Daily Show Trial
Recently, our gibbler from Austin (well...one of them...the one with facial hair) claimed that Jon Stewart's The Daily Show is written by political hacks. He also claimed that TDS doesn't go after the Obaminator like it should. Well, as our man from Inglewood would say, allow me to retort...
First off...let's compare J.S. to his competition. Have you heard what passes for political comedy on Jay, Dave, Conan or (shudder) Jimmy Fallon? Their monologue analysis of the antics in Washington is the most tragically unfunny shit in the history of either politics or comedy. Only Bill Maher outdoes Stewart when it comes to hitting-below-the-Beltway jokemaking.
As for not sticking it to the Dems and O...I dunno...I watch J.S. a lot, and it seems to me that he tweaks O. whenever he's given the opening. Of course, O. can't possible compete with Bush et al. in the "Giving Comedic Openings" dept. (and who would want to excel in such an oddly named department, anyway?).
As my own emails and blogging have demonstrated over the past few years, Brush and his bad, bad boys really brought out the hate in all right-thinking individuals (to anyone still defending the guy--who the fuck are you kidding?). Unfortunately, O. seems to be every bit the corporatist that Brush and Bubba were, and he has merely picked a different toilet (the one that rhymes with "Trashcanistan") to flush dead soldiers and dead presidents down. Luckily for him, tho', the previous asshole wore me out. I'm too exhausted anymore to regularly point out what a fucking sellout O. is coming across as. Really, when you hear about shit like those corporate jets that congress is buying--after they ragged on the Big Three CEO Fuckholes for riding their own Asshole One planes into Drama City--doesn't it just show that George Carlin wuz the most prophetic of all the comedians when it comes to politics? St. George said we were suckers to even vote...or to think that either party gives a shit about us.
So, yeah...maybe Stewart and his writers are going a bit soft if they're not totally taking a chainsaw to every fuck with power in Washington. But in their defense...they're prolly just tired. Maybe if they hibernate a bit longer, they'll come back energized and ready to shame O. with the kinda jokes which will remind him that "change" is not defined as "everything exactly the fucking same except in complete sentences and not completely going off the rails."
BTW, Rickster...political hackery can still be comedy, which is why I tune into Michael Savage, Sean Handjob, and Glenn Beck on the rightwing radio now and again. You just gotta embrace your inner crazy to enjoy a whacky partisan! And really...you gotta give the rightwingers props for taking hackery to a level that makes Jon Stewart look like Dead Walter Cronkite (who is even more to be trusted in death, from what I hear).
posted by TXB @ 9:48 AM
6 Comments:
Well, for one, do we ever hear the crowd, when, say Bill Kristol is on, totally cheer what he says? Or if some other Repub. is on? Or doesn't it sound like about, oh, 98 percent to 2 percent libs in the crowd? And I know, that can't all fall on Stewart, but I wonder if he'd dare tell a joke about O. aside from the little barbs about his dad's pants. No, of course not.
I mean, no way JS is gonna change what works for him. I don't mind that. But, as Denny Miller is a conservative comedian, JS is a liberal one. Not a comedian in itself.
I just find it more funny when all the veins of laughter gold are being mined. And it's more courageous.
Fair enough. I'm just not sure that truly fair and balanced comedy has ever been done...unless, of course, you just do generic monologue bullshit like Leno et al. For me the partisan edge brings more funny. And if you get a guy like Carlin or a show like "South Park" that bashes everyone, they get accused of not believing in anything. Which is fine by me, long as they funny. But I think Stewart does want his show to have an ethos, just as Dennis Miller certainly does. And yes...unless they're going to start screening their audiences, neither he nor Maher can do a damn thing about their audiences...except shush them when they don't let the conservatives talk (which both comedians routinely do).
Also, the reportedly left wing mainstream media routinely gets horsewhipped by TDS for their shoddy reporting. Hell, he gave it to Brian Williams right to his face. Really, I'd take the newz from Stewart over the shit they sell to the tourists on the network nightly news six days a week and twice on Sunday (y'know, if they aired it that often).
I take it back. Maher is the guy who will stick it to O.
And, "fair enough" back to you. Yeah, I'm not sure what I'm complaining about. It is ok for JS to have a slant/ethos.
I guess I just don't then see why folks say, "Oh, I get my news from the Daily Show." But, how can you, if it's not balanced? And not just a little out of whack, like, say, CNN, but waaaay out of balance?
And, I mean, if something's funny, it's funny.
I just doubt JS took advantage of, for instance, the Rev. Wright thing. I'm sure he didn't. Now THAT'S comedy gold.
I guess what I'd ask Stewart, is, "Why not? Why WOULDN'T you let 'er rip?" He would say, what? "Oh, I didn't want B.O. to look too bad during the campain." I guess, right? Can't think of any other reason.
And that's fine. But that's the reason he didn't/doesn't.
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