TV

The Daily Show

by Daniel McQuade

On the day of Barack Obama’s inauguration, Variety ran a special section with multiple articles—about The Daily Show. Jon Stewart recently celebrated his 10th anniversary as host, and what better way to celebrate Obama’s big day than by obsessing over the future of a fake cable news show?

The Daily Show , though, will have to change focus with Obama in the White House. President Bush—always around for an easy joke—is off to Texas, and he won’t be skipping off to Peru to avoid war crimes charges for a while now.

For the last eight years, Stewart has built a strong audience on Bush jokes and commentary. Some say it’s time to quit while ahead. (His contract runs through 2010.) Others have concocted incredibly stupid ideas, like this blogger on Culture11: “I don’t think Stewart has the talent or the heart to skewer his own side … They could turn the reins over to Dennis Miller …”

A blogger on New York magazine’s website predicted similar doom: “It seems to us like there’s a substantial overlap between America’s young Obama acolytes and America’s young Daily Show viewers; how often can Stewart and his writers make fun of their studio audience?”

What do these responses tell us? Well, one, that if you set someone up with a blog and let them write about whatever they want, they’ll have some really stupid opinions. And two, Stewart will be fine. If people think

Stewart’s best jokes were never about Bush. They were about the hypocrisy and stupidity of all politicians and pundits.

The first week of the Obama administration, Stewart pointed out just how much Barack Obama’s inauguration rhetoric was like George W. Bush’s. Stewart spent time comparing the old administration to the new one, but he spent time mocking Obama too. So calm down: The show will survive.