When Jon Stewart is on Your Show...

I think if I could choose to meet anybody in the world, it would be Jon Stewart. I certainly aware of the fact that I've picked a television show comedian rather than a world leader, humanitarian, or genius. There is something about his sensibilities that really appeals to me. I think one of the major points of the The Daily Show is that we as humans are hypocrites, show poor judgment, can be cruel, and selfish. Similarly, we as humans are well-intentioned, looking to improve, kindhearted, and generous. These qualities are distributed across political ideology, race, religion, and gender. There are good people on both sides. There are bad people on both sides. There are people who straddle the gray area between good and bad on both sides. Underlying the message of Stewart's show is the idea that we as Americans agree on nearly 100% of all possible issues, but it's the very few issues that we cannot agree on that we spend most of our time talking about. Perhaps this is for good reason. It makes sense that we would focus our efforts on resolving our differences rather than celebrating our commonalities. However, I think Jon Stewart's goal (one of them) is to remind us that maybe we should spend more time celebrating our commonalities. We all have a common goal and that's to make our country the best it can be.

Anyway, I had a point to this, so I'm going to try to get back to it. I really like Jon Stewart. I like how he reveals the absurdities of sanctimonious people and ideologies. I like how he interviews people he disagrees with. I like how he shows those people respect (perhaps too much sometimes). I like how he is always civil and polite to his guests.

On Monday night, Jon Stewart was a guest on NBC's new television news magazine hosted by Brian Williams. Williams has been on The Daily Show like 20 times, so Stewart was on the 1st episode of Williams' new show. The dynamic between them was very unusual, borderline awkward given the context. Here they were on the opening night of a new show NBC has heavily promoted, and Brian Williams, NBC's evening news anchor, is fucking around with his friend Jon Stewart. How did Jon Stewart become so respected and revered that his colleagues will invite him to their shows just to fuck around. They spent 2/3 of the interview talking about kids, Halloween, and socks. They finally spoke about B's least favorite movement near the end.

I guess what struck me is how different the dynamics are with Jon Stewart depending on the context. When you are a guest (mostly political or media guests) on The Daily Show, you know the atmosphere is going to be light, there will be some humor, but in the end you'll be having a serious, knowledgeable discussion. The interviews are rarely particularly notable, groundbreaking, or scandalous.

However, when Jon Stewart is a guest on another show, the interview is almost always notable. There is his famous interview on Crossfire (CNN), his many visits to the The O'Reilly Factor (Fox News), the interview with Chris Wallace (Fox News), etc. When he is a guest on another show, people pay attention. It may be a serious discussion or just friends fucking around, but the conversation is always something worth watching.

You may have realized I'm struggling to really narrow in what it is about Jon Stewart that has made him "the most trusted newsman in America." He is a comedian. A Jewish comedian. Hollywood loves him. His peers love him. Politicians respect him (most?). Even Fox News likes grudgingly respects him.

I want to meet Jon Stewart.

D

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