Love Letter to Jon Stewart
Jim Babka on Jan 17th 2008
Dear Jon,
No, this is not a “Dear Jon,” letter. This is an open letter of admiration, warmth, and even respect.
What strange times we live in when the best news program on television is a spoof of the so-called real TV news.
Someone once said, “Ridicule is the compliment lively intelligence pays to jackassery.” Boy, are you full of compliments.
But if it was just the quality of your show that I was praising, than I would simply do my part by helping your ratings — by watching and laughing.
This note is for your work above and beyond the call of duty. I’m especially pleased by your latest project to rid us of hurtful television that worsens public discourse and confuses hot air for light, such as Chris Matthew’s Hardball.
In October, 2004, you went on Crossfire. You boosted their ratings that evening. You shamed them. You asked them to please, “Stop.” The video of that appearance went out in “the Tubes” and millions more watched. Crossfire became a joke. And three months later, they did indeed stop — for good.
“Bravo!”
Then, in October, 2007, you had Chris Matthews, host of MSNBC’s Hardball on your show to discuss his book, “Life’s a Campaign.” It seems like you didn’t really like Chris’ book. You labeled it a “self-hurt book.” You told Chris, “I’m not trashing your book, I’m trashing your philosophy of life.” And Chris responded by saying, “This is the worst interview I’ve ever had in my life.”
Funny, I thought it was wonderful television. That interview couldn’t have happened to a more deserving guy with a more hollow philosophy of life. Three hours of MSNBC’s schedule are wasted each night with Matthews treating serious political matters like oh so much, well, “Bullshit” — at least, that’s how the online version of spoof news, the Onion, characterizes this kind of coverage.
I don’t mean to offend. It seems technically accurate to call it bullshit.
So sir, for calling Matthews on his bullshit, I say, “Bravo!”
And then, in January, 2008, by merely replaying the clips, you allowed Mr. Matthews to portray himself for the stuffed, B.S. artist that he is, bloviating through an on air comparison of the political race between Barak Obama and Hillary Clinton in New Hampshire, with Lawrence of Arabia.
Perhaps you were a bit too harsh when you suggested Matthews was “insane” — that appellation would more accurately describe the viewers with the appetite to continue watching, night after night, the commentator with heavy pancake makeup and a pink tie, shovel so much bullshit.
But, even still, I’ll say it again: “Bravo!”
Alas, the task of ending the “recipe of sadness” displayed each night on MSNBC seems like it will take more effort on your part. After all, Chris Matthews was on again last night.
But I say to you, Jon Stewart, “Keep up the good work! I love you, man.”
And to the rest of you reading this open letter, I highly encourage you to watch all of the clips linked in this post. If you’re tired of a diet of political bullshit, then you’ll thoroughly enjoy all of them.
Respectfully yours, for Positive Liberty…
Filed in The Bureau
I love Jon Stewart and the Daily Show, too. And I also really love The Colbert Report. Even when I disagree with those guys, they still make me laugh my ass off.
You know, part of me is really depressed that something like The Daily Show is where many people are (supposedly) getting their news. On the other hand though, one can view The Daily Show and The Colbert Report as the perfect embodiment of satire. Both shows do exactly what satire is meant to do– they skewer political and social situations in such a way as to make people think and question while they laugh. Even though they lean to the left, they try to take on bullshit no matter where it comes from. I just wish Lewis Black was still a regular.
A little aside– Jon Stewart was also fantastic with his appearances over the course of HBO’s The Larry Sander’s Show. The entire series hasn’t been released on DVD yet, but it’s very well worth searching out if you’ve never seen it. Stewart started making his appearances around the final seasons.
Oh, and I can’t stand Chris Matthews either. I saw the show when Matthews was on, and it was hilarious to hear him whine about Stewart attacking him. He’s a loud-mouth blow-hard, but he couldn’t handle a comedic actor asking him perfectly fair questions instead of kissing his ass. So much for “Hardball”, eh?
Even though I sometimes disagree with Jon he always brings a sincere irreverence to an interview. Though I had grown to prefer the Colbert Report (and still probably do) I’ve found Jon without writers very refreshing, as a lot of the written material was really growing stale and tired.
By chance, did you catch Jonah Goldberg’s interview on Wednesday night? I would love to hear the whole thing, apparently it went on for 18 minutes but had to be cut to 6 for TV, but they just butchered it in editing. I wish they’d make the full interview available online.
Wow. I missed this. Would’ve added it to my letter. Wednesday’s “Moment of Zen” (the way Jon closes his Daily Show) was Chris Matthews doing another one of his crazy analogies. No one is going to be able to watch Matthews without laughing if Jon keeps it up. Bravo!
I wish MSNCBC would replace Chris Matthews with Darrell Hammond doing his impersonation of Matthews. It’s not only funnier, he insults the people who really deserve to be insulted.
[...] I’m going to try, as often as I remember, until it’s a habit, to close all my blog posts with the phrase, “Hardball delenda est.” [...]
[...] At last: some war-mongering that I can get on board with. A battle-cry that libertarians, anarchists, feminists, and all who value decent and rational conversation can join in, full-throatedly. [...]