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calimacSo Jon Stewart actually made a return to political commentary with a segment as a guest host on Colbert's desk. It was like a breath of fresh air: there's nobody quite like him.
Though I'd heard of him before, I only started watching Stewart's Daily Show commentary in its last few years, after I finally got an internet connection capable of streaming video. I don't remember exactly when that was, but it was definitely after 2008.* At first I just watched clips linked to from news sites, but in the last couple years I took to watching the show from its own website the next morning.
I did not, however, watch the whole thing. I found most of the interviews excruciating, and while some of the correspondents were good, the relentless stupid acts of the likes of Jason Jones and Samantha Bee, feeding interviewees outrageous opinions to see how they'd react, became extremely tiresome. The correspondents were best when delivering their own commentary, especially when female or black when they could say things Stewart couldn't say without being condescending. Accordingly my favorite was Jessica Williams, who rarely played the stupid act and, being both female and black, could fire both cannons at once.
One thing to remember was that, at that time, there wasn't much other tv commentary like it, just Colbert's show. I watched that occasionally, but not often. Colbert's right-wing persona struck me as extremely limiting and too close to a Daily Show correspondent stupid act, but what really irritated me about his show was his audience. It didn't seem to occur to them that the more time they spent chanting his name, the less time there was for him to do the stuff they were cheering him for.
But now there's a whole host of similar options. What remains of The Daily Show is now at the bottom of my list. Trevor Noah made an attractive guest correspondent from his detached perspective as a foreigner, and a Black African at that, but he doesn't fit in the host chair so well - there are some criticisms you can only make of a culture as a native - and his sense of humor is far from mine. As for Colbert's new show, it's only intermittently political, and though he's dropped his right-wing character, and he can be a better interviewer than Stewart, in his monologues he's become even more of a goofball. The only funny thing about his attempt to hijack the RNC podium was what he said to the guy hustling him offstage: "I know I'm not supposed to be here, but neither is Donald Trump."
I'm more likely to watch John Oliver or Samantha Bee. But not on their own programs: I only watch them when I come across clips on news sites or YouTube recommended lists. It's not that their material isn't good - Oliver explores interesting issues of genuine concern, and Bee wields the sharpest stiletto (i.e. she has the best writers) currently in the comedy-news format. The problem is the delivery. Both of them, especially Oliver, speak in an almost continuous high-volume earnest intensity that feels more like they want to lecture you rather than express their outrage. The word for this would be "strident" if that term hadn't been abused so badly against women. Oliver's bouts of mock anger are particularly painful to watch. It's a pity, as he wasn't like this when he was a Daily Show correspondent, where he was calm and wry and his outbursts felt honest and were funnier for their rarity.
Contrast that with Stewart, whose base tone was quiet and conversational, who never lectured, whose ability to modulate through a variety of tones was of amazing versatility, and whose anger mode came across as genuine outrage instead of a further intensification of lecturing.
Not surprisingly, then, my favorite current commentator of this kind is Seth Meyers in his "A Closer Look' segments. I'd never heard of him until quite recently, I've never seen any of the rest of his show, but I really like his style. He's always calm and wry and never gets angry; his tone is that of a news commentator, not a polemical lecturer; his material is well-informed and extremely pointed; and his goofy digressions are momentary and well-integrated, unlike Oliver's which are strained and over-milked.
I will also sometimes watch Bill Maher, though only his scripted monologue segments. He also has a base tone of calm and wry, though he can raise a temper. The worst part of his pieces is that his guests all have to sit there and silently grin through it. The insert shots of them doing it are painful. Maher can also be unnecessarily cruel, and sometimes will ignorantly mock things that are actually good. These mean I only watch him occasionally and with caution, again just in clips.
*I know 2008, because that was the year Dr. Horrible was released on Hulu, and I could only watch it in 30-second bursts, as my computer wouldn't buffer any more than that. I didn't get to see it without interruption until the DVD came out.
Though I'd heard of him before, I only started watching Stewart's Daily Show commentary in its last few years, after I finally got an internet connection capable of streaming video. I don't remember exactly when that was, but it was definitely after 2008.* At first I just watched clips linked to from news sites, but in the last couple years I took to watching the show from its own website the next morning.
