Jon Stewart, who hosted “The Daily Show’s” wrap-up of the Democratic National Convention, had his work cut out for him Thursday night. To start, he had to follow the strong comedic acts that preceded him.
“I guess Donald Trump will finally know,” quipped a repentant D.L. Hughley during his address, “what it’s like when you get left for a younger woman.” That was pretty good! Not necessarily a “third-degree Ginsburn,” but a burn nonetheless.
Having Kerry Washington use two adorable small children (Vice President Kamala Harris’ grandnieces) to teach somewhat less adorable large Republican adults how to pronounce “Kamala” (i.e., Comma + La) was a masterstroke.
Stewart was also competing with the dextrous comedy duo of “Obama and Obama” that appeared the night before. The former president delivered a quip about “crowd sizes” accompanied by the type of deft physical gesture that stand-ups spend years learning how to execute. But when Michele Obama suggested Donald Trump might not even be aware that he’s actually applying for a “Black job,” well, my friends, that was a roast.
Stewart also had to deal with the technical unpredictability of covering a major live event. The production was less upended by circumstances than it was in July at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee. As you might recall, the assassination attempt on Trump resulted in an extended security perimeter around the RNC, which in turn scuttled “The Daily Show’s” original on-site broadcasting plan.
What was Stewart, a liberal, supposed to make of the DNC’s glitzy, amped-up, eyeball-lacerating, celebrity-studded showcase?
Forced to abandon his Milwaukee theater at the last minute, Stewart ended up dialoguing with conservative firebrand Bill O’Reilly in New York. That disconcertingly amiable conversation led me to wonder if the host and his team had really thought through the complicated ethics of performing political comedy in dangerous times. Platforming people with anti-democratic ideas certainly has its risks, does it not?
Back to Thursday’s episode: What was Stewart, a liberal, supposed to make of the DNC’s glitzy, amped-up, eyeball-lacerating, celebrity-studded showcase? Because, let there be no doubt, that showcase was celebrating liberal values, not conservative ones and certainly not those of the far left.
There was plenty to lampoon, and it raises the question of how liberal comedians should best ply their craft. Are they partisans whose jokes must be pressed into the service of political ideology? Or, are they independent artists whose foremost responsibility is to make people laugh, ideology be damned?
This dilemma, I stress, is neither easily resolved nor even as black or white as I have framed it. In 2024 Stewart has been fairly consistent in going for the laugh at the expense of ideological conformity. That decision has, at points, incensed his critics. They argue — puritanically but not necessarily in error — that the present moment is too fraught for equal opportunity skewering. Train your fire, they exhort, on “them” not “us.”
On Thursday night, Stewart would have none of that. Still, he was measured in the way he placed his comedy in the service of jokes, not the party. That didn’t stop him, of course, from having some fun with the contradictions and erasures of today’s Democrats. Billionaires, Stewart noted, were excoriated by Bernie Sanders. And then Chicago Gov. JB Pritzker rocked the mic (“our billionaire,” snarked Stewart). Those who matriculate at elitist Yale University got called out by Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz. Stewart, though, was quick to round up a raft (or heavyweight shell?) of Yalies who addressed the delegates. The Dems celebrated people who prosecuted sexual predators, and then Bill Clinton mounted the stage. Stewart wasn’t done. Palestinian Americans were nowhere to be seen or heard, but everyone else was. And, yes, there was so much pro-military chest thumping at the DNC that it was a wonder Democrats didn’t attempt a Blue Angel flyover within the United Center in Chicago. Stewart was mocking the party’s Liberal/Neo-Liberal divide, all the while suggesting it had thrown its leftist flank under the campaign bus. Half of Stewart’s liberal audience loved it. Half wished he’d shut his yapper. Half probably didn’t notice. And all were so hopped up on “joy” that they didn’t care either way. After all, what’s the alternative to Kamala? As an opening comic act, Obama and Obama served the party and comedy both. “The Daily Show,” on the other hand, served comedy more than it served the party and the besieged liberalism it represents. In an age in which politicians act like comedians, and comedians act like journalists, Stewart’s choice seems reasonable to me.
Jacques Berlinerblau is a professor of Jewish civilization at Georgetown University. 
