A review by siria
The Daily Show with Jon Stewart Presents Earth: A Visitor's Guide to the Human Race by Jon Stewart

3.0

This read as much more caustic than the Daily Show's previous America: The Book—the effect of the monumental clusterfuck that has been the past five years? This was much the same mix as that book: some parts were very funny, some parts wryly, ironically amusing. Some fell too wide of the mark, especially those which relied very heavily on pop culture references (this is not a book that's going to stand the test of time), and some were just unfunny. The section on Africa, especially, made me wince; there was no subversion of stereotypes here, but an attempt to get a laugh by presenting those stereotypes as fact. It was, if not over the line, then skirting right on the line of Ironic Hipster Liberal Racism.

I listened to the audiobook, which has the benefits of allowing to you hear not just Stewart, but also John Oliver, Wyatt Cenac, Sam Bee and Jason Jones interpret the material. (Oh, and I have no idea how they managed to get her, but the intro and chapter headings are read by Sigourney Weaver. Wow.) Their voices help add a level of humour that probably doesn't exist in the text.