Jon Stewart or Bill Maher

Started by classical gas, November 06, 2003, 02:57:16 PM

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coffeebeetle

Stewart, hands down.

I get the feeling this should be a poll.  But whatever.
more than any other time in history, mankind faces a crossroads. one path leads to despair and utter hopelessness. the other, to total extinction. let us pray we have the wisdom to choose correctly.
woody allen (side effects - 1980)

Raikus

I get the feeling this shouldn't be a contest. But whatever.
Yes, to dance beneath the diamond sky with one hand waving free, silhouetted by the sea, circled by the circus sands, with all memory and fate driven deep beneath the waves, let me forget about today until tomorrow.

pete

stewart takes on blitzer it was really good, but you know, blitzer's kinda lightweight.  I kinda wish bill o'reilly or some actual conservatives were there.
"Tragedy is a close-up; comedy, a long shot."
- Buster Keaton

Sleuth

I like to hug dogs

ono

Like a trainwreck.  Wow, indeed.  Don't know what to make of it.  Must've been great for him having to sit through that.  And by great I mean like a root canal.

Part of what makes Stewart great is this constant tongue-in-cheek thing he does in interviews where if you didn't know any better, everything he says sounds serious.  Deadpan.  My opinion of Stewart has definitely changed for the better since my initial post in this thread.  He may "only" do a comedy show, but he's capable of a lot more.

Pubrick

stewart came out great in that transcript. i must be missing sumthing..
under the paving stones.

ono

He came out great to me, too.  My point was, I guess, that it must not have been very pleasant to deal with it.  He obviously has a disdain for the show, and they were really coming at him, so he had to be on his toes the whole time.

cine

"I thought Lincoln was good."

Jeremy Blackman

Yes, that was excellent. A little less ironic that some of his other interviews, though.

And Tucker Carlson is such a little weasel.

"You know what's interesting, though? You're as big a dick on your show as you are on any show."

modage

stewart is on the cover of the new rolling stone if this hasnt been mentioned already.
Christopher Nolan's directive was clear to everyone in the cast and crew: Use CGI only as a last resort.

Sleuth

I like to hug dogs

modage

Jon Stewart Bitchslaps CNN's 'Crossfire' Show
10.15.2004 6:43 PM EDT

In what could well be the strangest and most refreshing media moment of the election season, "The Daily Show" host Jon Stewart turned up on a live broadcast of CNN's "Crossfire" Friday and accused the mainstream media — and his hosts in particular — of being soft and failing to do their duty as journalists to keep politicians and the political process honest.

Reaching well outside his usual youthful "Daily Show" demo, Stewart took to "Crossfire" to promote his new book, "America (The Book): A Citizen's Guide to Democracy Inaction" (see "Jon Stewart Writes A History Textbook That — At Last! — Features Nudity"), but instead of pushing the tome, Stewart used his time to verbally slap the network and the media for being "dishonest" and "doing a disservice" to the American public. After co-host Tucker Carlson suggested that Stewart went easy on Senator John Kerry when the candidate was a guest on "The Daily Show," Stewart unloaded on "Crossfire," calling hosts Carlson and Paul Begala "partisan hacks" and chiding them for not raising the level of discourse on their show beyond sloganeering.

"What you do is not honest. What you do is partisan hackery," Stewart said. "You have a responsibility to the public discourse, and you fail miserably.

"I watch your show every day, and it kills me. It's so painful to watch," Stewart added as it became apparent that the comedian was not joking. He went on to hammer the network, and the media in general, for its coverage of the presidential debates. Stewart said it was a disservice to viewers to immediately seek reaction from campaign insiders and presidential cheerleaders following the debates, noting that the debates' famed "Spin Alley" should be called "Deception Lane."

"The thing is, we need your help," Stewart said. "Right now, you're helping the politicians and the corporations and we're left out there to mow our lawns."

While the audience seemed to be behind Stewart, Begala and Carlson were both taken aback. The hosts tried to feed Stewart set-up lines hoping to draw him into a more light-hearted shtick, but Stewart stayed on point and hammered away at the show, the hosts, and the state of political journalism. Carlson grew increasingly frustrated, at first noting that the segment wasn't "funny," and later verbally sparring with the comedian.

"You're not very much fun," Carlson said. "Do you like lecture people like this, or do you come over to their house and sit and lecture them; they're not doing the right thing, that they're missing their opportunities, evading their responsibilities?"

"If I think they are," Stewart retorted.

The conversation reached its most heated moment when Carlson said to Stewart, "I do think you're more fun on your show," to which Stewart replied, "You're as big a dick on your show as you are on any show."

"That went great," Stewart could be heard sarcastically saying as the show went off the air (a transcript of the show is available on CNN.com).

In an era when the media is increasingly fragmented and viewers can surround themselves with programming that falls right in line with their own views, be they on the right or the left, Stewart's blast seemed especially on point. It seems fitting that the tirade came on a day when much of the media attention focused on the presidential race was directed at the mention of Vice President Dick Cheney's daughter during the last presidential debate, as opposed to the issues addressed at that debate.

—Robert Mancini
Christopher Nolan's directive was clear to everyone in the cast and crew: Use CGI only as a last resort.

MacGuffin

Jon Stewart's 'America' Named Book of Year

NEW YORK - Jon Stewart's "America (The Book)," the television commentator's million-selling riff on politics and other matters of satire, has been named Book of the Year by Publishers Weekly, the industry trade magazine.

In announcing the award Monday, Publishers Weekly called the book "a serious critique of the two-party system, the corporations that finance it and the 'spineless cowards in the press' who 'aggressively print allegation and rumor independent of accuracy and fairness.'"

Stewart's book was released in September and immediately topped best-seller lists even as Wal-Mart declined to stock the book, citing a page featuring the faces of the nine Supreme Court justices superimposed over naked bodies. The page facing the nude photos has cutouts of the justices' robes, complete with a caption asking readers to "restore their dignity by matching each justice with his or her respective robe."
"Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art." - Andy Warhol


Skeleton FilmWorks

Ravi

Bought the book this weekend for 50% off at Borders (sorry, the sale ended Monday) and I can't wait to start reading it.

Myxo