Farewell to Jon Stewart By Keefer C.Blakeslee
August 6th was Jon Stewart’s last time as host of The Daily Show.
For those of you who don’t know who Jon Stewart is, I’ll give you a brief summary.
Jon Stewart is a comedian, writer, actor, media critic, director and television host. He is known for his fake news series The Daily Show. The show starred Stewart as he tackled political and media affairs in a satirical way.
Since Stewart’s last episode was on August 6th I wanted to pay tribute to this incredible comedian. To begin, I’d like to say that I did not grow up watching The Daily Show. In fact, I just started getting into it this year. With that said, it did not take long for me to fall in love with this man’s commentary. Every chance I get I would watch his show on Comedy Central as well as segments on YouTube. Not only is he a hilarious comedian but, in the words of Howard Kurtz, “What separated Stewart is this virtuous appetite for politics and media. This is a guy who gets ticked off about things he doesn’t like in terms of political hypocrisy or media superficiality.”
The appetite that Kurtz talks about made his comedy stronger. When there was a subject that Stewart felt strong about his passion fueled his jokes. This made them funnier because they were sincere. Stewart knew when to be funny but, like any good comedian, knew when to be serious. His segment on the Charleston shooting that aired June, 18, 2015 still hits me hard. In this segment, Stewart does not sugar-coat the story. He shows one of his most unique aspects which is his honesty. He talks about how he watches the news and makes jokes but there are those occasions where jokes just don’t fit. During the above-mentioned show Stewart said, ”I did not do my job…I honestly have nothing other than sadness once again that we have to peer into the abyss of depraved violence that we do to each other…” The ability to open his heart to show all of his emotions made him the new Walter Cronkite.
Here comes the irony of The Daily Show. Stewart has said multiple times that he is a comedian first. He states, during a
n interview with Chris Wallace,” My comedy is informed by an ideological (a system of ideas and ideals, especially one that forms the basis of economic or political theory and policy) background… Hollywood is liberal but that’s not their primary motivating force. I’m not an activist, I’m a comedian.” Like many other people, he wants to be heard but his comments are not political. Even with his intentions, people call him the most trusted man in America. He’s even been nominated for journalism and news awards.
Stewart merely wanted to entertain but in the process won America’s trust. Why? Because he is eloquent, educated, meaningful and, above all, funny.
Thank you Jon Stewart for making the daily news enjoyable.
