As Jon Stewart ends 'Daily Show' run, his influence is everywhere
When thinking about Jon Stewart鈥檚 career on Comedy Central鈥檚 the 鈥淒aily Show,鈥� it's hard to get a better analogy than the bemused聽鈥渁re you kidding me鈥� look that he鈥檚 perfected over 16 years of satirizing political news.
As Mr. Stewart wraps up his final week at the helm of the program, his final slate of guests 鈥� all comedians 鈥� seems to underscore his consistent assertion that he isn鈥檛 a journalist and instead an entertainer.
But this self-characterization, to critics and supporters alike, can seem overly naive about his outsized role as a shaper聽of public opinion, especially among younger Americans.
"I'd be hard pressed to think of a person who spoke with the same amount of authority to that big of a group of people," Eric Lesser, a former Obama White House aide and now Massachusetts state senator, told .
Sen. John McCain (R) of Arizona called Stewart a modern-day Will Rogers and Mark Twain and pointed to his sway among younger voters.
鈥淗e talked to young people. Young people watch him. Young people vote,鈥� Senator McCain told . 鈥淪o I don鈥檛 think that there鈥檚 any doubt that with his 鈥渃omedy鈥� that he had an effect on the workings of government.鈥�
In his years at the "Daily Show," he drew a large, loyal audience, especially among young people. Even his critics credited his聽influence in explaining and digesting politics and policy to the public.
Stewart began to gain prominence during an age when traditional news anchors were losing their position in the popular culture, a contrast made all the more stark in the wake of the downfall of Brian Williams.
A 2012 poll conducted by the Pew Research Centers found that among the Daily Show鈥檚 bread-and-butter liberal viewers, said that the comedy program was their most trusted news source, eclipsing CNN.听
Stewart has used this accumulation of public trust in informing public opinion on issues he is personally passionate about including the government鈥檚 treatment 9/11 first responders and veterans.听In a retrospective on his tenure at Comedy Central, Rolling Stone labeled him the聽
"Stewart turned 'The Daily Show' into the crucial news source in the Bush years," 聽in Rolling Stone.
But聽when it recently came out that Stewart had a series of meetings with President Obama in the White House, conservative commentators castigated the host,聽聽a 鈥減ropagandist鈥� and a 鈥渢ool really of the Obama administration.鈥�
Stewart, for his part, has downplayed the significance of the meetings with a signature splash of sarcasm.
鈥淚t was a roundtable meeting with the president, Elvis 鈥� still alive 鈥� Minister Farrakhan, and the Area 51 alien,鈥� Stewart said, during his show.
But the uproar itself is indicative of Stewart's political clout. It鈥檚 hard to see someone like Brad Pitt or Beyonc茅 garnering the same criticisms for a White House visit.
"There was always something a little disingenuous about Stewart鈥檚 insistence that he is a centrist, free of ideological commitment to anything except truth and sanity. In fact, his politics tend to lean left of center,"聽.听
Mr. Remnick traced Stewart's lineage back to Thomas Nast, Will Rogers, and Mort Sahl, "subversive comic spirits who, in varying ways, employ a joy buzzer, a whoopee cushion, and a fun-house mirror to knock the self-regard out of an endless parade of fatuous pols."
While it began as a more conventional news parody show, "The Daily Show" started to hit its stride in 1999 when Stewart replaced former anchor Craig Kilborn. The fresh host gave the show a new look, a new direction and a new focus 鈥� politics.
"[I]t鈥檚 Jon Stewart, more than anyone else, who has influenced the way we click now. There鈥檚 a tribalness to the way we filter information. It鈥檚 far more common to seek out sources that echo and flatter our preexisting views than those that challenge them," in February.
"This isn鈥檛 an aspect of his legacy of which Stewart would be proud, but it鈥檚 undeniable, especially over the past few years, as 'The Daily Show's'聽mission has morphed from shouting jokes at the powerful to tossing rocks at the pompous," he added.
His most lasting legacy may be his role as comedic "kingmaker," on the order of Lorne Michaels at 'Saturday Night Live" in his heyday, wrote Hillary Busis at Entertainment Weekly, when Stewart announced his retirement.
"[I]n the end, it may be Stewart's most lasting legacy; if nothing else, it ensures that his comic sensibility (or at least the types of people he finds funny) will be alive and well on television in various forms long after he steps down from his Daily Show seat."
Stewart alumni include comedian and film star Steve Carell; Larry Wilmore, host of "The Nightly Show with聽Larry Wilmore;" Michael Che, now at "Saturday Night Live," and Samatha Bee, who is reportedly developing her own show for TBS. Stephen Colbert left Stewart to launch "The Colbert Report" and is about to replace David Letterman at "The Late Show." And John Oliver now hosts his own comedy news program on HBO that has been showered with praise for its segments merging jokes with serious investigative journalism. You get the pattern.
Moreover,聽Stewart's success set off a wave of imitators that many commentators say makes it unlikely to see the meteoric rise of a similar figure, at least in the near future.听
鈥淚t鈥檚 hard to see someone else like Jon Stewart rising to fame in a media world that鈥檚 become so fractured, frantic, and full of every possible flavor of instant news and commentary. Satire is a lot tougher in real time. Calling people out is harder when everyone is doing it,鈥� wrote Ryan McCarthy in聽
Trevor Noah, a South African comedian who was tapped for the Daily Show's anchor chair, is scheduled to start on Sept. 28.
