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So yes, best idea wins, but even more important than that is to create a culture where everybody agrees what the best idea is.
My agent didn’t see it as a positive step in my career. Let’s put it that way. They just saw it as a little nothing cable show. A job, but nothing that was going to amount to much. Jon had just become the host about six months before.
Colbert will tell you his character for years was just Stone Phillips.
But he quickly recognized that he had inherited an indispensable on-camera coconspirator. Stephen Colbert had a subversive streak that was greatly abetted by the fact that he looked like a trustworthy middle-American insurance salesman.
I was the first correspondent to be sued. After a piece ran, a guy claimed I claimed I was from CNN. I never said that. But if you make a man comedically look like Hitler and it turns out that he is a retired lawyer with a lot of time on his hands, you’re going to get sued. That’s the lesson for today, children.
I miss Stewart and Colbert on the Daily Show.
The hotel clerk says, “So would you like a key to the minibar?” and Stephen looks at this woman and he says, “Okay. The squirrel is in the basket.” And she says, “I’m sorry?” and he says, “You know what I mean. The squirrel is in the basket.” And she says, “Sir, I really don’t. I mean, I’m just asking if you want a minibar key.” And he said, “You know where the squirrel is.” And she said, “I’m going to just take that as a no.” The next morning, the wakeup call happens at 6:00 a.m., so Stephen answers the phone by saying once again, “The squirrel is in the basket.” I’ve got to remember I’m
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I didn’t think that a book would be written about this show.
The exit of Mr. and Mrs. Carell was a loss, but it was the first high-profile example of what would become a pattern. As The Daily Show became a launching pad for comedy careers, Stewart didn’t fight to hold on to talented people indefinitely. He treated the defections as an opportunity to find new weapons.
Dissent was now seen as not just snarky, but unpatriotic. We had never gotten death threats before.
STEVE BODOW Fundamentally Jon’s a mensch, and he constructed the place to be run mensch-ily, with respect, as much as you can do that in a place where there has to be authority and decisions.
If your world does not include enough access to different people, and their world does not include enough access to you, you are speaking from ignorance. We didn’t want to do that, and realized that we had been.
I sincerely believe that while using fear and anger is still effective in politics, our country is increasingly sickened by it. I think that there’s a diminishing return for that game.
We also spent a great deal of time trying to get Sarah Palin to be a guest. Tons of calls, e-mails. Jon may have even written her a letter. JON STEWART I didn’t write her a letter. I cut out some letters from a magazine. Like a hostage note.
HERMAN CAIN, former CEO of Godfather’s Pizza; candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, 2012
Apparently, the most notable thing Herman Cain has done is be the CEO of Godfathers Pizza.
MAZIAR BAHARI, journalist, author, Then They Came for Me
I was with them on a service project, and we were fixing up a school in Brooklyn. I was painting, inside, and I went out to clear my head of the fumes, and there’s Jon Stewart, raking. He has his kids with him. And I said, “Jon! What the hell are you doing here?” He said, “Raking. And you’re… painting.” He did not draw any attention to himself. He didn’t make a speech. He didn’t have a photographer with him. He was willing to stand for selfies, but he just did his work and left, drove himself home. And I thought, what a total mensch.
Shit bothered me too much, and there wasn’t enough efficacy out of it anymore, catharsis-wise, to be worth that. Originally, it was really thrilling to have this platform, and I never took that platform for granted.
Most of us are not someone’s first choice. But that doesn’t mean we can’t end up being the best choice.
Trevor Noah
TA-NEHISI COATES, journalist; author, Between the World and Me
So I was telling him the premise of the story: Andy goes off to college and leaves all of his toys behind. Jon says, “I don’t get it, what’s so sad?” And I was like, “Oh my God, you’re Andy and we’re your toys. Holy shit, you insensitive prick!”
I don’t think he’s really changed, except he’s got a ton of money and he does a lot of good with it, and he certainly can’t walk down the street without getting his picture taken. But underneath it all, he’s still really the same guy. Not a lot of airs going on.
As a DJ spun hip-hop and fireworks exploded over the Hudson River, Stewart hugged Noah. During the previous month, as the old guy was getting ready to leave, the new guy had been frantically preparing for his debut, which would come just seven weeks after Stewart’s finale. Now Stewart whispered in Noah’s ear: “Thank you for never making me feel like the old furniture that was getting thrown out.”
Stephen Colbert: Jon, the media won’t pay attention to anything at all unless you are Donald Trump! Colbert plopped a garish blond wig on Stewart’s head and rouged his cheeks orange with Cheetos.
