Jon Stewart addressed the backlash to his bothsidesism about Biden and Trump by getting defensive and then seemed to try to appease his audience by going after Tucker Carlson.
Stewart said about the criticism of his bothsidesism, “It was one [bleep] Show! It was 20 minutes! I did 20 minutes of one [bleep] Joe! But I guess, as the famous saying goes, democracy dies in discussion. But look, I have sinned against you. I’m sorry! It was never my intention to say out loud what I saw with my eyes and then my brain.”
Anyone who was surprised by Stewart’s bothsidesism may not have been paying enough attention because he started doing this toward the end of his first run on The Daily Show, and he only got worse with it in the years since.
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The only problem is that The Daily Show’s audience has tended to skew very liberal, so even though Stewart’s return was a huge smash that drew 1.9 million viewers, the criticism came from Stewart’s base audience and it apparently stung.
Stewart seemed to try to make up with his viewers by taking apart old foe Tucker Carlson for interviewing Putin. The premise of Stewart’s bit was that he was learning from Carlson, using the Putin interview, how to suck up to power.
Interestingly, the episode had no mention of the election or age jokes about Biden.
I am not suggesting that Stewart backed off, but there was even a callback to Stewart calling Carlson a dick on CNN’s Crossfire in 2004, which was the viral moment that made Stewart.
Stewart’s return to The Daily Show is starting to feel a lot like Bill Maher on Real Time. Times have changed, and the comedians who like to be cynical and both sides everything increasingly feel out of touch.
Times have changed, and unlike Comedy Central’s advertising, I am not sure that Jon Stewart is the host that we need in 2024.
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Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
