I found myself in the United States at the turn of the millennium, a fresh-off-the-boat graduate student in an impossibly perfect country that had been jolted by a chaotic presidential election, a horrific terrorist attack and an invasion of Iraq. Jon Stewart responded with his now-famous monikers for the election and the invasion (“Indecision 2000” and “Mess-O-Potamia”) and with perhaps the most moving and heartfelt speech of all in the aftermath of 9/11.
It was in the cauldron of the Bush-Cheney era that Stewart’s career as host of the satirical news programme, The Daily Show, began to take off. This week, more than 16 years after his debut on The Daily Show, Stewart announced that he will be stepping down. An era is about to end and a transformational, transcendent figure will exit the limelight. Stewart has done much to expose the madness of our times by offering a sharp counter narrative to both official government proclamations and partisan media interpretations.
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The Daily Show has, over the years, become a showcase for Stewart’s spectacular repertoire of skills — as news anchor, satirist, journalist, comedian, talent-magnet and mentor. In an era when the mainstream media establishment appeared to have abdicated its responsibility to hold the rich and powerful to account, The Daily Show (ironically positioned as “the most trusted name in fake news”) was, for many young Americans, the most credible, and often primary, source of news.
Stewart’s particular brilliance lay in his ability to recognise that democracy and capitalism provide flawed incentives that politicians and the media routinely respond to in a manner that is hilarious at best, and downright dangerous at worst.
The buffoonery, hypocrisy and genuine damage that inevitably result in the rapacious hunt for power and television ratings provided an endless stream of material for the brilliant team of journalist-satirists at The Daily Show. Politicians would lie and cheat, a feckless mainstream media would turn ever more sensationalist, partisan and shrill, and The Daily Show would be waiting every evening to skewer these worlds, where the reality of the news and the way it was reported was often stranger than any fiction you could come up with.
An article in the American Journalism Review summed up Stewarts allure well: “The Daily Show satirises spin, punctures pretence and belittles bombast. When a video clip reveals a politician’s backpedalling, verbal contortions or mindless prattle, Stewart can state the obvious — ridiculing such blather as it deserves to be ridiculed — or remain silent but speak volumes merely by arching an eyebrow.”
As a foreigner in what was then an insular America (a tag that cannot be applied today to a country with a leader as erudite and steeped in world history as Barack Obama), to watch an American of Stewart’s stature articulate nuanced and sensitive positions on civilian casualties in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan was as reassuring as it was breathtaking. It was evidence of America’s admirable ability to be self-critical and an affirmation of the idea that maybe the mainstream discourse really was being driven by a loony fringe.
Not only did Stewart create a brilliant, one-of-a-kind parody news show, he also mentored an all-star team of protégés and moulded them in his image. Stephen Colbert (of The Colbert Report fame, now successor to David Letterman) and John Oliver (host of Last Week Tonight) are just two examples of talent that, like Stewart, are driven by a mistrust of ideologies and capable of delivering razor-sharp analysis, ferocious exposés, brutal satire and humour all at the same time .
Arrogance, hypocrisy, pomposity and elitism are as much on display in India’s political and media landscapes, as in the US. To credibly take on such entrenched toxicity requires an uncommon intellectual gift, rare comic genius, a strong self-deprecating streak and, most crucially, humility, sincerity and honesty of spirit that shines so bright that it cannot be denied. It is too much to ask of any one person, yet these are qualities that coexist in the remarkable persona of Jon Stewart.
To call Stewart the voice of a generation or one of the great anchors of all time is to perhaps understate his impact. If art is the means through which we speak truth to power then Stewart is also one of the great artists of our time. Almost a decade has passed since I returned home to India, but not a week goes by when I don’t check online for Stewart’s take on current events. Our world, rigged as it is in favour of the rich and powerful, will be a poorer place without his beautiful mind to make sense of it.
The writer is a consumer researcher and part of the founding team of Junoon Theatre.
