Jon Stewart: the joke isn't funny

There is something about Jon Stewart and The Daily Show that just makes brains turn to mush. A couple of years ago, the Television Critics Association even gave Stewart an award for "outstanding achievement in news," which if nothing else should confirm the deep conviction of many of the folks who email me regularly that TV critics rank only slightly above single-celled organisms on the evolutionary ladder.

The latest example of IQ drainage over Stewart comes from the Pew Research Center, which says its surveys show that "16 percent of Americans said they regularly watched The Daily Show or the Comedy Central spin-off, The Colbert Report." Either the Pew folks misplaced some decimal points, or they distributed their questionnaire only to sociopathic liars. If 16 percent of Americans watched The Daily Show, that would give it an audience of 48 million viewers and make it the biggest television hit since the days of three-channel television. Here on Planet Earth, the Nielsen folks reported in January that The Daily Show audience averages around 1.5 million viewers, and The Colbert Report about 1.3 million -- that is, even poor forgotten Katie Couric trounces them by a margin of around 4 to 1.

Anybody at Pew with a faint trace of common sense should have questioned those polling numbers. The reason no one did, I imagine, is that everybody around the Pew offices does watch Stewart. This idea that he's delivering the real news has real traction among the chattering classes, who fancy that Stewart is some kind of heroic lone gunslinger standing up against the corporate leviathans who control network newscasts. (Pay no attention to the Viacom/CBS suits behind that Daily Show curtain!) A number of Pew's I absolutely do believe is the one showing that much of Stewart's audience also watches news on PBS and listens to it on NPR.

In reality, of course, The Daily Show is not a newscast at all, neither in structure nor substance. It's a (very funny) show of left-wing political satire -- the Pew Center's content study showed Republican are three times more likely to be the butt of jokes than Democrats -- put together not by reporters and editors and producers out in the field but by gag-writers sitting in a studio. Stories that do not lend themselves to scathing attacks on the Bush administration, like the Virginia Tech shootings, are barely mentioned at all.

Ordinarily, I'd simply pass this all off as a ephemeral fad, the media equivalent of Hula-Hoops and Pet Rocks. But when the Pew Center report was crossing my desk today, I happened to be watching CNN, where correspondent Cal Perry and his crew were pinned down by gunfire in Beirut while trying to cover a battle between Hezbollah and the Lebanese army. Perry and his team eventually came away unscathed -- but they were lucky to do so. Journalism has never been more dangerous than it is right now: Nearly 200 employees of news organizations have died in Iraq alone during the past five years. The biggest risk Jon Stewart faces, on the other hand, is getting some bad sushi from the craft services table. To compare him to reporters getting shot at overseas is an unspeakable insult. Cut it out.

Comments

[bezeez]

Chill out, dude. It's funny.

[burp]

Garvin,
Your moralizing over the daily show gives me gas.
Most people on TV who read stories about news and pose are truly reject entertainers. Remember Rick Sanchez,Katy Couric etc....
At least Stewart doesn't take himself as seriously as Wolf Blitzkreig....
Get a life

[Palonzo]

I take it you listen to Rush Limbaugh daily and espouse any proclamations of his ratings and claims to be newsworthy. Is this story really even about a report about the Pew surveys?
If so, why title it 'Jon Stewart: the joke isn't funny'? If it is in fact about Jon Stewart and his show, what exact control does he have over any statistics an outside organization produces.
Save your bitter politics for your loved one over dinner, and bore HIM with your inane reflections of television rating statistics.
You actually get paid for this, Glenn?

[Juan_Miami]

Glen Garvin is not really understanding why Jon Stewart's Daily Show is so successful. The draw for many of us that watch the show is that while the show is a comedy and has many inane/silly moments, in between the lines there is actually social and political commentary is actually deeper than you would find on regular mainstream news shows. As an example, the show has repeatedly clearly demonstrated, very cleverly through comedy, the failures of the Bush administration such as it's failure to help people during Katrina, the failure of the conduct of the war in Iraq, the lack of focus of politicians and the media on things that really matter. Another highlight of the show is that he interviews very smart people, many of them writers of books on a wide-range of topics. As an example, on one night he had a historian that had written a book about the Civil War, on another, he had a presidential historian that had written a book comparing the leadership and management styles of various presidents. So guess what, I am 40 years old, have 2 advanced degrees, and actually find him to be quite intellectual. I am actually surprised the ratings are not even higher. By the way folks, the show is on Comedy Central Monday-Thurs (Channel 67 on Comcast Cable) at 11:00pm and if that's too late for you, at 8:00pm previous night's shown is repeated.

