I’m so sad about the end of “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart” (Comedy Central, 11 p.m.) I can hardly write about it.
He’s not just been some kind of beacon of humor and finding hypocrisy with a context-finding method that put other news organizations to shame. All it took was keeping track and indexing everything politicians or blowhard commentators said on TV, and contrasting it with often the opposite they’re saying now.
Any news organization could have done that, but it took a comedy show to actually keep politicians on their toes.
The influence of the show could be seen not only in the number of leaders who came to the modest studio in New York, but in the hundreds of thousands of fans who came out to see his one big event, “The Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear” on the Mall in Washington, D.C., an event second only to an inaugural speech to draw such a crowd not just of fans of his comedy but who shared the same kind of political dissatisfaction.
It is to Stewart’s credit that he seemed a little appalled at the turnout, and did not exploit that moment to, say, start his own political career.
His constant and deserved harping on Fox News (long past the time most of us would have ignored it with a heavy sigh) laid bare their worst lapses as they relentlessly delivered its ideology (and caused pitiful efforts to fight back with flat shows like “Red Eye”).
He’s a master in that opening segment, making real points as a fake newscaster. And he was a fine straight man handling correspondents (a roster of which has produced more big stars in his era than have come from “SNL” in the same time).
And as an interviewer, he knew how to tease some comedy into serious interviews or just have funny interviews just fall apart on their own, entertainingly. He was the one who could hold his own with foreign ambassadors and the President, and maybe the only host who would read the book of the authors he welcomed.
Yet he stayed true to his show through the years though he could have gone on to become a bigger network or film star.
He grew restless in recent years, obviously, taking a summer off to make a serious film, while creating a showcase for John Oliver. Since his decision to leave was announced in the spring, he has visibly put a bit less into his show and has been generally coasting through his final shows this week.
The guy deserves to look to something else, to try other things he now has the opportunity to do, from developing shows, to standup, to further motion picture directions.
That the large staff of “The Daily Show” is staying ensures that the show will remain solid in his absence and create the best conditions for the incoming Trevor Noah.
And with his former minions everywhere in the culture — from John Oliver’s stellar weekly show at HBO, to Larry Wilmore’s winning “Nightly Show” to Stephen Colbert’s impending “Late Show” for HBO — the influence of Stewart won’t be far away.
His final show tonight will go long; set the DVR and savor it the rest of the summer.