I did not, however, watch the whole thing. I found most of the interviews excruciating, and while some of the correspondents were good, the relentless stupid acts of the likes of Jason Jones and Samantha Bee, feeding interviewees outrageous opinions to see how they'd react, became extremely tiresome. The correspondents were best when delivering their own commentary, especially when female or black when they could say things Stewart couldn't say without being condescending. Accordingly my favorite was Jessica Williams, who rarely played the stupid act and, being both female and black, could fire both cannons at once.
One thing to remember was that, at that time, there wasn't much other tv commentary like it, just Colbert's show. I watched that occasionally, but not often. Colbert's right-wing persona struck me as extremely limiting and too close to a Daily Show correspondent stupid act, but what really irritated me about his show was his audience. It didn't seem to occur to them that the more time they spent chanting his name, the less time there was for him to do the stuff they were cheering him for.
But now there's a whole host of similar options. What remains of The Daily Show is now at the bottom of my list. Trevor Noah made an attractive guest correspondent from his detached perspective as a foreigner, and a Black African at that, but he doesn't fit in the host chair so well - there are some criticisms you can only make of a culture as a native - and his sense of humor is far from mine. As for Colbert's new show, it's only intermittently political, and though he's dropped his right-wing character, and he can be a better interviewer than Stewart, in his monologues he's become even more of a goofball. The only funny thing about his attempt to hijack the RNC podium was what he said to the guy hustling him offstage: "I know I'm not supposed to be here, but neither is Donald Trump."
I'm more likely to watch John Oliver or Samantha Bee. But not on their own programs: I only watch them when I come across clips on news sites or YouTube recommended lists. It's not that their material isn't good - Oliver explores interesting issues of genuine concern, and Bee wields the sharpest stiletto (i.e. she has the best writers) currently in the comedy-news format. The problem is the delivery. Both of them, especially Oliver, speak in an almost continuous high-volume earnest intensity that feels more like they want to lecture you rather than express their outrage. The word for this would be "strident" if that term hadn't been abused so badly against women. Oliver's bouts of mock anger are particularly painful to watch. It's a pity, as he wasn't like this when he was a Daily Show correspondent, where he was calm and wry and his outbursts felt honest and were funnier for their rarity.
Contrast that with Stewart, whose base tone was quiet and conversational, who never lectured, whose ability to modulate through a variety of tones was of amazing versatility, and whose anger mode came across as genuine outrage instead of a further intensification of lecturing.
Not surprisingly, then, my favorite current commentator of this kind is Seth Meyers in his "A Closer Look' segments. I'd never heard of him until quite recently, I've never seen any of the rest of his show, but I really like his style. He's always calm and wry and never gets angry; his tone is that of a news commentator, not a polemical lecturer; his material is well-informed and extremely pointed; and his goofy digressions are momentary and well-integrated, unlike Oliver's which are strained and over-milked.
I will also sometimes watch Bill Maher, though only his scripted monologue segments. He also has a base tone of calm and wry, though he can raise a temper. The worst part of his pieces is that his guests all have to sit there and silently grin through it. The insert shots of them doing it are painful. Maher can also be unnecessarily cruel, and sometimes will ignorantly mock things that are actually good. These mean I only watch him occasionally and with caution, again just in clips.
*I know 2008, because that was the year Dr. Horrible was released on Hulu, and I could only watch it in 30-second bursts, as my computer wouldn't buffer any more than that. I didn't get to see it without interruption until the DVD came out.
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Date: 2016-07-23 01:12 pm (UTC)no subject
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Date: 2016-07-24 06:27 am (UTC)For the Daily Show and Nightly Show, I miss the in-depth reporting that Colbert sometimes managed (and for which he won news awards and not just TV-entertainment ones). And I love the non-US, non-white perspective that Noah brings to The Daily Show. (I'll miss Jessica Williams, though -- she just left.) Or maybe I'm just too fond of the absurdity in current events; the comedians excel at pointing that stuff out.