[lpadron]

Interesting. Mr. Gavin didn't offer much in the way of criticism. He merely described the show accurately while giving it a huge compliment. The reaction of the three previous readers, especially no. 3, is a sad example of why reasoned debate is no longer possible in any, if not all, arenas.
What, exactly, did Mr. Garvin write that was incorrect?

[lpadron]

Incidentally, Jon Stewart wagging a finger at Tucker Carlson a few years back was a wonderful display of pseudo-intellectual hypocrisy. There doesn't seem to be much of a difference between the two except for the laugh ratio.
While he's exceptionally funny I don't think the word "intellectual" should ever be used to describe a comedian much less one who depends on others to write his material for him. Clever, yes. Intellectual? Not hardly.

[Steve Sebelius]

Glenn,

Of course The Daily Show is not a news broadcast! Jon Stewart has never once claimed that it was. Moreover, I think he'd be chagrined to think that anybody was treating it that way, let alone a respected think tank like Pew.

The fact that people get news from The Daily Show is akin to the people who get some of their daily protein from the peanuts in a Snicker's bar. Sure, you can do it that way. But it's not really what they intended. Does it hurt you? Not really.

Let's all treat The Daily Show and the Colbert Report for what they are: Tremendously entertaining, occasionally brilliant, satires of the news media. As always, it's funny because it's true.

[Juan_Miami]

Dear Ipadron, I don't know if it was incorrect but the tome was somewhat biased from the very beginning of the article since the very first sentence is: "There is something about Jon Stewart and The Daily Show that just makes brains turn to mush." He is implying that the statistics must be wrong because only certain people such as in the Pew Research Poll would watch the show, and comes close to implying with that very first sentence that anybody that watches the show have had their brain turned to "mush." I was just pointing out not only is the show funny, it is actually intellectually stimulating, and that's the real draw to it. I also don't know why he was even thinking about comparing a journalist in a battlefield situation to a show that by his own admission, is not really a news show.

[lpadron]

Steve Sebelius: that's cool enough except that both shows influence the way people think. If Steware and Colbert don't know this then they're idiots. But they do know this. How could they not. They're doing the same thing they'd accuse the Hannity's and Limbaugh's of doing except they get more laughs. But there's little difference between the two camps.

[Mr Boring]

I'd sure love to spend an evening with Glenn Garvin. We'd regale the days when the ol' telly had quality shows on it like the honeymooners and Leave it to Beaver. Today's television icons such as the crass Mr. Stewart are completely out of touch with their viewers..

Golly Gee...

IDIOT

[Mr Boring]

lpadron = Republican who doesn't like other people making fun of his party.

lpadron = Someone who defends dribble like this article because he too doesn't like The Daily Show (because of the first definition)

lpadron = Idiot

[BlackFlag]

Mr. Garvin:
As Mark Twain once said:
"Lies, Damned Lies, and Statistics"
Anyone with a semifunctional brain looks upon all these "poll numbers", "statistics", etc with a tremendous amount of skepticism, if not outright cynicism at this point.
Jon Stewart is a buffoon. Nothing more...

[d]

you are unbelievable and failed miserably in an evaluation of the show

[d]

You failed miserably in an analysis of the show and completely missed the point. congrats

[d]

thought i did not post the first one sorry no need for a double post

[Art]

Where do you get to compare the Daily Show to journalists being shot at in Beirut, that really came out of right field. For some reason you don't like the Daily Show but went a very large road to say it in a subtle way. This show does not make brains go to mush, but maybe just your brain. Get a life and if you are to the right or left, just come out and say it. And why is it that you believe the Nielsen's, I never understood how they work. Do they install a box connected to your TV that will record the show you watch. Believe what you will, I do watch the Daily Show because it leans liberal and makes you think with laughs behind it. Mr. Glenn Garvin, please, get a life and stop being that bitter conservative.

