Jon Stewart and the Burden of History

Tom Junod has a piece in Esquire, Jon Stewart and the Burden of History. I'm really not sure what it's trying to say. There are too many back and forths about Jon Stewart vs Jon Stewart the comedian vs the real Jon Stewart.

I heard an interview on NPR a few weeks ago, I think with Wyatt Cenac but I can't find it now. He talked about how they do a comedy show and they know they are having a political influence but they fear that if they start thinking about it they'll cease to be funny and that's their job, to be funny.

That's the best rationale I've heard so far about how seemingly everyone wants to take Jon Stewart more seriously than he does himself. I quote him a lot and really enjoy the show. I think it's funny and I think it points out political and media hypocrisy better than anything else out there. It's fortunate that they can make that funny, because if it wasn't, it seems like no one would be doing it. I think perhaps he'd like to do more to fix politics, because he obviously feels it's broken, but I think he does constantly pull back and do comedy.

He's not disingenuous when he says he's not doing news, he's on Comedy Central. It is amazing that when news media people interview him they always want to treat him as a news person and don't understand that if they compare their show to his, they're doing something wrong. It's not wrong to say he's a political satirist in the mold of Twain or Carlin. And it's a sad commentary on the news media that a comedy show, while being funny, often is a better news source then most everything out there.

My usual complaint with his show is that he does the more serious interviews poorly. He repeats his question over and over, usually skirting around the point. He often has facts and figures at hand but doesn't build up one after another to lead the subject to where he wants to go. He does wonderful closing summations and I usually agree with his position, but he's not great in the middle. It's the same when he's interviewed. He cuts out for the joke too often and comes off as smug instead of merely serious about his craft. He might well be smug or an ass in real life, that's fine with me, I'm unlikely to ever meet him socially. I hope he's not (and doubt he is) a hypocrite like he constantly skewers.