"The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" combines intelligent, often brilliantly insightful political satire with an almost childish sense of joy, and occasional devolution to the immature which generally juxtaposes well, embodied by the incredible Jon Stewart, whose multi-faceted hosting style is too much for this review, has been the wellspring of contemporary knowledge for the younger generation for nearly a decade.
On Jon Stewart himself I must say is probably (though I leave room for personal opinions) the funniest man in the states, and one of the funniest in the world. His combines seriousness and childishness, modesty with insight.
The show itself is formatted well, the opening segment, normally Jon Stewart alone, is in my opinion the funniest part of the show; it deal with the big news. The second part is where the show's variety of correspondents do their stuff. Most people consider John Oliver the funniest, with good cause, but the less used Lewis Black, John Hodgeman and Demetri Martin are also excellent. Jason Jones and Aasif Mandvi always struck me as somewhat more generic, and Samantha Bee a bit annoying.
However it is in the interview where Jon Stewart really shows his stuff. Rarely directly engaging in debate (Though he made exceptions for Mike Huckabee, Billy Crystal and Crossfire) he is nevertheless quite capable of making his point while never appearing to be a jackass. On the contrary he is remarkably humble and upfront about his alleged ignorance. Occasional an interview takes up two segments is the guest is important (Such as General Musharraf, Tony Blair, Jimmy Carter etc...). All in all the interview can be the funniest part of the show, the most interesting or the dullest, it depends largely on the guest.
Lastly a few general comments. Though often criticized for misinforming or merely distracting youths (see Bill O'Reilly on 'stoned slackers') recent studies have shown that people who cite The Daily Show/ Colbert Report as their primary source of news are the best informed (FOX news was last one year as I recall). Oh and as a response to those who accuse it of having a liberal bias... you're right, sort of. The writers may be left-leaning in general, but they are more concerned about whats funny, and in fact will target anyone, as evidenced by their recent, surprisingly critical, coverage of the Obama administration.
Lastly, a lot of people see this as a fake news show, but I think it's more News Satire. If you watch it closely, you find that most jokes, and certainly the funniest, come not from mocking or in some way misrepresenting events, but from satirizing the coverage of these events. Especially in recent years it has grown incredibly critical of mainstream news's sensationalism.
Overall, a fantastic show, one of the best on television, the only reason I didn't give it a 10/10 was because it's only on 4 nights a week (And because of Sam Bee).
On Jon Stewart himself I must say is probably (though I leave room for personal opinions) the funniest man in the states, and one of the funniest in the world. His combines seriousness and childishness, modesty with insight.
The show itself is formatted well, the opening segment, normally Jon Stewart alone, is in my opinion the funniest part of the show; it deal with the big news. The second part is where the show's variety of correspondents do their stuff. Most people consider John Oliver the funniest, with good cause, but the less used Lewis Black, John Hodgeman and Demetri Martin are also excellent. Jason Jones and Aasif Mandvi always struck me as somewhat more generic, and Samantha Bee a bit annoying.
However it is in the interview where Jon Stewart really shows his stuff. Rarely directly engaging in debate (Though he made exceptions for Mike Huckabee, Billy Crystal and Crossfire) he is nevertheless quite capable of making his point while never appearing to be a jackass. On the contrary he is remarkably humble and upfront about his alleged ignorance. Occasional an interview takes up two segments is the guest is important (Such as General Musharraf, Tony Blair, Jimmy Carter etc...). All in all the interview can be the funniest part of the show, the most interesting or the dullest, it depends largely on the guest.
Lastly a few general comments. Though often criticized for misinforming or merely distracting youths (see Bill O'Reilly on 'stoned slackers') recent studies have shown that people who cite The Daily Show/ Colbert Report as their primary source of news are the best informed (FOX news was last one year as I recall). Oh and as a response to those who accuse it of having a liberal bias... you're right, sort of. The writers may be left-leaning in general, but they are more concerned about whats funny, and in fact will target anyone, as evidenced by their recent, surprisingly critical, coverage of the Obama administration.
Lastly, a lot of people see this as a fake news show, but I think it's more News Satire. If you watch it closely, you find that most jokes, and certainly the funniest, come not from mocking or in some way misrepresenting events, but from satirizing the coverage of these events. Especially in recent years it has grown incredibly critical of mainstream news's sensationalism.
Overall, a fantastic show, one of the best on television, the only reason I didn't give it a 10/10 was because it's only on 4 nights a week (And because of Sam Bee).