[Rollo]

Uh, CBS and Viacom split up several years ago. They're not even the same stock anymore. Only Viacom has a stake in "The Daily Show."

[PAUL]

Stewart is a BIG a.s.s.w.i.p.e.

[Hassenpfeffer]

The Daily Show, where more Americans get there news..... than probably should.

[Jr]

I am going to keep it short since Burp, Palonzo and Juan_Miami have eloquently expressed how I feel about this crappy story. I hope Garvin does not get paid for writing such a crappy story ( I can't help but repeat the word CRAPPY - POETIC LICENSE).

In fact, I believe that the journalist may have envy for being a failure in his/her career. Is possibly remembering how he/she was abused as a child and how her/his parent never hugged him/her and has decided that the way to get back to society that never helped him/her during his/her years of sexual & physical abuse is to write angry stories that are only relevant to his/her life.

My advice to the "journalist" is to let it go; daddy did love u he just expressed it differently :( we are all sorry for your abuse Mr/Mrs "journalist" (lol)

[Jr]

I am going to keep it short since Burp, Palonzo and Juan_Miami have eloquently expressed how I feel about this crappy story. I hope Garvin does not get paid for writing such a crappy story ( I can't help but repeat the word CRAPPY - POETIC LICENSE).

In fact, I believe that the journalist may have envy for being a failure in his/her career. Is possibly remembering how he/she was abused as a child and how her/his parent never hugged him/her and has decided that the way to get back to society that never helped him/her during his/her years of sexual & physical abuse is to write angry stories that are only relevant to his/her life.

My advice to the "journalist" is to let it go; daddy did love u he just expressed it differently :( we are all sorry for your abuse Mr/Mrs "journalist" (lol)

[Brian]

The point of the Daily Show is to make fun of the miserable 24 hour cable news. Every show highlights the bizarre, petty and mindless the cable news shows - cnn, msnbcs, fox, all of them how crummy their coverage of non stories.

He highlights how the news has turned into entertainment - and not news. It is a comedy - it is on comedy central - John Stewart cant control getting awards...

Gavin is another right wing writer bitter with a smart witty show that actually does make people think.

[Steve]

You have the nerve to call people who work for CNN journalists? Those anchors look like strippers reading a telepromptor!

[Kiki]

Sorry, I'm still struggling to understand the point of that rambling mess.
1) The Daily Show is not actual journalism (stop the presses!)
2) The Pew folks got their numbers wrong.
3) Clever, biting satire turns the brain to mush. Funny, I'd think garbage like reality TV would do that. Spot on satire... not so much.
4) The point of this blog is to pretend we're in a time warp and touch on subjects years after such a post/article would have been timely (?).

Oh well, I give up.

[Chris]

I do watch the Daily Show and admire several things they do that the regular news media miss.

Comparing for example past comments against current ones from the "experts" and the administration, besides the Rodeo Clown we call president.

People are allowed to say one thing one week and a completely different thing the next, and no one calls them on it, except the Daily Show.

The Daily Show was also the first to actively challenge McCain when he apparently completely forgot that he had any morals, facts or respect anymore by pandering different B.S. to different groups every week, by agreeing with everyone, all the time.

The fruitcake extreme right was now his friends, whatever he stood for in the past was completely gone. Anything to get elected.

CNN Headline News is now anything but. Between Sports, Fashion, Gossip, Weather and Commercials, there are a total of 2-3 30 second news stories in a hour.

What about Around the World in 80 seconds..!?!? All the news around the world is barely worth a lousy 80 seconds worth of time, on a channel that calls itself "Headline News". How pathetic.

We haven't even started to talk about the ever lasting moronic rants of Glen Beck which gets a whole hours worth of lunatic time instead of news.

Maybe Mr. Garvin should have saved his energy and keyboard time to criticize channels and programs that pretend to be actual news and aren't, rather that criticize fake news for being too real.

[Eric]

Someone watches too much Bill O'reiley