my list of the Top 5 people (who I have never met and were living at some point during my 24+ years) that have greatly influenced me artistically, creatively, and/or intellectually during my lifetime, Stewart joins the likes of Christopher Hitchens, Barack Obama, Casey Neistat, and Till Lindemann.

Jon Stewart was the narration to my political awakening when I was in the 8th grade during the 2004 U.S. Presidential Election. I had been watching Stewart for years prior, but without realization of the witty nuance of his commentary. The earliest indelible memory of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart that I have - like many other fans - is that of the first post-9/11 episode. For the past month I have been watching The Daily Show's 'Month of Zen' web stream, which featured every episode of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart from start 11 January 1999 to now, in marathon fashion without geographic restrictions. I have the live webstream on my MacBook Pro as I fall asleep at night and it is likewise there to greet me in the morning. My recent weeks' repertoire is a great departure from the distant nights at my Grandmother's remote Sauble Beach cottage adjusting a bunny-ear antenna on a television set many decades my senior just to have a luxury beyond just electricity.

Like other articles that have been written in the past few months since Stewart announced his retirement plans, now is where I start to create a playlist of assorted episodes... However, I will do no such thing. But only because I have already done so previously: TheNolanK - May 2012 & Mic - June 2012.

I could comment on how Jon Stewart has utilized The Daily Show format to transcend comedy and politics ascending to unparalleled and unprecedented status... However, I will do no such thing. But only because I have already done so previously - in print and online: Mic - April 2012,  TheNolanK - April 2012, OU Daily - May 2012, UWire - May 2012, & The Santa Clara - May 2012.

Instead, I will take relief in how I am parting ways with Jon Stewart. I subscribe to the old maxim that suggests "You should never meet your heroes". While I abide by that maxim, I do reserve the right to amend my position on heroes. In the case of Christopher Hitchens, my vicarious connection via exhaustive texts, Opinion Articles, YouTube Debates, and feature-length documentaries was ripped away from me due to Hitch's untimely defeat at the hands of the spectre of death. Speculation has already gripped the internet in regards to what Stewart's next move might be, with recent reports suggesting a return to stand-up comedy.

Stewart was never more damning than during his relentless (and necessarily crucial) critique of the Bush administration in the lead-up to the Iraq War, the invasion of Iraq, the declaration of 'Mission Accomplished', and the subsequently poor handling of a destabilized Middle East. Even when Stewart let the sitting duck subjects of satire that were, and often still are, President George W. Bush and Vice-President Dick Cheney have a pass for that week's egregious Iraqi errors, Stewart would focus his efforts on truly important issues such as healthcare efforts for Veterans Affairs and 9/11 First Responders.

The main line of contention that Stewart's critics had was that he would often depart from basic political satire into activist commentary while hiding behind the job title 'Comedian'. Other than the hilarious fact that it was often Fox News personalities that accused Stewart of poor journalistic standards, selling a biased narrative, or (more recently) representing a political entity, Stewart never backed down from a challenge, never used miscontextualization to make his point, and never ceased to be genuine. In fact, that is the justification that Stewart has offered for his retirement, citing that The Daily Show "doesn't deserve an even slightly restless host, and neither do you [the audience]".

"You coulda had all this!"
There is no conceivable way in which The Daily Show with Trevor Noah can even begin to replicate 'The Daily Show with Jon Stewart' and its 18 Emmys, 2 Peabodys, 1 Grammy, and numerous other awards, accolades, and accomplishments - nor should it. Just as The Daily Show with Jon Stewart blazed a trail in the American political dialectic, so too must The Daily Show with Trevor Noah forge its own destiny. Stephen Colbert did it and John Oliver continues to do it. Never has there been such bigger shoes to fill by a vastly smaller footprint.

From the bottom of my heart, truly and sincerely, I thank you for the amazing ride that was The Daily Show with Jon Stewart - and may you enjoy retirement and enjoy the time with your family you so manifestly deserve.

