|
 Stewart steps down from "The Daily Show" on Thursday after 16
years of biting political and media satire just as the
presidential election campaign - a comedy gold mine - heats up.
Trump, the billionaire businessman turned Republican Party White
House contender, has become Stewart's favorite target as his
tenure on the popular Comedy Central program winds down.
"Donald Trump is the candidate version of the hot dog-crust
pizza," Stewart said in July. "You don’t want it, you never
ordered it. You can’t believe someone came up with it. But now
it’s all you want to eat."
Stewart, who is widely credited with having transformed U.S.
political comedy, has dubbed next year's elections "Democalypse
2016."
The 52-year-old comedian has mocked Trump's hair and gleefully
ridiculed his comments on everything from immigrants to
breast-feeding, none of which have stopped the star of "The
Apprentice" from leading opinion polls among the 17 Republicans
competing to represent their party in the November 2016
election.
Trump is not the only one feeling the heat. Stewart has made
merry with the consternation Trump has caused within the
Republican Party, as well as Jeb Bush's White House campaign,
the Bush family dynasty and Democratic candidate Hillary
Clinton.
"Presidential candidates may be thinking 'Thank goodness Jon
Stewart is not going to be watching my every move.' Because the
kind of things he discusses, like the foibles of particular
candidates, do shape the public perception," said Dannagal
Young, associate professor of communications at the University
of Delaware.
Through its juxtaposition of TV clips and flubs, "The Daily
Show" also has mocked television news as much as politicians.
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"I imagine a lot of people on cable TV news are going to be happy
not to have to wake up every morning and hear how Jon Stewart made
fun of them the night before," said Robert Thompson, director of
Syracuse University's Bleier Center for Television and Popular
Culture.
But 16 years of demolishing the rhetoric of political life and the
24/7 TV news cycle appears to have taken its toll.
Stewart told Britain's Guardian newspaper in April that he was weary
after covering four previous elections and "it didn’t appear that
there was going to be anything wildly different about this one."
To be sure, comedians like Jimmy Fallon on "The Tonight Show" and
Seth Myers on "Late Night with Seth Myers," are also having a field
day with the election. But David Letterman has retired, Stephen
Colbert doesn't take over "The Late Show" slot for a month and John
Oliver has so far shown no inclination to get into the topic on his
show "Last Week Tonight"
Young feels American politicians have not seen the last of Stewart,
although he has given no details of his future plans.
"I don't see Stewart disappearing. I think he will change the forum
that he uses to scratch that itch. I don't think that itch will go
away," she said.
(The story has been filed to correct spelling of "jonvoyage" in the
first paragraph)
(Editing by Eric Walsh)
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