The Guide #209: Jon Stewart, Jimmy Kimmel and the battle for the future of late-night TV
If nothing else, the Trump administration’s assault on late-night talkshows is creating some proper old-school water cooler TV. The first thing I did this morning was fire up YouTube and watch Jon Stewart’s monologue on last night’s Daily Show. Stewart usually only does the Monday edition, but he had made an exception in the wake of ABC’s decision, at the encouragement of the Federal Communications Commission and its Trump acolyte head, Brendan Carr, to indefinitely sideline Jimmy Kimmel. Stewart’s midweek appearance, then, was an event – and one that didn’t disappoint.
Set to the images of soldiers saluting and American flags billowing in the wind, the opening voiceover trumpeted the “all-new, government-approved Daily Show, with your patriotically obedient host Jon Stewart”. Cue Stewart, his usually cool blue set switched out for Mar-a-Lago gold, his eyes nervously darting, launching into 20 minutes of mock-obsequious toadying to “our great father”, praising his state visit to the UK, redrawing maps to reflect Trump’s spotty knowledge of international affairs – Azerbaijan is now officially “Aberbaijan”, and it’s at war with Albania – and frantically shushing the studio audience whenever they laughed at or booed the president (“Shut up, you’re going to blow this for us!”)
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