Yes, Elena and I love Jon Stewart. It beats a whole lot of other people we could love. Sunday’s Washington Post ran an article entitled Just who does Jon Stewart think he is? in anticipation of this Saturday’s event on the National Mall called Rally to Restore Sanity. Stewart arrives Monday for preparation. Very little is known about the event which begins at noon. No special guests have been announced nor have any artists. The rally will be broadcast live on Comedy Central.
In some ways, Stewart returns to his roots. He is a William and Mary graduate, class of 1984. According to the Washington Post article:
Stewart, 47, has never claimed to be anything more than a guy trying to get laughs on “a fake news program on basic cable,” as he puts it. While that surely understates his case, it comports with his background as a stand-up comic and entertainer.
and
Since then, Stewart’s stature as a news source, kingmaker and sociocultural figure has grown apace, abetted in no small part by “The Daily Show’s” skeptical “reporting” on the Bush administration, the news media and politics in general. The show has even spawned an academic cottage industry of scholars who probe the program’s impact on society.
‘A watershed moment’
It’s true that the 11 p.m. broadcast of “The Daily Show” (which runs Monday through Thursday) plays to a relatively modest crowd — an average of just 1.8 million viewers a night thus far in October. But that doesn’t count four daily repeats on Comedy Central, which nearly double the program’s daily audience to 3.5 million. This means Stewart has roughly the same number of viewers as “Nightline,” David Letterman or Jay Leno, and a bigger audience than any show on the cable news networks except “The O’Reilly Factor” on Fox News Channel.Add in the untold millions who see “DS” clips embedded on Facebook pages, blogs and Web sites, or read about him in the mainstream media (media types love yakking about “The Daily Show”), and you’ve got a cultural force that transcends mere “basic cable.”
“He is mobilizing people like Glenn Beck does, but I suspect his cultural influence surpasses Beck’s,” says Geoffrey Baym, a media studies professor at the University of North Carolina-Greensboro, who wrote one of the first scholarly studies of “The Daily Show” in 2005. “[Beck] has a narrow but very committed audience whereas Stewart resonates much wider with people who are fed up with the polemical aspects” of national affairs. “He’s reaching a watershed moment.”
Anyone going to the rally? I plan on watching every second of the three hour event. Is Stewart a pundit? Strictly a comedian, or is he a social satirist, whatever that is. Perhaps he is yet undefined. He is described as a left centrist.
Imagine the stench!
The stench of what?
I wish Comedy Central well. It’s good to see citizens engaged in the political process.
I hear they were having problem lining up porta-crappers for the event. Something else going on that same time (can’t remember what it was, though).
Marine Corps Marathon. I knew it was something everyone had heard of.
There may be a million people showing up for this. I’ve talked with people all over the political spectrum and most plan to attend.
3 hour stand up comedy Woodstock.
As long as it does not rain, I’ll be there too.
@rod2155 You know a million people?
Although I tend to get claustrophobic in tight quarters, this is one event I really want to attend. The title draws me. The word SANITY is so seldom heard these days.
I don’t believe sanity will be restored, but I do want to be part of those who want that to happen.
Yes, I have heard of the Marine Corp Marathon. I just wasn’t sure what you were referring to. I believe the problem has been resolved.
A million people showing up might be a good reason to sit home and watch it on TV. Stewart is short anyway. He will look like an ant even if you could see him.
To punchak–you go girl! You are our roving reporter, if you will accept the job, and report back when you get home.
Mrs. Guapo wants to go so I guess I’m going too. I hope there aren’t too many nut jobs down there.
@El Guapo, good for Mrs. G.
I don’t think you will run in to too many nut jobs but I would expect to come home a little high. Ah, the joys of the a mall demonstration. I remember them well.
Rod2155 — In a big crowd and with those mikes up on the Lincoln Memorial steps, I presume, you are going to go nuts trying to catch the punch lines during three hours of standup comedy. Better bring a portable TV receiver of some kind. Actually, I think most of the “action” at Woodstock was OFF the stage.