Guardian.com.uk labels Jon Stewart as the best UK election satirist.
Pass notes No 2,776: Jon Stewart
The US chatshow host has been the best UK election satirist, according to some.
- guardian.co.uk, Sunday 9 May 2010 21.00 BST
- Article history
Television show host Jon Stewart during a taping of 'The Daily Show with Jon Stewart' on Wednesday, Oct.8, 2008 in New York. (AP Photo/Evan Agostini) Photograph: Evan Agostini/AP
Age: 47.
Appearance: Daily.
Ah yes, of course, the progressively educated child prodigy and early feminist who went on to write On Liberty, one of the most important works of political philosophy of the last 500 years. One thing a lot of people don't realise about him is that he wasn't a utilitarian in Bentham's sense of the word but rather - That's John Stuart Mill. He's a lot older than 47. And he doesn't appear daily. On account of being dead.
I knew me knowing the answer was too good to be true. Who are you talking about? I'm talking about Jon Stuart Leibowitz, better known to the rest of us as The Daily Show's Jon Stewart.
Who is? A different kind of political philosopher. Half Paxman, half Woody Allen, he's America's leading satirist.
And we're talking about him today because? He's been funnier about our elections than anyone here, and now so many of us have Freeview, no one has an excuse for missing him. The Thick of It aside, he has put British satirists to shame.
Nonsense. Didn't you see Channel 4's Alternative Election Night? Jimmy Carr and Lauren Laverne had to guess how people voted based on their clothes. It was like Kurt Vonnegut, Jonathan Swift and Lenny Bruce all rolled into one. That was, admittedly, biting.
So what did Stewart say about bigotgate? Over footage of Brown's frantic radio apology: "You can actually see the moment when his political career leaves his body."
And the debates? "So the debate over who controls England comes down to the explosive free bus pass issue. The heirs to Churchill, Gladstone and Disraeli are fighting over the 70p fare for the N72 from Luffington Square to Fluffity-flah-fluffity-flop. Never in the history of travel have so many paid so little to travel so far."
Do say: He's America's answer to the young David Frost.
Don't say: Let's hope he doesn't end up like old David Frost.
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2010/may/09/jon-stewart.