Anyway let's share some of our favorite Daily Show moments that encapsulated why Jon Stewart became such a staple in our homes.
I already mentioned two before:
1.
Jon Stewart's first show back from 9/11 - The humour was stripped bare and he just said the simple truth everyone felt. It's not that it was complicated or profound. It's that what he said was authentic and you knew it. On par with David Letterman's reaction.
2.
Jon Stewart is rendered speechless over the non-indictment in Eric Garner case - Sometimes there are things that are so self-evidently fucked up that it's hard to know how this happens side by side in a supposed rational and civilized country. This reaction represents what many of us felt... anger and confusion and
why.
3.
When Jon Stewart went after Bill De Blasio's approach to eating Pizza - All New Yorkers know the problem here. Jon Stewart's hilariously straightforward attack on De Blasio's pizza eating ways though just was gut splittingly funny in action.
4.
Jon Stewart's Indecision 2000 - was the first time comedic coverage of a Presidential Election seemed more relevant than the 24 hour news networks themselves. The sheer absurdity of it all was never more perfectly highlighted than Jon Stewart's genuine shock at how this is even possible in a modern country.
5.
Jon Stewart vs. Betsy McCaughey - Remember the conspiracy about death penalties, living wills and abject nonsense that almost single handedly derailed the health care debate as Obama sat idly like a fucking moron letting this nonsense criticism accumulate until it literally almost destroyed his entire signature health care proposal? Yeah, Betsy McCaughey was the person who started that. And Jon Stewart eviscerated her.
6.
Jon Stewart illustrates the nuttery of Glenn Beck-isms with Glenn Beck-isms - I rarely laughed as hard at the show as I did when Jon Stewart broke out the black board and began to deconstruct Glenn Beck's intentionally misleading brand of conspiracy nuttery. Glenn Beck knows what he does and why he does it, he admits it's an act. But only Jon Stewart was so effective at illustrating the type of damage this act does, through humour.
7.
Jon Stewart vs. Jim Cramer - this feud was hilarious from the get-go, with both taking shots at each other through the show. But when Jon Stewart took Jim Cramer to task on the show, the sheer level of incompetence on Cramer's part almost made one feel bad for the dude. It was like seeing an ugly snowman melt before your eyes.
8.
Jon Stewart vs. Bill O'Reilly, The Rumble 2012 - I'm a little unsure whether this should count, since it was related to a Daily Show debate challenge but obviously due to the format gave both sides way longer time to articulate their answers than usual. When Jon Stewart called O'Reilly the king of shit mountain though, you knew you were watching Gold. The debate wasn't particularly in depth stuff, but it was comedy gold. Their back-and-forth friendly feud is long term, but this was the peak.
9.
Jon Stewart vs. War on Christmas - Also related to O'Reilly, Jon Stewart underlined perfectly in one simple attack on the absurdity of politically reactionary nonsense why the level of discourse in this country has gone so wildly off track. He deflated the attack for the irrational garbage it was, eviscerated those who were pushing it as intellectually bankrupt frauds and made the entire thing anathema to even discuss. Then he got O'Reilly on the show to embarrass him further. At least O'Reilly is a good sport ;P
10.
Jon Stewart attacks BP and Obama's address to the Nation - This to me illustrates the crossover appeal he could have. Jon Stewart throughout this crisis was particularly critical of Obama's half-measures and stating of the obvious with less regard on practical matters at times, but his entire attack on BP and Obama was a hilarious thing to behold start to finish. Party lines don't matter when you're wrong.