Tomorrow we bid farewell to a comedic legend, satirical genius and pop culture icon.
A very small, lucky bunch will get the chance to hang with Jon Stewart live, as he tapes his final installment of the The Daily Show at 5pm EST in his midtown Manhattan studio. But the majority of us will have to wait till 10:30 to dim lights, burn candles and join hands in what is sure to be the longest chain of collective celebration since Hands Across America.
The time has finally come to pay homage to a man that has done more for this country in the last sixteen years than we are probably aware. While he certainly isn’t everyone’s favorite media critic, it’s impossible to denounce him for what he’s done to create a relationship between the American people and the news that informs their beliefs.
So today, as we begrudgingly inch closer to his departure, let’s take a moment to appreciate how he’s turned a generation who’d rather watch squirrels ride miniature water skis in a kiddy pool than a presidential debate into a mass of engaged, empowered problem-solvers.
Biting the hand that feeds you
This was Jon Stewart’s M.O. from the moment he took over the show in 1999. He never once shied away from speaking his mind and calling things as he saw them.
He was on a mission to engage people in the conversations about what really mattered to them. He wanted none of the “I don’t vote because I’m too uninformed” rhetoric. His response: GET INFORMED.
Willful ignorance isn’t cool past the age of twelve, and he made it a life goal to get that point across. He did so with humor, constantly pulling the curtain down on his peers in the world of media.
His 2010 Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear that he co-hosted with Stephen Colbert at the National Mall in DC gave a voice to the 80 percent of the population that isn’t represented in popular media. The two sang a song that turned political stereotypes on their heads while managing to take a sincerely optimistic outlook on the years ahead.
He wasn’t afraid to call out the biggest and baddest, even when it came to the Commander in Chief. His October 2012 interview with President Obama got off to a fiery start, with Stewart grilling the president on his abysmal performance in a recent debate against Mitt Romney.
No matter what the issue, he always kept it civil. Even when roasting Bill O’Reilly on the conservative talking head’s own show, Stewart maintained an objective approach.
Not all a joke
But while Stewart used comedy to deliver his message, even he at times admitted to having no jokes to provide.
He talked us through countless shootings and natural disasters. He gave the world a reason to “grieve but not despair” on what was one of the first broadcasts of his show that I remember watching: September 11, 2001.
Jon Stewart was the mirror our society desperately needed to have held up to itself. He was the one laughing at the people and things the rest of us were too afraid to laugh at. He was the one shaking his head at the people with the highest responsibility to uphold. He was the one who owned all the problems the rest of us were too embarrassed to admit were real.
A clear voice amid the chaos
There’s no doubt in my mind that if he ever happened to read this piece (I’m not delusional, don’t worry) that it would probably upset him more than it would make him proud. I say this because I don’t think he ever wanted to be the person that brought us the news. I don’t think he wanted to be the guy we got all our information from, and yet, in a lot of cases he was.
Jon Stewart is a comedian. He’s not a newscaster, he’s not a journalist, he’s not a politician; he’s just a dude who likes to make people laugh. The Daily Show was only really funny if you were aware of the stories of which he was making fun. However, within our generation, I fear that too many of us looked to him as a source for information as opposed to an outlet for opinion.
Yes, he may have blurred the line between educator and jokester, but the fact remains that he was able make an apathetic generation actually give a damn. Now it’s our duty to seek out the end game he had in mind and create a better, more efficient world.
As he said in that 9/11 broadcast fourteen years ago, “Chaos can’t sustain itself, it never could. It’s too easy and too unsatisfying.”
Well, Jon, at least you were a clear voice amid the chaos.
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Header image: Getty
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