JS: The most trusted man in America?

[hoosier]

Jon Stewart is drawing big laughs by telling the truth


By Steve Young


Scott Rubin, editor-in-chief at National Lampoon, once told me that perfect satire would be something an audience wouldn't know for sure to be satire or serious. Sort of like talk radio. And even though you are looking for the laugh, satire must deal honestly with the topic. Nothing like talk radio.

With the presidential race bearing down for the stretch run, Americans are ready to chomp on political red meat. But today, where do you go to get your political news served up fairly?

The networks? Dan Rather, Tom Brokaw, Peter Jennings. Too liberal, says Fox News. Fox News? Brit Hume, Bill O'Reilly, Sean Hannity. Too conservative, say the networks. Talk radio? Too many to list. Even Bill O'Reilly thinks talk radio is full of deceit, and he's on it.

That's where satire steps in. A good satirist doesn't care about taking sides. Only splitting them. Especially in respect to the most powerful among us. That's why Dennis Miller's decision not to lay a hand on President George W. Bush lost him his membership card to the satire club.

Enter Jon Stewart. A fake news host. Funny and arguably the most entertaining interviewer in politics, Stewart has become today's Walter Cronkite. Actually not today's Walter Cronkite, who has been painted as an out-of-the-closet myopic liberal. Stewart is 1974's Walter Cronkite. The most trusted man in America. His "Daily Show" on the Comedy Channel is the most consistently funny show on television. It also just might be the most honest news show, fake or real.

The United States of Audience has become divided in a way that would make the Civil War jealous, yet the presumably liberal Stewart has captured hearts from both sides of the political aisle. Perhaps that's because he doesn't belittle his audience by dumbing down the material or feeding them dogmatic pablum. You get the idea the Stewart actually trusts his audience to make their own decisions. No slogan. For real.

Stewart likes to dismiss his show as faux news, not to be taken seriously. But when he does an interview, he knows how to ask a question, like this past week when he asked John Kerry, "Were you or were you not in Cambodia?" More than a question, it was meant as a cut-to-the-chase commentary on, and jab at, the previous month's ad hominem Swift Boat attacks. Still, how many real newsman or pundits would give their teeth to be able to say they asked that question with Kerry sitting in front of them?

When Hannity poses a question to his guest, he does it with such a long litany of points he wants to make, by the time he gets to the actual question I'm surprised the interviewee remembers what it was. That's not an interview -- that's harassment.

Most talk-show pundits, right and left, interrupt their guests when they're not in sync with their view, which turns off half the audience. A satirist doesn't try to win the interview. A satirist digs into the very part of a comment where the deception lives. And instead of ripping into the person, he exposes the absurdity of the remark. Entertainingly. Intelligently. Not with a hammer, but with a surgeon's scalpel. Even if you disagree with the point, you have a hard time turning it off if while you're laughing.

Satire is criticism, but the humor used to challenge must be bathed in truth, poking fun while, at the same time, presenting honestly the inanity of a situation. More critique than criticism, you hold up the words and thoughts to the light so it becomes clear what is actually being said. With a good satirist, the powerful don't get away with hollow profundities or hypocritical talking points.

And, that, ladies and gentlemen, is entertainment.

It's fun (at least in a democracy) attacking the influential and their institutions. You get to expose the pomposity and faults normally hidden by lies and deceit. Jon Stewart is able to do just that while getting to the heart of a politician's real character. He may only get one honest piece of actual insight from an interview, but how many do we get in a real news show?

So, is Stewart's faux news more real than supposedly real news? For his commentary on the 2000 election, Stewart won a real Peabody Award. That's something real news guy Bill O'Reilly couldn't say, and he still has yet to make me laugh ... on purpose.

And who are you going to trust more with the facts? Someone who makes you angry with his spin or someone who makes you smarter with a laugh?

Steve Young, is political editor of NationalLampoon.com and creator of MoveOnPlease.org.

[ZTAngel]

I admit that I get a lot of my news from The Daily Show. It's much wittier and more entertaining than the regular news sources.

[Kevin]

Interesting opinion. In the past, Stewart was pretty hard-core liberal. He was very much anti-Bush. He seems to have toned it down enough to be an equal opportunity offender.

[kappaloo]

Oh, Stewart's bias is still very evident in his jokes and how he treats his guests. But, half the fun of political satire is that you get to make fun of everybody and the people who know best will go along with you or else just look worse.

I'm curious if JS would ever get an interview with the current President? The political satire shows in Canada have fun with (yes, with) the PM often, but things are ... less serious ... up here.

[DeltAlum]

Originally posted by ktsnake
...an equal opportunity offender.

Hey, that sounds like me. I don't like either side much.

[KSig RC]

Originally posted by ktsnake
Interesting opinion. In the past, Stewart was pretty hard-core liberal. He was very much anti-Bush. He seems to have toned it down enough to be an equal opportunity offender.

He's good, and he's toned it down a bit - but he still licks some brown-eye quite often. The Bill Clinton interview was f-ing terrible, a total waste of time, and whether intentionally or not, the satire seems more biting when aimed toward the Bush campaign.

That said, it's still one of the top 5 smartest shows on TV (2 others of which are also on comedy central, interestingly), and I watch it all the time

[Kevin]

I also really like Colin Quinn's show. I think the format works well for him.

[KSig RC]

Originally posted by ktsnake
I also really like Colin Quinn's show. I think the format works well for him.

I can't decide if the show is improving or declining, since it is currently 98% racial jokes. I laugh, but I don't really know if that's a 'healthy' format.

BTW - the two I was referring to were South Park and Chappelle.

[Kevin]

Originally posted by KSig RC
I can't decide if the show is improving or declining, since it is currently 98% racial jokes. I laugh, but I don't really know if that's a 'healthy' format.

BTW - the two I was referring to were South Park and Chappelle.

I recall some racial humor, but not an overpowering amount. About the same amount that you'd find in any comedy routine really. It's just one of those things that gets laughs -- they seem to bank on that.

Another criticism of that show is that they don't tend to have as diverse a list of guests as they used to (in other words, the same people, the same faces -- you could almost bill them as cohosts.

It's kind of a drunk, irish version of Bil Maher's show.

[RUgreek]

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart has been a perfect one hour show to give me all the info. I need in the current events arena. Sure, you could watch the local news or big networks, but no one of them will leave you with a smile or joke to think about. If Jon Stewart was seriously being called the most trusted man in the news world, I'd believe it too. Lying would only make his jokes lame and pointless, and besides, politics is so moronic anyway that he'd never have to lie

Comedy central rocks, but check out adult swim on cartoon network (weekdays at 11) when you want some more satire


RUgreek

[DeltAlum]

According to Stewart, we just one a battle in the war on terror. We caught the guy who did "Peace Train."