Jon Stewart’s uncut appearance on Fox News Sunday; is he trying to become a political player?

By Carrie Andersen | June 20, 2011 at 11:55 am | 6 comments | Audio/Video | Tags: fox news, jon stewart, politics, television

Yesterday, Jon Stewart made his debut on the Sunday morning political talk show circuit – and of course he’d end up on Fox. The comedian had a chat with Chris Wallace that, at times, was more than a little bit tense.

The heat of the interview peaked when they got into Stewart’s political ideology and supposed efforts to surpass the role of comedian and venture into some kind of activism. And then Wallace made a thinly veiled, snide critique of a supposedly racist bit Stewart performed on the show.

Really, Wallace? You think Jon’s channeling Amos ‘n Andy? Really?

If you move past the not-so-subtle vitriol, though, the interview offered an interesting discussion about political comedy. What do you guys think – is Stewart overstepping his bounds as a comedian in an effort to become a political player?

About the Author

Carrie Andersen

In addition to writing for Laughspin, Carrie is a graduate student in Austin, Texas, where she researches popular culture, new media, music, and social movements. When not reading or writing in any official capacity, she spends her time playing the drums, watching crappy TV, and eating copious amounts of tacos and barbecue. She also blogs sporadically at carrieandersen.com.

Jason Randall

I think Stewart penned it when it said how amazing it was that his comedy show gets credibility because of the uninformed viewers of Fox News.
http://www.twitter.com/Tom_Myers Tom Myers

When I hear Jon Stewart speak in this interview, I am immediately reminded of the defense that Lenny Bruce brought to his comedy when he was hounded by critics and law enforcement agents. Jon Stewart is a very eloquent speaker and while I think he overstates certain things vis a vis television commentators, he is spot on in this interview. He makes me proud to be an American and a comedian.
http://www.perrykurtz.com Perry Kurtz

Jon’s self-control and correct levels of response were a real feat AND a treat. He threw the mud right back at him and walked away unfazed.
Robert Smith

It was enlightening to see Jon Stewart get Chris Wallace to admit that Fox tells “the other side”. The use of the phrase “other side” is a clear communication that they see themselves not as “fair and balanced” but as working one side of the street.

My biggest concern is Stewart’s willingness to talk about “the mainstream media” on Fox’s terms. Fox IS part of the mainstream media. They have the largest audience of any 24-hour “news” channel. You can’t get much more mainstream than #1. The ultra-conservative Wall Street Journal is mainstream media.

Wallace’s attempt to show bias on the part of NBC was pathetic. If the story on Arizona’s immigration law was the most egregious example he could find … well, you could find twenty worse examples of conservative bias on any given night on Fox.
Tonya Ryan

FOX has the most viewers for a24 hr news station is NO surprise….because they have to repeat it over and over so people will actually believe it. When my son was young he thought his name was No-No and so was alot of other things…thats because i had to tell him “no-no” 24 hrs a day……just saying you hear things over and over you are bound to be affected…
Mark

The fact that you, a online ‘comedy’ magazine, are asking the question: What do you guys think – is Stewart overstepping his bounds as a comedian in an effort to become a political player? Tells me you know ZERO about comedy. How sad that it’s you running this ‘comedy’ magazine. Isn’t that always the way though? The person who knows the LEAST about the craft gets to be the ‘authority’ on it. Why does America gives dumb c#nts like you these positions?