Jon Stewart and the Ruination of American Comedy

[Bestbank Tiger]

He did great work during his first run.

After the 2000 election, he played a clip of W saying "I ask you to pray for the United States of America." Then said "We're waaaaaay ahead of you, George."

He also ridiculed CNN for fact-checking Saturday Night Live but saying "We'll just leave it there" when guests made mutually exclusive claims about important issues.

 

[Narz]

He did great work during his first run.

After the 2000 election, he played a clip of W saying "I ask you to pray for the United States of America." Then said "We're waaaaaay ahead of you, George."

He also ridiculed CNN for fact-checking Saturday Night Live but saying "We'll just leave it there" when guests made mutually exclusive claims about important issues.

Prepared material vs real time knowledge & agility

 

[Bestbank Tiger]

Prepared material vs real time knowledge & agility

Comedy is almost always prepared. Improv is much harder which is why it isn't the norm.

 

[Kyriakos]

Maybe someone like Norm would improvise, but apparently mostly out of laziness - having only prepared some stuff and then making up variations/elongations on the spot.
There was also Robin Williams, who had his own dynamic. While I personally wasn't a fan, clearly he had impressive abilities.

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

 

[Kyriakos]

I doubt Stewart improvises quite as much as those other two did. And I like him

 

[amadeus]

Maybe someone like Norm would improvise, but apparently mostly out of laziness - having only prepared some stuff and then making up variations/elongations on the spot.

I think it wasn’t lazy but a mastery of the craft. I think his moth joke on Conan is an example of this: he was brought on for another segment and he took a 20-second joke he heard from someone else and mixed it with this almost Russian novel-like storytelling. The joke wasn’t the punchline, but the journey to get there, and the brilliance of being able to do that isn’t random, I don’t think it is innate, but a skill that has been worked on for by then more than 20 years experience.

 

[Kyriakos]

I think it wasn’t lazy but a mastery of the craft. I think his moth joke on Conan is an example of this: he was brought on for another segment and he took a 20-second joke he heard from someone else and mixed it with this almost Russian novel-like storytelling. The joke wasn’t the punchline, but the journey to get there, and the brilliance of being able to do that isn’t random, I don’t think it is innate, but a skill that has been worked on for by then more than 20 years experience.

I agree, but various comedians who knew him spoke (admirably) of laziness, because he could rely on some random intricacy which did not appear scripted (though of course practice makes that easier too).
I'd say that many of his non-scripted (for the most part) jokes are based on diversion coupled with the comedic/ironic implication of lack of understanding.

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

 

[tjs282]

The Trat Pop movie was surprisingly good fun.

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

Jon Stewart Tackles The Trump Conviction Fallout & Puts The Media on Trial

 

[Gori the Grey]

Especially like the bit at 11:00. Courts still the one place you can't say whatever you want.

 

[Kyriakos]

Why does it need to be so weird.

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

Especially like the bit at 11:00. Courts still the one place you can't say whatever you want.

24 hour news channels are the death of journalism. There's not enough news to fill 24 hours, so you get bilch.
And good journalism requires a lot of effort in investigating a claim.

But reality is not why people tune into them.

 

[Gori the Grey]

Why does it need to be so weird.

Yeah, that was another of the best spots, Kyr.

I liked the spot from 11-14, because it gave voice to one reason the conviction has felt so satisfying. Finally, there's a circumstance where Trump can't just speak and the only measure of its truthfulness be the number of people who sign on to it--either believe it or say they do. One used to think that just not matching up to factual reality was enough to put some brakes on false statements, but Trump blew the walls off of that comfortable delusion. A polarized and partisan media environment means that the media can't be a check. Only the courts.

Of course, even the court system could be undermined in this respect if there were some sort of highest-court-in-the-land that felt it could just manufacture realities of its own preference.

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

 

[Remorseless1]

Monday's show was a master class in political comedy. He artfully skewered the notion that corporations are empathetic organizations that care about the communities where they peddle their goods. It's about profit, nothing else. A lot of companies actually do care (somewhat) about their communities. I remember a guy who sold mattresses in Houston opened his store and allowed left homeless by Katrina to sleep on his mattresses and enjoy his air conditioning without charging them a dime.

The one thing V.I. Lenin ever wrote that I agreed with is "when we hang the last capitalist it will be with the rope he sold us."

 

[Kyriakos]

He doesn't cover Israel almost at all by now :/

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

He doesn't cover Israel almost at all by now :/

He's a one time a week comedian. Not a journalist.

 

[Remorseless1]

He doesn't cover Israel almost at all by now :/

Try to write funny jokes about Gaza then.