here's my recap of my Daily Show With Jon Stewart experience, I really recommend watching the full episode first here, as I don't want to ruin the great jokes for you. Pre-show I found Sand-Rock Obama, who was under the awning of the Ritz-Carlton, but still got rained on a little. Post-show, they let you take pictures of the stage. I was six rows away from the magic, and it was the best.
Okay, 32 minutes later, (after you've seen the show in all its glory, and wished so many people weren't also wearing green shirts so I could find myself in the crowd)...
Hot Politics
Before the show starts, Jon Stewart comes out and talks to the crowd and answers questions. It’s so difficult to pick a favorite part of the night, but the pre-show Q&A was right at the top of the list. A sampling:
Q: Which president would win in a fight? A: “ Lincoln, no question. He was like 8 feet tall! Why, who would you pick?” -guy says Taft- “Why would you pick Taft? Lincoln would crush Taft!”
Q: How many staff members are from NC? “I think, two. I only keep track of how many Jews I have.”
Q: something about how he should give equal time to Dems/Reps on his show. “I’m not sure if you know this, but I’m a comedian. My show is a satire. I don’t have to give equal time to anything. Just because I told a Jewish joke, doesn’t mean I now have to tell a joke about black people. I get to tell jokes about what I think is funny.” He went on to say how this whole Dem/Rep divide is false anyway, that we shouldn’t have this Us vs. Them mentality. Good serious stuff.
Q: What was your most awkward interview? “Desmond Tutu, he hit on me.” But seriously he talked about Harry Reid, who was on the show to promote his autobiography, you know, the story of his life, and everything Jon pointed out from the book seemed to be a surprise to him.
Q: Do you like the show Newsroom? “I haven’t seen it. I have an 8 year-old and a 5 year-old. The only thing I’ve seen in the past 3 years is Tangled.”
Q: something political about Paul Ryan. Jon refused to talk about Ryan’s politics because he is too ridiculously handsome, and ended his description of those deep pools of blue eyes by saying that he’d (sleep with) Ryan.
And with that, the show starts. It was so interesting to see the process of the show behind the scenes. Before the start, and during commercial breaks (as Springsteen’s new album was playing), Jon has a huddle at his desk with producers (Rory Albanese, for instance) and at one point John Oliver came up to his desk to consult as well. The set is beautiful, and this episode included Samantha Bee, John Oliver, and two new “anchors” – Al Madrigal and Jess Williams, aka part of the Best News Team Ever. The guest was Tom Brokaw, who is surprisingly funny, and brought a lot of history to the event, as he’s been reporting from conventions for over 20 years.
The screens/graphics that we see on TV next to Jon’s head are actually on the left and right side of the theater, so it’s difficult at some points to look at that and also look at Jon to get the full effect. Basically, I was staring at Jon the entire time, so it took me a second to get some of the jokes with corresponding graphics.
Now I’m going to lead you through my favorites from each segment:
1- (re: the American people understanding nuance) “No, the American people don’t understand! Here’s what we understand – that getting a free sandwich, is a good reason for buying 10 other sandwiches! Here’s what we, the American people, understand – that Malcolm X…was the leader of the X-Men!”
2- (re: Chuck Norris) “One man stands between America , and 1,000 YEARS OF DARKNESS. And that man…is 72” The whole Chuck Norris video was insane.
3- (re: the “Yes We Can” song parody)…so the news anchors (John Oliver & Jason Jones, mainly) went out among the delegates to try to find a new slogan for Obama for 2012. This was a pre-taped piece, which again means I wasn’t fully watching it as I was looking at Jon watching it, which was even more hilarious. He was trying not to laugh because after the taped piece is shown, they’ll immediately cut to him to throw to commercial or introduce the next segment. Right when Jason starts singing, he completely lost it and almost fell out of his chair from laughing so hard. It was amazing.
4- Also during that first commercial break he talked about the news team and we all cheered and that’s when the anchors came out for the “field reports” aka green screen. Samantha Bee is stunningly beautiful in person, and of course I love John Oliver. He and Samantha were on my side of the stage so I could see them even with huge cameras in front of them. This was my favorite because we all booed John’s segment where he disparaged North Carolina BBQ.
Jon: “Why are you trying to calm the crowd, you’re outside!”
John: “I can hear these peasants through the wall!”
5- Tom Brokaw –cool to see him in person as well. A lot funnier than I expected.
Jon: “They have locked this city down, though I’ve never been here, maybe that’s just what it’s like in Charlotte ”
So they ended up doing an extended interview, which was amazing, though Brokaw’s mic stopped working at the end of the 1st segment, so there was a 2nd segment that they didn’t end up putting online, because his mic stopped working again. I honestly can’t remember what he said, though it was serious political stuff for sure, because I was staring at Jon the entire time. The 3rd mic finally worked (this is why he noted the Chinese satellite interference). More time with Jon on stage is fine by me.
6- Okay, Moment of Zen was quick and I didn’t look at the screen, but I see now that it was
Joe Biden saying over and over “Bin Laden is dead and General Motors is alive!”
Jon took his mic off and went backstage and I thought it was over.
7- Pretty sure this doesn’t happen very often in NY, but he came back on stage and thanked
us profusely for giving the show so much energy and saying it propels them to do the
show better and sustains them when they’re on the road. Someone demanded he bring out
John Oliver to settle the BBQ score, and Jon explained that John Oliver can only handle
porridge-based food. Jon thanked us again and told us we were a lovely crowd, and that
was the end.
