[Mb-civic] Jon Stewart takes on Crossfire!

[ean at sbcglobal.net]

TV Watch: No Jokes or Spin. It's Time (Gasp) to Talk.

October 20, 2004
By ALESSANDRA STANLEY

There is nothing more painful than watching a comedian turn
self-righteous. Unless of course, the comedian is lashing
out at smug and self-serving television-news personalities.
Jon Stewart could not resist a last dig at CNN's
"Crossfire" during his monologue on Comedy Central on
Monday night . "They said I wasn't being funny," the star
of "The Daily Show With Jon Stewart" said, rolling his eyes
expressively. "And I said to them: 'I know that. But
tomorrow I will go back to being funny," Mr. Stewart said,
adding that their show would still be bad, although he used
a more vulgar expression. 

And that is why his surprise attack on the hosts of CNN's
"Crossfire" was so satisfying last Friday. Exchanging his
usual goofy teasing for withering conte! mpt, he told Paul
Begala and Tucker Carlson that they were partisan hacks and
that their pro-wrestling approach to political discourse
was "hurting America." (He also used an epithet for the
male reproductive organ to describe Mr. Carlson.) 

Real anger is as rare on television as real discussion.
Presidential candidates no longer address each other
directly in debates. Guests on the "Tonight" show or
"Oprah" are scripted monologuists who pitch their latest
projects and humor the host. It has been decades since
talk-show guests conversed with one another, yet there was
a time when famous people held long and at times
legendarily hostile discussions (Gore Vidal and William F.
Buckley Jr. on ABC in 1968, Mary McCarthy and Lillian
Hellman on "The Dick Cavett Show" in 1980). 

Nowadays, live television meltdowns seem to be
pathological, not political - Janet Jackson baring a breast
during the Super Bowl or Farrah Fawcett ! babbling
incoherently to David Letterman. 

The fuming partis an rants on Fox News or "Real Time With
Bill Maher" are aimed at the converted. And celebrities,
like politicians, stay on message and stick to talking
points, which may help explain the popularity of "Celebrity
Poker" - it gives viewers a rare, unfiltered glimpse of
stars' real personalities as they handle a bad hand or a
humiliating bluff. 

Mr. Stewart's frankness was a cool, startling, rational
version of Senator Zell Miller's loony excoriation ("Get
out of my face") to Chris Matthews of MSNBC during the
Republican convention. 

The transcript of Friday's "Crossfire," and the blog
commentary about it, popped up all over the Internet this
weekend. Mr. Stewart's Howard Beal (of "Network") outburst
stood out because he said what a lot of viewers feel
helpless to correct: that news programs, particularly on
cable, have become echo chambers for political attacks,
amplifying the noise instead of parsing the misinformatio! n.
Whether the issue is Swift boat ads or Bill O'Reilly's
sexual harassment suit, shows like "Crossfire" or
"Hardball" provide gladiator-style infotainment as
journalists clownishly seek to amuse or rile viewers, not
inform them. 

When Mr. Carlson took the offense, charging that Mr.
Stewart had no right to complain since he had asked Senator
John Kerry softball questions on "The Daily Show," Mr.
Stewart looked genuinely appalled. "I didn't realize - and
maybe this explains quite a bit - that the news
organizations look to Comedy Central for their cues on
integrity." When Mr. Carlson continued to argue, Mr.
Stewart shut him down hard. "You are on CNN," he said. "The
show that leads into me is puppets making crank phone
calls." 

All late-night talk-show hosts make jokes about
politicians. What distinguishes Mr. Stewart from Jay Leno
and David Letterman is that the Comedy Central star mocks
the entire political p! rocess, boring in tightly on the
lockstep thinking and complacency of the parties and the
media as well as the candidates. More than other television
analysts and commentators, he and his writers put a
spotlight on the inanities and bland hypocrisies that go
mostly unnoticed in the average news cycle. 

Mr. Stewart is very funny, but it is the vein of "a plague
on both your houses" indignation that has made his show a
cult favorite: many younger voters are turning to the "The
Daily Show" for their news analysis, and are better served
there than on much of what purports to be real news on
cable. 

And of course it was fun just to see television pundits who
think they are part of the same media version of the
Algonquin Round Table as Mr. Stewart lose their cool when
he tore off the tablecloth and shattered the plates.
"Wait,'' Mr. Carlson said querulously. "I thought you were
going to be funny. Come on. Be funny." Mr. Stewart was
funny. And it was at their expense. 

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/20/arts/television/20watc.html?ex=1099276
668&ei=1&en=904b06e30e01e8d5

***

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Action is the antidote to despair.  ----Joan Baez
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