When Jon Stewart revealed Tuesday he was leaving the show that made him famous — Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show” — after 16 years, thoughts turned immediately to his legacy. Through sharp-witted satire, Stewart has helped many Americans make sense of and engage with an ever more complex world of politics and government. Among his favored targets have been hypocrisy, pomposity and intolerance.
Some will note his influence on comedy, not only his personal contributions to the comedic world, but his role as a mentor to others — people like Stephen Colbert, John Oliver and Steve Carell, each of whom got their start on “The Daily Show.”
Stewart’s impact goes beyond pop culture and entertainment.
He was certainly not the first political satirist — a medium first perfected in pre-TV era when comic geniuses with a social conscience — Will Rogers and Art Buchwald are two memorable practitioner of the craft — through syndicated newspaper columns that made them as famous as the officials and politicians that so brilliantly lampooned.
Nor was Stewart even the first to take the approach to television. Before Stewart, there were those like Johnny Carson and the subsequent progression of late-night hosts, who routinely turned their opening monologues into an irreverent examination of the news of the day.
Stewart was not even the first to use a mock newscast to deliver his commentary; a distinction that belongs to Saturday Night Live, with Chevy Chase creating the role of the bumbling, often misinformed news anchor on “Weekend Update” segments.
Clearly, Stewart’s show is a nod to all of those who proceeded him.
Even so, his contributions are unique.
As former Mississippi Secretary of State Dick Molpus, himself a famous target of Stewart’s sharp wit, noted, Americans under the age of 35 may not know who Brian Williams is, but there is likely no one in that group who doesn’t know Stewart.
His reach went well beyond the show itself, capitalizing on the social media that is a ubiquitous part of young Americans’ world.
He made “news” entertaining and, in doing so, captured an audience that traditional media has long struggled to attract.
With biting satire, pitch-perfect humor and unflinching clarity, Stewart broadened the audience for news like no one who had come before.
Stewart’s contributions to the world of comedy and entertainment are obvious. But his influence on helping many disinterested Americans learn of the broader world around them should not be underestimated. If traditional media is a little more approachable and accessible and a little less self-important and stuffy, Stewart deserves a measure of credit for it.
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
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