-NK
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For Fox Sake: How Jon Stewart Exposes Rampant Hypocrisy

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During The Daily Show's recent holiday hiatus, Roger Ailes launched an attack on Jon Stewart. Ailes did so at his Alma mater Ohio State University. The head of Fox News leveled some heavy charges against Stewart stating that "He wouldn't do well without Fox News" and also claimed that Stewart had once "basically admitted to me, in a bar, that he’s a socialist." When I heard that Mr. Ailes had attacked my hero, Jon Stewart - I leaped into action to defend him during his time off. [Even Though I myself am currently on break -Studying abroad for the summer in Brussels, Belgium.]

The first charge is essentially nothing new, according to the Huffington Post article, Ailes made similar comments 2 years ago when he said that "[Stewart] makes a living by attacking conservatives." And anyone who frequents Comedy Central, Monday through Thursday at 11/10c, can easily attest to this claim. For those who don't, here's a quick overview:


Jon Stewart really does make his living by keeping Fox News in line. As for the Socialist charge, I do protest. While obviously I can't claim to know what Stewart did or did not allegedly say in a bar to Ailes, I can cite this Daily Show clip where Stewart firmly supports America's founding fathers principles [who were for the record clearly not socialist] - even when Fox personalities seem to not agree: [starts at ~1:33]


But as an ardent supporter of Jon Stewart, ending this article with that meager montage would not do justice to this much needed response. Also, because I don't think that Roger Ailes or Fox News will apologize to Mr. Stewart any time soon - much like Sean Hannity did here back in November of 2009:


So I chose instead to dig deeper into The Daily Show archives and highlight the battle of Jon Stewart vs. Fox News. I have selected and arranged the 10 clips that I feel highlights the arduous and ongoing battle between these diametrically opposed forces.

I'd like to begin with Jon Stewart's systematic and thorough evisceration of the entire Fox News Channel in this clip [from which I also pulled the title of this article] from October 2009:


In his classic method of using a previous clip, printed statement, or audio quote in juxtaposition with a contradictory one, he demonstrates how Fox News really isn't 'news' as we think it to be. Stewart points out that Fox's major line-up, like 'Fox and Friends,' Neil Cavuto, (the now re-assigned) Glenn Beck, and the power houses that are O'Reilly and Hannity - are by Fox's own words, NOT NEWS.

But when Fox (not really news) News is not busy pushing television propaganda via the airwaves, their parent company is actively influencing electoral politics by donating $1 million dollars to the Republican Governors Association. This claim was vetted by Fox News themselves here, but hilariously here by Stewart as well:


What made this piece so irresistible was the fact that Fox News has continually harped on left-wing corporations funding Democratic politicians - while Fox News' parent company was guilty of the same sin. This simply highlights Fox News' hypocrisy on two levels, that of corporate funding and their plight against the main-stream media for not covering anti-liberal news stories.

However, Fox's pattern of tracing a money trail to instill fear and a sense of contempt into their viewers was probably best chronicled in 'The Parent Company Trap' segment, yet again featuring News Corp. at its center:


Jon Stewart, with the help of The daily Show's pundits, illustrated how Fox News purposefully instills fear, but debates whether it is because of sheer stupidity or pure evil. The result is one of TheDailyShow.com's most watched segement with the tag of 'Fox News' with over a million views. [In the interest of full transparency, about 1,000 views are from yours truly.]

So what happens when the Absurdity of Fox News statements, allegations, and opinion are put to a sort of 'auditing of truth' thanks to Politifact?


The truth is revealed. Politifact has constantly and consistently proved Fox News' claims to be patently false, even awarding them with 'Lie of the Year' in 2009 and 2010. Stewart has the grace and modest to apologize for an unintentional fib, even though, especially as a comedian, he has zero responsibility to do so.

But holding the gang at Fox News to outside and potentially arbitrary standards, it is only fair to hold Fox News to the standards they both vie for and claim to adhere to:


Well, it looks as if Fox News is again left without a leg to stand on. Even by their own professed claims of ethics and standards, to never use the 'Reductio ad Hitlerum' rhetorical argument - also known as 'playing the Nazi card.' Not to mention the fact that this clearly highlighted Roger Ailes' extremely immature comments in respect to the Juan Williams - NPR controversy.

Now the case has been built, the claims have been substantiated, and the stage is set. Fox News' self proclaimed title of 'Fair & Balanced' is ripe for the decimation. How would Jon Stewart fare on one of Fox News' own shows opposite one of their biggest figure heads?


