So Long, Jon

Who is the twenty-first century’s Edward Murrow? Walter Cronkite?

It’s probably not Brian Williams. Nor Dan Rather. Nor Peter Jennings or Tom Brokaw or Katie Couric, although they were and have been influential in their own right. The fact is that broadcast news has been mostly toothless (or plain wrong) for over a decade now, essentially a regurgitation of online headlines and government press conferences and g-rated YouTube clips. If you’ve wanted what broadcast news used to be—original, incisive, and fairly principled—you’ve had to look to the Daily Show and Jon Stewart.

And now he’s leaving. Let’s talk about that.

I first found Stewart around 2003. I was very young and didn’t follow the news that closely, but even then I got the sense that my government was making some very strange decisions. Believe it or not, it was a comedy show—it was Stewart—who first shined sustained light on the fact that not all was well in Iraq; that not everything about the Global War on Terror made sense. After 9/11, a paralyzing sort of fear blanketed American politics, extending into the mainstream media. Even modest questions and criticism (i.e. reporters doing their job) could seem tantamount to treason—to not standing “with” America in its time of crisis.

Stewart, the Daily Show, and his remarkable team of writers led the way in asking hard questions about the deteriorating security situation in Iraq; mounting IED attacks; stupid Donald Rumsfeld-era policies; the crisis of Abu Ghraib. Episode after episode, over a period of years, they peeled back the remarkable political obfuscations and double-speak that had permitted the “selling” of the Iraq War in the first place. As a whole, the Daily Show of the early and mid-2000s was a remarkable feat of sustained investigative journalism. The fact that they managed it with the highest proportion of profanity and potty humor among tv “news” shows? Even better.

Living in a place where everyone voted straight line Republican and very few cared to ask what was up with “enhanced interrogation” or “terror alert” color charts or any of the other crazy shit that I grew up with, Stewart was a nightly ray of sanity. Some nights—especially after John Kerry’s 2004 attempt to win the award for “most simultaneously uncharismatic and also factually correct presidential candidate”—the Daily Show became a 30-minute reprieve from a constant siege. It was basically this:

Beyond (or in spite) of all this, it was Stewart and the gang who got me interested in politics and why societies do what they do. I was still rewatching the Indecision 2004 box set years later, laughing at the fun and games of it. I convinced my AP Government teacher to let me show the whole (uncensored) set as a way to educate the class on party conventions and electoral politics. When we got to the Lewis Black monologues, I skipped the DVD over the bad words. There was a lot of skipping.

When Barack Obama assumed office in 2009 and people said the world was perfect now, critics opined that Stewart would starve for material, stuck between obsolescence or alienating his primarily Democratic viewership. Not so! They hadn’t reckoned on Jim Cramer-crazy and the financial crash; the rise of the Tea Party; the screaming ascent of Bullshit Mountain. From 2009 onward, Stewart shifted his sights to hyperpartisanship and media manipulation (two phenomena that are tightly, tightly bound). He’s had endless targets who have seemed dead and determined to compound their crazy.

In retrospect, even the craziest primary in modern electoral history was a distraction from Stewart’s new purpose: restoring sanity where there seems to be less and less of it. When he decided to “Restore Sanity” in late 2010, over 200,000 people showed up. I was one of them. As I wrote afterward:

Stewart’s rally was not our Woodstock. Its attendees were not regaled by speeches or fired to action. Instead, they were treated to a two-and-a-half hour variety show interspersed with funny skits and ’90s pop icons. The last 30 minutes were serious, but not so serious. Even Stewart’s concluding speech was more of a conversation between friends than a call to arms.

The rally was also insignificant as a partisan event. Many attendees were liberal, but they were hardly lock-step Democrats. A few political groups made half-hearted attempts to capitalize on the crowd, but with limited success. Instead of campaign banners or fierce partisan propaganda, it was signs like “Radical Centrist” or “Hitler Was Hitler” which stuck out most often. If there was any coherent political message, it was relayed by the smell of marijuana wafting gently across the National Mall. It may have been the best-behaved crowd in Washington rally history.

And there was a crowd. Attendance — tallied now at 215,000 people — was almost quadruple what the organizers were expecting. Comparisons to Glenn Beck’s August “Rally to Restore Honor” are inevitable, and I’m happy to make them. Thanks to the nonpartisan power of aerial photography, we know that Stewart’s rally was about twice as big. It was also 10 times more pleasant. One rally featured Sarah Palin. The other featured a humorous duet between Ozzy Osbourne and the artist formerly known as Cat Stevens. In one rally, the host shouted. In the other, the host spoke with a smile.

Yet 215,000 people did not come to Washington just to hear jokes and see musical acts. To quote Stewart as he gazed out on a crowd that spanned the better part of the National Mall, “So … what exactly was this?”

Watching the final, sad hours of an election cycle characterized by vitriol and rehashed by a 24-hour pundit peanut gallery, I think I have the answer. The “Rally to Restore Sanity” was a splash of cold water on a face that very dearly needed it. For a few hours on a beautiful October day, Americans were able to take a step back from the rhetoric that splits our country and a media that makes it worse. The rally was not a call to action, but it will most certainly stand as a call to reason. As Stewart observed, “We live now in hard times, not end times. And we can have animus and not be enemies.”

Stewart’s net political impact, his following? Unbelievable! Incalculable! There’s just one question: why the hell is he going NOW???

I think one answer is: because it’s time. The fact is that Bullshit Mountain may not go anywhere, but reporting on endless torrents of, well, bullshit, can eventually drag. The 2016 presidential election will surely be interesting and entertaining, but not in the ways that make sense for the Daily Show. For several reasons (mostly because the country has shifted while he’s stayed in the same place), the Jon Stewart of 2015 seems a lot more partisan than the Stewart of 2000 or even 2004. Stewart’s now overwhelmingly Democratic audience would certainly tolerate the occasional jab at their candidate-in-waiting (albeit with stretched and pained sorts of smiles), but they’d expect him to move quickly back to his assigned role—ribbing stupid politicians at the Republicans’ expense.

And he already told people over a decade ago: that’s not his job. “I’m not going to be your monkey.” The Daily Show has never existed exclusively to attack the right. There’s no reason to be put in that position now.

Then there’s the other, best, simplest answer for why Stewart’s calling it quits: because the guy’s spent nearly 17 years on the job!!! Cronkite only spent 19 years at the anchor desk. And “basic cable” had a slightly different meaning when there were only three channels to choose from.

What does Stewart leave behind? I can’t even begin to piece together that legacy. All I’ll say is that it’s thanks to Stewart that the Late Show is going to be badass again. It’s thanks to Stewart that widely watched, lengthy, thought-provoking journalism has survived Web 2.0 and broadcast news’ “dumbification” and the slide toward internet instant gratification. The kicker? This in depth reporting is also great comedy!

Holy shit I’m going to miss the Daily Show. But Stewart? Stewart is 52 years old and funny and brilliant and not one to keep his mouth shut. Whether Death to Smoochy 2 or otherwise, we’ll see him again. And he’ll keep being awesome.