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It's hard to cover much substance in 23 minutes or however long The Daily Show gets. I think they understand this and treat the show as a time to make jokes, bu

It's hard to cover much substance in 23 minutes or however long The Daily Show gets. I think they understand this and treat the show as a time to make jokes, but use the interview segment to really dig into current events. The extended interviews especially are fantastic because they're so candid, sometimes tense. If you're just watching Jon Stewart for 12 minutes of news jokes, you're only getting a small taste of what the show has to offer.

maxerickson 12y ago
Jon Stewart is often a terrible interviewer. Especially when he either hasn't found any respect for the guest or when he likes the guest so much they can't take the promotional point of the interview seriously. In one case he fails to address the perspective of the guest (which means he emotes a lot and asks questions they don't answer) and in the other they more or less just smile knowingly at each other for 5 minutes. I suppose another way to say it is that much of the problem is that he tends to make the interview about himself.
- JeremyNT 12y ago
  What you say is certainly true when he is interviewing entertainers, but I do think the parent is correct: if he's got a serious guest on and they are discussing an issue Stewart cares about, he really lets them use the time effectively. He mostly stays out of the way and just helps them stay on topic. Promoting his agenda through guests is his reward, I suppose, for stumbling through so many interviews with vapid celebrities.
  - maxerickson 12y ago
    Yeah, the less antagonistic serious interviews go okay. That's why I was so specific about guests that he can't find respect for. I also don't think he is really stumbling through the celebrity interviews, he's playing himself as above them. When his (lack of) relationship with the guest makes it so that won't work, the interview goes along just fine.
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quadrangle 12y ago
But John Oliver's show is even shorter (or the segments are anyway). So that's no comparison. I'm not trying to knock Jon Stewart, I think he's done a lot of great stuff, but so far John Oliver's show is more consistently amazing.

maxerickson 12y ago

Jon Stewart is often a terrible interviewer. Especially when he either hasn't found any respect for the guest or when he likes the guest so much they can't take the promotional point of the interview seriously. In one case he fails to address the perspective of the guest (which means he emotes a lot and asks questions they don't answer) and in the other they more or less just smile knowingly at each other for 5 minutes. I suppose another way to say it is that much of the problem is that he tends to make the interview about himself.

JeremyNT 12y ago
What you say is certainly true when he is interviewing entertainers, but I do think the parent is correct: if he's got a serious guest on and they are discussing an issue Stewart cares about, he really lets them use the time effectively. He mostly stays out of the way and just helps them stay on topic. Promoting his agenda through guests is his reward, I suppose, for stumbling through so many interviews with vapid celebrities.
- maxerickson 12y ago
  Yeah, the less antagonistic serious interviews go okay. That's why I was so specific about guests that he can't find respect for. I also don't think he is really stumbling through the celebrity interviews, he's playing himself as above them. When his (lack of) relationship with the guest makes it so that won't work, the interview goes along just fine.

deleted 12y ago

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quadrangle 12y ago

But John Oliver's show is even shorter (or the segments are anyway). So that's no comparison. I'm not trying to knock Jon Stewart, I think he's done a lot of great stuff, but so far John Oliver's show is more consistently amazing.