Exactly! Jon Stewart gets Chris Wallace to admit on his own show what the masses have suspected for years - that Fox News is just a "counterweight" and that they "tell the other side of the story." But of course, that never made it to air - rather, it was just filed away to the e-archives of foxnews.com. However, I found this unedited footage brilliantly mocked up to show the 'fair and balanced' editing of the full interview that took place: part 1 here & part 2 here.

Right as though it seemed the jig was up, Fox News attempts to re-write history to nudge the status quo back in line with their pre-conceived narrative:


This is hilarious for two reasons. First, because this is exactly the frame work of Fox News having a 'preconceived narrative' that Jon Stewart was attacking. And second, because Stewart further eviscerated Chris Wallace on The Daily Show in his typical hilarious fashion. But much like my article now, Jon Stewart does not stop after this devastating blow, he continues on. He reveals the clever ploy Fox News utilizes to propagate their framing of issues. Much like Stewart depicts in this segment, I also watch Fox News quite extensively. However instead of subscribing to their narrative, I watch it to mock and make my own satirical jokes while waiting for the next episode of The Daily Show to air.

Most importantly though, Stewart's ability to highlight the most important of issues is the backbone to his genuine determination to do good in the world [3:45 into the second video really got me]:


The issue of the Zadroga Bill was an issue that was close to me. I even wrote about it a year ago. For Fox News to be scooped by Al-Jazeera, and then to completely ignore the folks who you invoked in 9/11 references so many times that, in the words of Stewart, "if you don’t owe the 9/11 responders health care, at least you owe them royalties." Not only does he beat Fox in the realm of media accuracy, he beats them when the chips are truly down.

Lastly what I think clearly separates Stewart from the news media pack, and solidifies him as a comedic voice is ability for introspection and self-deprecating humor:


This segment was quite a thorough collection of Stewart's previous satirical impersonations. Clearly Stewart is nothing close to a racist. Thanks to his further solidifying his position as a comedian via a dildo-wheel, he is able to take jabs at both ends of the spectrum.

More recently he came to the defense of Sandra Fluke in the face of Rush Limbaugh's obscene comments and reiterated the point of being a comedian [My conclusion will be quite like Stewart's - starting at 6:48]:


So that's the conclusion. That's what I agree with. Fox News needs to stop acting like a big cry baby. And if you have stuck through this entire series of Daily Show segments with Stewart at his finest moments, you now see why too. Roger Ailes certainly has a reason to have a vendetta against Stewart, he constantly exposes the narrative that is the man behind the curtain at Oz. Hopefully this guide to exposing the shenanigans at Fox News will now allow those who were previously blind to see the hilarity and hypocrisy. While the methodology of Jon Stewart may be one of comedy and humor, the message he is trying to convey is a much more serious one. The American public can no longer afford the wholesale buying of the crap Fox News is selling.

How did this ALL start you ask? Here is the first direct shot at a Fox News entity from The Daily Show with Jon Stewart as a host:


NOTE: This piece was an original submission for the Student News Media site PolicyMic. This is my unedited version and the revision that will be posted on PolicyMic will be different. I encourage my readers to pleas also check out my articles on PolicyMic - I plan to add a PolicyMic tab to my blog in the near future...

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*UPDATE:

The Daily Show has now returned from their 2 week holiday - and they came out swinging!


As usual Stewart and The Daily Show gang did not disappoint. This looks to be the most heated exchange between the two forces since June of last year. Stewart really took heat after showing up on Chris Wallace's show and hasn't been invited back to any programs on the network since. I am in Belgium currently so my access to Fox News isn't as readily available as when I'm stateside. But stay tuned for my updates concerning developments with The Daily Show!

Jon Stewart: The Messiah of Political Satire

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I originally wrote this article for PolicyMic, but slightly altered it from its original version. You can find the original published PolicyMic version here. In addition, after I published this on PolicyMic, the OU Daily also ran this article as an opinion column as well as a College News Aggregator UWire [Link Here].

President Obama on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart on October 27th 2010

As a forethought, Yes, I am fully aware that I'm playing into the stereotype of the liberal-minded college student by saying this. Just like President Obama, I think Jon Stewart is brilliant.

