Down with 'The Daily Show': it has no substance

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — I hate Jon Stewart. I imagine criticizing him will inspire the vitriol of numerous readers, provoking them to write to the paper in caustic defense. I can take that; I obviously will have brought that fate upon myself.

But please, imagine my horror – imagine the unsolicited blow – of seeing the preview for a movie, “Man of the Year,” just dripping with encouragement for and lionization of the likes of Jon Stewart.

The premise: Tom Dobbs, played by Robin Williams, is a comic newscaster running for president (and, according to the trailers, seemingly winning). Ever the likable comic, Stewart – oops, I mean Dobbs – pokes fun at politicians in the pseudo-serious manner we’ve become accustomed to seeing on “The Daily Show” and “The Colbert Report.” Seeing a news story on the current fad of “Stewart/Colbert ’08” T-shirts only compounded my anxiety. Could this actually be happening? Despite Stewart’s denial that he’s running, will my peers be casting votes for a Stewart ticket in the near future?

What’s my beef with the lovable Daily Show host? In the first place, Jon Stewart always wants it both ways. In many respects, the show plays like “Saturday Night Live’s” Weekend Update, offering fictitious or skewed news with comic appeal. But whereas “SNL” would feature a fake interview with Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf – with, say, Darrell Hammond as the mustached Pakistani leader – Jon Stewart has the bona fide Musharraf sitting right next to him.

To be sure, Musharraf appeared on the show as an author (his new memoir “In the Line of Fire” was released the day before his appearance on “The Daily Show”), and Stewart conducted the show as if he were interviewing any other writer attempting to publicize a book launch. But if you’re going to be a “real enough” newscaster to host a real world leader, shouldn’t there be a concomitant responsibility to ask insightful questions?

What’s more, I don’t believe Stewart’s self-deprecating approach to be sincere. Though he loves to highlight his own lack of credibility or his belief that his audience doesn’t actually get its news from “The Daily Show,” his Peabody Award and ratings speak otherwise.

Calling “The Daily Show” for this article, I was informed that Musharraf approached Stewart for the interview, not vice versa. Lack of credibility? Hardly. Should we expect Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad next?

Where does the comedy stop and the serious political commentary begin? The problem with “The Daily Show” is that you can never be sure. From show to show, Stewart goes anywhere from insightful and incisive to fatuous and flattering. It’s a thrust-and-defend move: Attack easy political targets and then hide behind a reputation for comic flippancy. It certainly works for Jay Leno and the rest of the late-night comics, though I have an inkling Stewart would be offended by that comparison.

But Stewart knows the audience he commands and the power he wields; with them, he’s inherited the prerogative to instruct other broadcasters. When I see him patronize a fawning Ted Koppel, when I see him excoriate Tucker Carlson (admittedly a pathetic joke of a broadcaster himself) without substance or serious critique, but instead merely feeding off a bored and easily engaged audience, I lose faith in my generation. Isn’t the act a little trite? A bit of satire makes for devastating critique, but isn’t a daily version a little hackneyed by now?

To any Daily Show fans: Haven’t you discovered an ability to predict the laughs? Not that I think “The Daily Show” audience is dumb, just a little uninspired. They’ve given Stewart the gravitas he’s always denied possessing, and gaze at him in reverence.

Here’s a suggestion: If you want witty take-downs of unscrupulous figures, read Jack Lessenberry’s columns. If you want pithy satires scant on content, take a gander at Newsweek’s cartoon section. But Jon Stewart goes long on form without corresponding substance. Call me an jerk, call me a dilettante – at least I’m a gadfly, which is more than Stewart can say, peddling a show soft on material to an apathetic audience.

Martina is a columnist for the Michigan Daily, a newspaper for the University of Michigan.