From WWW.DAILYMAIL.CO.UK
Trevor Noah is out as host of The Daily Show.
The virtually unknown comedian was handed the anchor’s chair in 2015 after Jon Stewart stepped away from the ground-breaking, political comedy show he built over more than 15 years. Since then, The Daily Show has slogged into mediocrity and quite frankly, boredom.
Noah never lived up to his predecessor, attracting a measly 363,000 viewers overall during a week in September (for comparison, over 2.1 million watched Greg Gutfeld’s show on Fox News over the same period).
Noah got by on his ‘cool kid’ clout in the media. He was part of the club that pointed and laughed at the ‘stupid’ conservatives. But generally, he just vomited up the same old tired, recycled jokes again and again.
In fact, he and his ‘correspondents’ repeatedly regurgitated the same gag about me multiple times. Then he repeated it again at The White House Correspondents Dinner this year.
‘I heard Meghan McCain telling the bouncer, “Do you know who my father was?!,”‘ he deadpanned as I sat in the audience.
It’s fine, I get it. I loved and respected my father and talk about him a lot. I can laugh at myself. But at least Trevor can come up with some fresh material for his big night on the town in Washington D. C.
Noah’s problem is that he never realized what made The Daily Show great.
Jon Stewart was not the first host, but he certainly was the best.
I grew up, like most older millennials, watching him every single night before bed. I had just started paying attention to politics and the show was not just funny, it was hilarious.
Above all else, no one was safe.
Stewart and his cast members were fearless in their performances, which helped launch the careers of household names like Steven Colbert, Ed Helms, Steve Carell, and Samantha Bee.
They spoke truth to power and took shots at everyone regardless of political party. Jon seemed to hate hypocrisy and corruption wherever he found it and his viewers ate it up.
For the record, The Daily Show took many swipes at my late dad, including one skit that used a cranky puppet to make fun of him. On Stewart’s last show, my dad posed with that same puppet and said ‘so long, Jackass’ to Stewart as a funny sendoff.
Since Stewart left the show he hasn’t stopped either. Look at his recent work demanding attention for 9/11 First Responders and our veterans, who are suffering health problems after inhaling the fumes from burn pits at far-flung military bases.
Stewart is surely now an activist, but he still yields a lot of power and respect both in politics and culture.
Isn’t that what comedy is supposed to be, punching up and speaking truth to power?
Instead, Noah and his ilk were content to go along with the in-crowd. Too bad for them that audience is pretty small.
Gone are the days of Johnny Carson and Jay Leno, who were apolitical and watched by more than 10 million on any given night. Obviously, America’s media landscape and the TV business has changed since then. Even in his heyday, Stewart couldn’t reach those ratings-heights…. (Read more)