 In Barack Obama's recent Rolling Stone interview, the President said:
"I think Jon Stewart's brilliant. It's amazing to me the degree to which he's able to cut through a bunch of the nonsense – for young people in particular, where I think he ends up having more credibility than a lot of more conventional news programs do."
I certainly could not agree more. Jon Stewart's comedic genius has impacted me as a person on such a level that is only eclipsed by the late Christopher Hitchens. 

The earliest recollection I have of in regards to Jon Stewart is centered around 9/11. Much like everyone else, I remember the images of the planes smashing into the towers, the horrendous fires, and their eventual collapse. However, I also recall the moving and emotional introduction Jon Stewart gave on his first Daily Show after the attacks:


It was this episode with which I am able to pin down the point of genesis for my affinity of Stewart. Since then, I've been drawn in by his whirlwind of comedic political satire, confronting the likes of Tucker Carlson on Crossfire, inviting Jim Cramer as a guest, and countless other public figures. Furthermore, quite a few comedic powerhouses got their start at The Daily Show as well, including: Stephen Colbert, Steve Carell, and Ed Helms.

The comedic credentials of The Daily Show go without saying. But, in conjunction with this visceral and upfront humor, true moments of journalistic genius have emerged. Looking back on the countless logged episodes on TheDailyShow.com, this claim is easily verified.

Jon Stewart has quite often made remarks to the effect that if it weren't for FOX News, he would easily lose more than half of the potential material for his show. Now I think it is quite obvious that I do not claim to be 'Fair and Balanced' but I can admit, objectively speaking, accomplishing that is impossible. However, for the company that does claim that, Jon Stewart has lead the charge against FOX News, 'the most powerful name in news.' By using the same exact tactics FOX News uses in their 'reporting/commentary,' Stewart demonstrates two salient points:

1) FOX News' hypocrisy in attempting to tie "Ground Zero Mosque" leader Imam Feisal Rauf to terrorism. In this clip, Stewart reveals how FOX News would be considered a terrorist command center, when the same flawed logic is applied. In a quite poetic juxtaposition, Stewart uses a clip of a Charlton Heston NRA speech to solidify his point.


2) News Corp's [FOX News' parent company] second largest shareholder outside of the Murdoch family is Al-Waleed bin Talal,  the very same shadowy figure that FOX News launched a [hypocritical] scare tactics campaign against, also regarding the "Ground Zero Mosque."


To accentuate this point, here is one of my all-time favorite Daily Show pieces: 'Persians of Interest.' This entire series dubbed 'Jason Jones: Behind the Veil' demonstrates how they can accomplish extraordinary feats of journalism without having to use CNN or FOX News as their punching bag. The Daily Show set the gold standard in its coverage of the Iranian Green Revolution, which is an achievement to be heralded. Again, this is one of many examples where the Daily Show surpassed other news outlets in regards to critical world events.

Whether you lean to the right, the left, or forward, it is impossible to deny Jon Stewart's tremendous influence with Millennials. The Daily Show program is billed as a satirical comedy news show, but is certainly steeped in real world implications. From classic hits like 'Indecision' election coverage to 'Mess O'Potamia' Iraq war coverage, the Daily Show has remained consistently a cut above the rest. Whether a viewer is a hardcore fan like myself or a casual observer like President Obama, the gravitas of the Daily Show is easily perceivable. 

[Watching a Daily Show clip in one of my classes at OU.]
On a more official note, here are the list of awards the Daily Show has won:, according to Wikipedia: "Under host Jon Stewart, The Daily Show has risen to critical acclaim. It has received two Peabody Awards, for its coverage of the 2000 and 2004 presidential elections. Between 2001 and 2011, it has been awarded sixteen Emmy Awards in the categories of Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy Series and Outstanding Writing for a Variety, Music or Comedy Program, and a further seven nominations. The show has also been honored by GLAAD, the Television Critics Association and the Satellite Awards. America (The Book), the 2004 bestseller written by Stewart and the writing staff of The Daily Show, was recognized by Publishers Weekly as its "Book of the Year", and its abridged audiobook edition received the 2005 Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album. In September 2010 Time magazine selected the series as one of "The 100 Best TV Shows of All-TIME"." 

So here's to hoping Jon Stewart extends his contract past the current 2013 agreement!

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