NYT: If You Interview Kissinger, Are You Still a Comedian? (Jon Stewart)

[DeepModem Mom]

JON STEWART GETS SERIOUS
If You Interview Kissinger, Are You Still a Comedian?
By DAMIEN CAVE

Published: October 24, 2004


....Whether he likes it or not, Mr. Stewart's mix of news and satire has become so successful that the comedian is suddenly being criticized for not questioning his guests with Tim Russert-like intensity. (It has been that kind of campaign.)

Some critics insist that the size of Mr. Stewart's audience should force him to take a more serious approach. "The Daily Show" now attracts more 18- to 34-year-old viewers than the network news. And the 13-minute CNN segment with Mr. Stewart has been downloaded or streamed from the Internet more than 1.5 million times, surpassing the viewership of "Crossfire" itself....

***

The "Crossfire" conflict supports the charge that the line between television news and entertainment is blurred beyond all recognition, said Darrell West, a political scientist at Brown University and author of "Celebrity Politics."

"Each side is still uneasy with the other because they have a self image that is different from the reality," he said. "Tucker was complaining that Stewart wasn't being funny. He wasn't wanting commentary, he wanted entertainment. And Stewart wanted to take advantage of the show to make some serious statements."

Even Mr. Carlson admits that Mr. Stewart is something of a political idealist, believing that issues matter. The comedian stayed at CNN for several hours after the show to discuss the issues that he raised on the air.

"It was heartfelt," Mr. Carlson said this week in an interview. "He needed to do this."...


(Lizz Winstead, a co-creator of "The Daily Show," and now a co-host of a news and comedy show on Air America, says Stewart doesn't have to "nail" guests with questions because "Jon is so brilliant at being satirical, why not say to Richard Perle on the show, 'Did you ever think of calling your book "Confessions of a Chicken Hawk?"'")


http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/24/weekinreview/24cave.html?8hpib

[Wonk]

1. kick

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=109&topic_id=14508&mesg_id=14508

[Wonk]

6. kick

[REP]

2. He *Is* A Comedian, Not a Journalist

Or, more accurately, he is a satirist. It is pathetic that journalists are getting pissy with Stewart about his comedy show when they still refuse to do their jobs.

[TahitiNut]

4. Yup. The illiterate forget Will Rogers and Mark Twain

Corporate presstitutes lack any kind of historical perspective.

[Dukakis88]

3. "Tim Russert-like intensity?"

Tim Russert-like intensity = the intensity of a small, odorless fart. Russert is a puffed up, power-worshipping whore.

[0007]

5. Great analogy

[realFedUp]

7. Does Stewart tell the truth or not?

That seems to be the marker for me...
I don't care about the titles.