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Stewart skewers politicians, media
Jon Stewart took on everything from the presidential election to holographic reporters on CNN during his Distinguished Speakers Series lecture. Photo: STEVE MORSE
In an appearance that was part trenchant political commentary, part raucous stand-up comedy routine, Jon Stewart, host of Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show,” let loose Saturday night on everything from this month’s historic election and American’s president-elect to the war in Iraq, education, same-sex marriage and holographic reporters on CNN.
Stewart, whose performance in Alumni Arena took place before a sold-out crowd estimated at 6,500, came to UB as part of the 2008-09 Distinguished Speakers Series.
“You know what I feel in the air?” he said after coming onstage. “I feel hope; I feel change.”
This was the election in which “fear struck out,” he said. “We chose the candidate to lead this nation who sounded the smartest. We never do that.”
Stewart, whose show earned two Peabody Awards for its coverage of the 2000 and 2004 presidential elections, mocked politicians’ habit of “talking down to the American people” in order to seem more likeable to voters.
“I think everybody here knows how I feel about President Bush,” he said, “but he’s not stupid. Stupid is ‘Oh my God, I just ate soap.’ But he tried to sell himself down. He went to Harvard, he went to Yale, but every politician, especially when they’re running for president, tries to…be folksy. [They say], ‘I’m just like you.’ Really? You watch six hours of TV a day? I want someone better than us!
“It’s that anti-elitism,” he added. “Barack Obama’s elitist. Doesn’t elite mean good? When did elitism become a bad thing? When did good become bad?”
Stewart also criticized politicians for using social issues to divide the electorate, pointing to past attempts by Republicans to increase voter turnout by supporting a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage, as well as state ballot initiatives passed Nov. 4 in California, Florida and Arizona to define marriage as a union between a man and a woman.
“We won’t get at the pragmatic solutions to the real problems we have in the country until we’re able to diffuse these wedge issues,” he said, claiming that the majority of Americans are most interested in laws to improve health care, education and the economy.
“Seventy to 80 percent of the people in this country I swear are reasonable, moderate, normal individuals,” said Stewart, “and the other 10 to 20 percent of the country run it.”
He also called out the United States for having the number one military in the world while ranking below other developed nations in education.
“Smart bombs, stupid children,” he said. “That’s where we’re at. In the next war, the bombs will be way too smart and valuable—we’ll just have to start to drop illiterate schoolchildren.”
In a question-and-answer session following the main performance, Stewart talked about the role of his show in American news and politics.
“People ask us: ‘Are you a comedian or a journalist?’” he said. “We’re people who watch the news and can’t believe what we’re seeing. We cannot believe that on election night—a historic election—CNN would choose to create a hologram reporter. Why would that be the night to introduce ‘Star Wars’ technology?
“Our show functions as an editorial cartoon,” he added. “We synthesize the news that we watch. We have no news-gathering capabilities…We’re just like an old drunk man sitting in a bar shouting at the television.”
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