Alright! I think it’s about time we checked in on The
Daily Show.
Hard
to believe it was only last August when Jon hung up the suit for good, and
barely 6 months ago when the show started up again with Trevor Noah at the
helm. And almost right away, he made his
presence felt, at least on a surface level.
Gone are the chains binding the host to the studio desk- now Trevor does
most of his opening monologues standing in front of a full-screen backdrop. We have a new opening sequence with a hip-hop
riff on the old music, and a slew of new correspondents as well. I would be lying if I said I didn’t get
whiplash the first time I saw most of this, but showbiz, as with life, means
change, so I’ve gotten used to them.
One
of the big billings of Trevor as the new host was that his South
African-immigrant background would give him leeway to make the show and the
humor more international, and so far he has certainly delivered in that regard-
an early bit comparing Donald Trump to several notable African “Presidents for
Life,” the sort of thing most introverted Americans would never think of, was
particularly inspired. Plus, I think
this current crop of correspondents is the most ethnically mixed group we’ve
ever had. Roy Wood Jr. and Jordan
Klepper have great chemistry in all of their sketches, Jessica
Williams is as amazing as always, and I’ve also developed a strong fondness for Ronny Chieng and his weird-ass daddy issues.
So
lots of new faces, many of them non-white, and more of an outsider’s
perspective brought to bear on our daily news.
All things late-night TV certainly needed. But has it all been positive?
Sadly,
not always. As much as we have had to
get used to someone other than Trevor Noah at the helm (and I haven’t been easy
on him just because we share a name), he’s clearly had just as tricky a time of
it getting used to the role himself.
While he has started to find a better groove as time has gone on, there
were plenty of rocky moments those first few months, with some jokes falling
flat, or his slower, more measured delivery just not fitting with the kind of
humor he was going for. A lot of people
noted this, but I think some have been too quick to complain that the show was
already going under. Every new host of a
show needs to find their feet, and that takes time. He’s certainly gotten more confident as time
has gone on, especially since the ongoing insanity of the Presidential race
allowed him to perfect a Ben Carson impersonation on par with any of Jon
Stewart’s best voices.
What
I do miss terribly is War for the Ages that took place between Jon and Fox
News, perhaps the greatest Moby Dick-esque media tale of our time. As much as those confrontations took a toll
on Jon over the years, his spats with one of the titan conservative
institutions currently existing is easily one of the most entertaining, fascinating
and, arguably, necessary pop culture events of our still-young 21st-century. While The Daily Show rightfully targeted all
major news networks for the various flavors of bullshit they regularly dredge
up in the name of keeping themselves afloat, the degree of hostile partisanship
mixed with an almost pathological spreading of misinformation about any topic
you care to name has always stood out on Fox, which meant it rightly deserved
the many, many bright lights Jon tried his best to shine on it over the past
decade-and-a-half he did the show.
Obviously,
Fox News hasn’t disappeared from The Daily Show- the network is way too big for
a show focusing on contemporary news to avoid- but it certainly hasn’t gotten
its own focused segments the way it used to.
Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity, and Bill O’Reilly, and co. aren’t as
explicitly called out as much as they used to be. Given how often and how harshly Fox would
respond in turn whenever Stewart targeted them- and his responses in kind were
often some of the best parts of any episode- it made their back-and-forth
something wholly unique and special, and I think it was clear that it could
never be duplicated once Stewart left.
It’s quite possible that Trevor and the writers consciously chose to not
try to recreate that aspect of Jon’s style, and the decision was probably a
wise one, instead focusing on what Trevor could do to make the show his
own.
That
doesn’t make it any less of a shame though, because the spread of destructive,
paranoid, right-wing bullshit on Fox continues unabated and is a key aspect of
why the Trump phenomenon has played out the way it has and continues to push
forward unchecked through the primary season.
Because of this, the announcement of Jon’s departure was no doubt met by
the staff at Fox with unbridled glee. I
get Trevor wanting to make the show his own, and I very much believe he will
succeed in doing just that, but this is one part of the Stewart years I wish
could keep on going.
This
ties in to the big question everyone has been asking each other for over a year
now- can Jon Stewart every truly be replaced?
While only time will tell what sort of reach and influence Trevor will
have, I think that, sadly, the answer is already a very clear no. Not because of any lack of talent on Trevor’s
part, of course- he is his own comedian, and a fine one at that. The simple fact of the matter is that,
because Jon Stewart was such a unique comedic and TV talent, and because the
length of his run allowed so many of us to literally grow into adulthood with
his voice in our heads and his guidance helping us learn how to think and
question and call out bullshit, there was never anything that could come
remotely close to replacing that once it was gone. And it was always bound to end, like all
things.
This
doesn’t make the new Daily Show any less good.
I still tune in every week, and for the most part I have been extremely
happy with how things have gone since the change. But Stewart’s absence will continue to be
felt for a long time, by myself and many others. Just remember to not take that personally,
Trevor. As long as you stand on our side
in the War against Bullshit, we’re with you.
-Noah Franc
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