Stewart Rips 'Bullshitocracy' in Finale
By Lloyd Grove, The Daily Beast
08 August 15
His nemeses joshed him, his family was there, but Jon
Stewart’s cheery signoff from The Daily Show also included a resounding
condemnation of ‘Bullshitocracy.’
on Stewart ended his 16½–year reign on
The Daily Show
Thursday night with laughter and dancing—and, yes, a fire-and-brimstone
sermon against something he called “The Bullshitocracy,” a roundup of
the usual suspects and celebrity guests, a couple of dick jokes (because
what would
The Daily Show be without a couple of dick jokes?), and even a performance by Stewart’s idol, the New Jersey-born Bruce Springsteen.
Stewart’s generally lighthearted mood—pretty dry-eyed
considering the gravity of the moment, with only a tiny threat of loss
of composure when he thanked his wife, Tracey, and his kids Nate and
Maggie “for teaching me what joy looks like”—gave the lie to Fox News
Chairman Roger Ailes’s description of the Comedy Central star as a man
who “has a bitter view of the world.”
In an interview with
The Hollywood Reporter,
Ailes—whose right-leaning cable channel has been one of Stewart’s
fatter and juicier targets all these years—conceded that the retiring
fake newsman is “a brilliant comedian,” “a very nice guy,” and “a good
father.”
But while protesting that the political satirist and
razor-sharp media critic never drew Fox blood, and that Stewart failed
in his treasured quest to “get rid of Roger Ailes”—something I doubt
crossed Stewart’s mind, given that Ailes has been great for business—the
Fox News founder claimed that he could tell Stewart is bitter because
“you see it embodied in how he’s reacting to Fox News, equating it with
death.”
Yet Ailes and his cable channel went all but on
unmentioned on Stewart’s valedictory program, although the top of the
show featured shtick on that other momentous television event occurring
Thursday night—the Fox News-orchestrated inaugural Republican
presidential candidate debate.
Because Stewart’s final show aired well after the
debate at 11 p.m. but was taped well before the overhyped battle between
Donald Trump and nine other GOP White House wannabes—and media
reporters watched a live feed of The Daily Show with an invited audience at The Nightly Show
studio, a couple of blocks away on Manhattan’s West Side—Stewart and
correspondents Jessica Williams, Hasan Minhaj, and Jordan Klepper had to
make it up as they went along.
Just like the real pundits, presumably.
“The first Republican presidential debate wrapped
up—it was incredible—and so articulate,” Stewart declared to audience
laughter. “I feel something of a responsibility, nay, an obligation, to
devote the entirety of our last show to our standard post-debate
full-team coverage.”
“Jeb did well,” Jessica Williams pronounced, standing in front of a green screen backdrop of the Cleveland debate venue.
Scott Walker was “solid,” Minhaj enthused.
“I can’t believe Trump took out his penis so late in the debate,” Klepper analyzed—dick joke No. 1.
There followed an appearance by nearly every performer who ever was part of
The Daily Show cast—literally
dozens—including a prosperous-looking and full-bearded Steve Carell,
Stewart’s predecessor as host Craig Kilborn (also, bearded and
filled-out, and wearing what looked like an ascot and smoking jacket and
adopting the creepy mien of
Christopher Walken’s “The Continental”), Stephen Colbert, John Oliver, and even South African comic Trevor Noah.
The 31-year-old Noah, who debuts as the 52-year-old
Stewart’s successor on September 28, came onstage for a bit of business
in which he interrupted the retiring host to wield a tape measure to
calculate the size of various items such as the anchor desk, the flat
screen behind it—and Stewart’s crotch.
Dick joke No. 2.
The Daily Show’s former senior black correspondent, Larry Wilmore—whose Nightly Show was preempted by Thursday night’s extended farewell—showed up at the desk to complain to Stewart about being bumped.
“I have nothing else to do tonight,” he kvetched. “Black shows matter, Jon,” he added.
Even former cast member Wyatt Cenac, bearded and
big-haired and looking a little like Cornel West, got a cameo
appearance, in which he affected boredom and chilly apathy over
Stewart’s repeated invitations to the wrap party.
Apparently all is forgiven for
Cenac’s very off-message interview
with podcast interrogator Marc Maron, in which he revealed that he and
the Comedy Central star had some unpleasant encounters over Stewart’s
alleged racial insensitivity.
Indeed, when all the former cast members were shown in
a group-hug onstage, Stewart made a point of throwing his arms around
Cenac and giving him a heartwarming squeeze.
And, of course, there was video featuring a cavalcade of Daily Show targets ushering Stewart to the door:
*Paul Brown, the chief executive of Arby’s restaurant chain: “Jon Stewart—it’s like a TV threw up on your face.”
*Chris Christie: “I’ll never forget you, Jon. But I will be trying.”
*Charlie Rangel: “Good riddance, smartass!”
*Hillary Clinton: “And just when I’m running for president. What a bummer.”
*Mika Brzezinski: “See ya, pipsqueak!”
*Rahm Emanuel: “What has nine and a half fingers, and won’t miss you at all. This guy.”
*John Kerry: “You know, there are a lot of things
happening around the world that keep me up at night—which is why I’ve
relied on you to put me to sleep.”
