Stephen Colbert (left) and Jon Stewart (right) at the 2010 Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear, which they hosted.
Because my first four inductees into the Hall of Fame went to people that I either hated, yet couldn't resist writing about on multiple occasions (Brett Favre and Lebron James) or did an infamous and notable(in a not-so-good way) act, or series of acts, in the past year (Charlie Sheen and Karen Owen), I feel that this week of honoring the best of this blog's two year history should end on a much more pleasant and satisfying note. So, with that in mind, I've decided to give it to two individuals whose work and cooperation with one another I have enjoyed immensely and have adored over the past few years, including these last two. I'm, of course, referring to the duo of Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert, better known as hosts of the two Comedy Central TV programs on four nights a week ("The Daily Show with Jon Stewart," "The Colbert Report") that have filled the airwaves with a top of the line one-two punch of both political and social satire. Anyone who has ever read this site for a lengthy period of time or has ever searched through its archives knows by now why I've chosen them, but here are some of my reasons, anyway:
1. As with the majority of the previous nine Hall of Fame selections, I did mention them an awful lot. Whether it was using clips of their shows to further elaborate on a point I was trying to make or praising them on their body of work ranging from Stewart's take down of Glenn Beck to Colbert's Super PAC and Congressional hearing lfrom last year, I have not been afraid to go to these men as topics of interest for past posts. This has been included, but not limited to, multiple "End of the Week" appearances, ranking them as two of my favorite shows (for "The Daily Show," I even included it in my Top Ten list for 2010), a spot on each of the End of the Years and, in the case of Stewart, an honorable mention in last year's Hall of Fame Week. But why, you ask? Simple, and this leads me to my second reason...
2. They have two great shows on TV. There's a reason these two shows have won multiple Emmys, a Pullitzer Prizes, a few Peabodys and many other major awards while also providing the country with years of some of the most reliable places to go to for hilarious commentary on either the day's top stories, the current state of America or the 24/7 cable news media. This includes Stewart's "Edward R. Murrow of fake news" strategy to Colbert's genius character, the narcissistic, conservative, and fact-averse pundit with a French pronunciation of his actual name (much like the ones you see on cable-TV today). But, hey, why simply tell you those reasons when I can simply show you, right? After all, television is a visual medium and not many have done a better job providing quality comedy through the airwaves than these two have. Here are some great clips from each of the two shows from the past two years:
| The Colbert Report | Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c | |||
| Been There, Won That - Joe Biden & Yogi Berra | ||||
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Now do you understand why these two are precious, all-American national treasures like I do?
3. Their voices are very influential. In July of 2009, TIME magazine conducted a poll in which who they thought were the most trusted news anchor in America coming after the death of the great Walter Cronkite. In the poll, nearly a half of those voted for Stewart over Brian Williams, Katie Couric, and Charles Gibson (the hosts of the three major network TV nightly news at the time). This should be no surprise. Stewart (and, to a lesser extent, Colbert) has been one of those individuals over the years where a person would turn to for their opinions on the day's biggest stories, much like one would watch "Pardon the Interruption" for the opinions of Michael Wilbon and Tony Kornheiser on the day's top sports stories. Yes, they may be humorous and has a tendency to be liberal-biased. At the same time, though, they have been sincere, honest, with writing that basically nails the issue and very fair as seen by his many criticisms towards Obama this past year. Also, I'm not sure that many other comedians besides these two could do bring thousands of people to my #4 reason, which is...
4. The Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear. In late October 2010, in response to Glenn Beck's "Rally to Restore Honor" event held on Washington D.C.'s Lincoln Memorial on the same date and place where Martin Luther King Jr. gave his famous "I Have a Dream" speech two months earlier (and possibly because they realize they have such a , these two men held a rally in the National Mall a week before the upcoming mid-term elections. The purpose of the event was to provide a venue for people to be heard that weren't the vocal minority that weren't constantly heard on cable news networks such as FOX News and MSNBC. Around 215,000 came and the two rewarded them with some funny sketches, performances from The Roots and Sheryl Crow, and this "moment of sincerity" speech in which Stewart ended the rally by speaking passionately about the negative aspects of government and the cable news media. It was a memorable rally, one that will now forever become one of the two's defining moments. Plus, the attendees were also great at that rally, as they did a good job participating by creating some fantastic signs (as seen here, here, here and here). Not bad for something that started out as an idea for a parody on previous rallies.
Well, that's gonna do it. Thank you so much for joining me on this blog for the past week as I have spent nearly each and every week of it dedicated to the folks that have been a pleasure for me to write about. I am now certainly forward to seeing what the next year will bring and which people, places and things will we see in next year's Hall of Fame class. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna go ahead and turn on Comedy Central to watch these two newly enshrined members do the thing they do best for yet another day and for many more days to come.
Sincerely,
Your pal: mj15
If you have any opinions on today's post, or if you just have any suggestions or tips for my next blog entry, e-mail me at: mj1599@aol.com. Your e-mails are greatly appreciated.
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