12/30/2010

Why John Stewart's Interview with Rachel Maddow Drove Me Crazy(and why I don't think he's funny)

Each time I see a clip of Rachel Maddow's interview with John Stewart I once again become frustrated and angry trying to understand him.  I think it's his arrogance or all his incoherent explanations of what he does or what he think he does.  Rachel seems to be trying to play nice, when she seriously could have called BULLSHIT!   What is he attempting to prove by this interview?  He spends most of his time babbling and attempting to make everything he says sound important.   Rachel, always polite, does her best, but at times even she looks confused by Stewart's gobbledygook.   She desperately grabs coherent fragments and attempts to repackage them into some semblance of order.  She then repeats them in this new order and seems to be pleading with him to agree to her meaning. However, the worst for me is Stewart's bizarre attempt to justify his equating provable liar and fear monger Glenn Beck and his lying Fox cohorts with occasional asshole but always reputable MSNBC journalist Keith Olbermann.  Furthermore, didn't Stewart claim he somehow proved he was ""in the stands and not on the field" during his totally unfunny rally in D.C.? So why later in the interview does he claim he has "earned the right after 12 years" in the business (comedy?) to justify his (little?) foray into the serious political arena inhabited by real news journalists such as Maddow, Olbermann and Chris Matthews.  He certainly cannot continue to claim he is only mocking real news and has no measurable influence on events, after his decision to spend an entire show talking to 9/11 responders and has now widely been credited with shaming Republicans into finally passing the 9/11 responders bill.  I'm sure, I'll receive a great deal of disagreement with my critic of supposed funny man John Stewart, but I confess to never finding him very funny, original or insightful.  Really how hard is it to get laughs making fun of Glenn Beck, his misspelling or his silly chalkboard?  Beck is his own caricature. I laugh harder watching the real thing.  As for Stewart's war on the media which he blames for everything yet fails to realize the obvious hypocrisy.  John Stewart is the media whether he likes it or not.  Watching his interview with Rachel Maddow, only made me realize how much he resembles most Americans. Stewart is just as confused about what he believes in, as the majority of our uninformed citizens. I'm hoping his recent show devoted to the 9/11 responders bill which has now been credited with shaming Republicans into finally voting for it's passage, means Stewart is beginning to understand he is part of this media thing and denying it won't make the responsibility he fears disappear.

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