*John McCain (manipulating a Jon Stewart hand-puppet):
“I’m Jon Stewart. I’m dumb. I’m stupid. Nyah nyah nyah. So long,
jackass!”
After all that insult comedy, however, it was left to former Daily Show correspondent Colbert—over the aw-shucks protests of his host—to slather Stewart with heartfelt praise.
“We owe you, and not just for what you did for our
career, by employing us to come on this tremendous show you made,”
Colbert insisted. “We owe you because we learned from you. We learned
from you by example how to do a show with intention, how to work with
clarity, how to treat people with respect. You are infuriatingly good at
your job!”
And so on and so forth.
Stewart delivered an impassioned attack on “The
Bullshitocracy”—that is, government and corporate obfuscation and lying
that it was his mission to expose—gave a last piece of advice to his
audience: “If you sniff something, say something.”
Meanwhile, he reflected on what the show has meant to him.
“I’ve been in show business a long time. I’ve worked
in a lot of different atmospheres at varying levels of toxicity,” he
said. “And this is the most beautiful place I’ve ever been. And I’ll
never have that again. And I’ve had to come to terms with that before
leaving.”
rally featuring a racist speaker Friday night in Mobile attracted a
crowd of just twenty thousand people, widely considered a disappointing
turnout for a racist event in Alabama.
aying
that he was “horrified” by a New York Times article recounting callous
behavior on the part of Amazon executives, company founder Jeff Bezos
warned today that any employees found lacking in empathy would be
instantly purged.
Comments
I know very well what goes on in the South, but I also know very well what goes on in other states. Trump is appealing to them all by targeting the lowest type of thinking, with no critical thinking or research.
Of course that's what Trump is doing. He's a Republican. They're proud of that kind of thinking. It's why he's their front runner. It's also why the Democratic Party no longer needs the deep red south to win the presidency.
Sarah Palin did, too, on a lower level.
We're all on a mission to buck certain trends in thinking. You seem on a mission to do that about the idea of southern racism being worse. I understand. I fight similar battles defending things I think differently about than most RSN commenters. We're all unique. But, it is a tough sell to try to convince us that it isn't worse there. Racism is racism. Literally 100% of ALL people are racist, to an extent (I personally believe). But, the kind of racism that's rabid and nasty and the cause of the worst our society can do, is represented by about 10-20% of all northerners, and about 30-40% of all southerners. These are my numbers. There's no real way to measure this anyway, but anecdotally by our personal experience, and the facts we see playing out in front of us over time. You may disagree with the percentages (of course you will), but if you want to make us believe the racism in the north is as prevalent and as nasty, you're going to have a tough time making that sale.
Having lived in numerous parts of the U.S., having family in the deep South, and having traveled all over the states and Europe, etc., I guarantee you, there is racism everywhere. No matter how vocal a society is, or not, it is there. Southerners, as in other cultures, are very vocal and adamant. In other states and countries it comes in through the back door.
Not all racism is against just blacks, either. It can be anybody, and right now in the U.S. the most visible are Latinos and indians.
In parts of Asia, Americans are hated. A child threw rocks at me while I was waiting for friends touring an ancient temple. Soon a number of adults were doing the same, just as a symbol, not meaning for me to be injured. A few other adults stepped in before I could say anything or move away. One of them explained that Americans are not welcome because most of those citizens have been misguided.
There are misguided deep South type people all over the planet.
What?? It makes as much sense as anything else in the political process right now. O.o.
especially in the South
"The Indiana Klan rose to prominence beginning in the early 1920s after World War I, when ethnic Protestants felt threatened by social and political issues, including changes caused by decades of heavy immigration from southern and eastern Europe. By 1922 the state had the largest organization nationally, and its membership continued to increase dramatically under the leadership of D.C. Stephenson. It averaged 2,000 new members per week from July 1922 to July 1923, when he was appointed as the Grand Dragon of Indiana. He led the Indiana Klan and other chapters he supervised to break away from the national organization in late 1923.
"Indiana's Klan organization reached its peak of power in the following years, when it had 250,000 members, an estimated 30% of native-born white men. By 1925 over half the elected members of the Indiana General Assembly, the Governor of Indiana, and many other high-ranking officials in local and state government were members of the Klan. Politicians had also learned they needed Klan endorsement to win office."
Photo of KKK Women's Auxiliary in my hometown of Dayton, Ohio. When I first saw this photo a few months ago, I had to wonder if my grandmother attended this huge KKK rally...
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/96/65/14/966514736a9128a4fc6e9286cde573be.jpg
Cynthia McKinney is one of my favorite people, by the way, she had the integrity to press Donald Rumsfeld on 9/11 in Congressional hearings.
https://youtu.be/Px1t1-a9uxk
She also refused to take the AIPAC pledge, by the way -- which "Bernie" should also do, but he won't. Cynthia is no longer a congressperson; "Bernie" still is, and has become a "viable" presidential candidate. I think that's telling.
Burning blacks alive was a widespread method of intimidation that worked for a time, obviously. There is no way the heritage of that hatred has been eliminated, and I would be interested in how Indiana citizens view today's situation.
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