A review by shelfimprovement
The Daily Show (The Audiobook): An Oral History as Told by Jon Stewart, the Correspondents, Staff and Guests, by Chris Smith
5.0
If you asked me who I missed more, Jon Stewart or my deceased mother, I'd have to stop and think before answering.
I started watching Jon in college, during the '04 election. I thought the war in Iraq was shady and amoral, but the Republican mantra (at the time, anyway) was that disagreeing with the President made you unpatriotic. Jon Stewart was the only one I saw actually challenging that idea. I consider him one of most important factors in my understanding of the world and I have so much respect for him and the way he did his show. He was always so smart and thoughtful and exacting on top of being ridiculously funny.
I didn't become a serious devotee until after graduation, though, probably in early 2007. At that point, I threw myself into it: I once drove from Philly to Atlantic City and back in the same night to see him do stand-up, and I drove to DC for the Rally to Restore Sanity with a raging hangover from the Halloween party my roommates hosted the night before. I bailed on a night out with coworkers in Toronto to sit alone in my hotel room and watch his final show. I feel significantly less informed now that he's not on the air.
This book seems to be flying under the radar a bit. I only heard about it a few weeks before its release, a blip in a Vulture monthly roundup, and I think that's the only press I've seen. Almost none of my Goodreads friends have shelved it, which seems odd. It's not even available at my local library system (just outside DC, the selection is usually not particularly limited). I was grateful to have received it as a Christmas gift.
So it's not making headlines, but any fan of Jon Stewart and The Daily Show ought to check this out. Oral histories can be tricky. They're often lax about providing context and sometimes assume the reader already knows a lot about the topic, but this was incredibly comprehensive. They talked to everyone, with the notable exception of Wyatt Cenac, and they talk about everything, including the Wyatt Cenac stuff. They went into the good, the bad, and the ugly, and it seemed like they were trying to be fair and honest about the bad and the ugly. Except for Wyatt, they got all the sides of the stories. And they left no story out. This book was filled to the brim with facts and tidbits I didn't know and it made me giggle relentlessly. It was so enjoyable that I read all 400 pages in a day and a half.
But, really, what I loved most was remembering all the funny bits from over the years--I can't believe I forgot about the Gitmo puppet. I wish they'd do a follow-up book about The Colbert Report, because I might miss that show more than Jon Stewart and my mother combined.
Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go watch a bunch of clips on YouTube.
I started watching Jon in college, during the '04 election. I thought the war in Iraq was shady and amoral, but the Republican mantra (at the time, anyway) was that disagreeing with the President made you unpatriotic. Jon Stewart was the only one I saw actually challenging that idea. I consider him one of most important factors in my understanding of the world and I have so much respect for him and the way he did his show. He was always so smart and thoughtful and exacting on top of being ridiculously funny.
I didn't become a serious devotee until after graduation, though, probably in early 2007. At that point, I threw myself into it: I once drove from Philly to Atlantic City and back in the same night to see him do stand-up, and I drove to DC for the Rally to Restore Sanity with a raging hangover from the Halloween party my roommates hosted the night before. I bailed on a night out with coworkers in Toronto to sit alone in my hotel room and watch his final show. I feel significantly less informed now that he's not on the air.
This book seems to be flying under the radar a bit. I only heard about it a few weeks before its release, a blip in a Vulture monthly roundup, and I think that's the only press I've seen. Almost none of my Goodreads friends have shelved it, which seems odd. It's not even available at my local library system (just outside DC, the selection is usually not particularly limited). I was grateful to have received it as a Christmas gift.
So it's not making headlines, but any fan of Jon Stewart and The Daily Show ought to check this out. Oral histories can be tricky. They're often lax about providing context and sometimes assume the reader already knows a lot about the topic, but this was incredibly comprehensive. They talked to everyone, with the notable exception of Wyatt Cenac, and they talk about everything, including the Wyatt Cenac stuff. They went into the good, the bad, and the ugly, and it seemed like they were trying to be fair and honest about the bad and the ugly. Except for Wyatt, they got all the sides of the stories. And they left no story out. This book was filled to the brim with facts and tidbits I didn't know and it made me giggle relentlessly. It was so enjoyable that I read all 400 pages in a day and a half.
But, really, what I loved most was remembering all the funny bits from over the years--I can't believe I forgot about the Gitmo puppet. I wish they'd do a follow-up book about The Colbert Report, because I might miss that show more than Jon Stewart and my mother combined.
Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go watch a bunch of clips on YouTube.