Amph [The Daily Show] Once Again With Jon Stewart (sometimes)

It's a bit sad when people start to think of Russell Brand as some sort of political guru. He's mildly annoying at best (so watch him on Big Fat Quiz of the Year and tell me otherwise) and next to Bill Hicks he's sad, tired, and uninspiring.

As for Jon Stewart, what he did best was get people to think critically about the information they were being spoonfed by politicians and the media. That should not be understated; the news has tremendous authority and is rarely subject to the kind of scrutiny TDS put out there.

 

Jon Stewart's talent is extremely rare. The comedy was just the sauce; where do you find a great TV show host who still practices truly inquisitive, critical journalism? We haven't had TV like that over here in decades, and I'm pretty sure it's similar in other Western countries.
And if you realize how rare his talent is, how fortunate was CN that they had another one!
I haven't really watched any TV the past couple of years, the only exceptions being Colbert and Stewart. Now I think I'll put the TV in the kid's room.

 

Russell Brand might be trying but he's an enormous **** and that makes it hard to take him seriously.

 

Yes; unlike our Cousins I know the word is an extremely appropriate adjective to be used at all times.

 

Didn't realise you were Scottish.

 

Well I haven't seen him spend even 1p here, so I'm not surprised.

 

People say that, but I can't think of when that's been true. He famously said (paraphrased) "The show leading into me is about puppets making crank phone calls" on Crossfire, and he certainly wasn't outmatched by the hosts on that show.

 

He was hardly out of his depth, though. It was more saying "I'm more honest about what I do than you are"

 

Sadly, I haven't.

 

I would modulate that criticism to say it's not that he pulls out that card because he's out of his depth but when he wants a cheap out.
No I don't remember the exact interviews but more than once I've seen him dodge any responsibility for influencing opinions by playing that card.
It's like he's uncomfortable with the fact that his show has an enormous influence on many people's opinions and instead of trying to deal with or answer the question he absolves himself of any responsibility because the show is on Comedy Central, etc.

 

But many of Stewart's widely praised hard-hitting "investigative" pieces, like his interview take down of Jim Cramer, were largely lifted from the earlier work of investigative journalists, nearly argument for argument. He demonstrates very little new insight or analysis. Nor, to be fair, does he have to. He's pretty emphatically not a journalist, so I don't count this a failure on his part.

However, I do count it a serious failure on the part of his audience when they praise him for merely repackaging things others have already done. If you truly have any interest in or engagement with an issue, the substance enough should compel you. One can't complain about how terrible the news media is and then refuse to educate yourself about issues until or unless someone offers it to you in a way that is amusing.

 

Wocky, what you're talking is divorced from reality. Most people won't bother to educate themselves on issues - we see that here, too.

 

i always thought colbert ran circles around stewart. the guy is just fantastic!

 

It was extremely mediocre. I was very disappointed. It just had none of the tension or oppression that I think a movie about being a political prisoner should have. Frankly, at the end of the film, I was just kind of left thinking, "well, that guy had a softer time in that prison than people do here in the US." That is not the impression I think the film needed to make.

 

Yeah, now that he's made the announcement that he's leaving the show, it seems clear that Rosewater was kind of a dry run to see if writing/directing was something he'd want to do. I would bet that it is.

 

I believe that Rosewater received generally favorable reviews from critics.

But I think the average viewer found it mediocre at best.

 

I'd call it a good effort for a directorial debut, but there's nothing really inspired about it.

 

Average IMDB rating - 6.7 out of 10
Average Rotten Tomatoes rating - 6.6 out of 10.

That's essentially a two-and-a-half star movie from both sources.