--- description: Stewart was exactly the kind of partisan hack he eviscerated title: Thanks, Jon Stewart, for Making Us All Dumber image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt260464af119b353d/69885e238e06012b4a461baf/jon-stewart1.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Ideas](/section/ideas/) ## Ideas Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Humor](/tag/humor/) ## Humor Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Thanks, Jon Stewart, for Making Us All Dumber by [Karol Markowicz](/author/karol-markowicz/) ## Karol Markowicz Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Aug 6, 2015 2:47 PM CUT  US President Barack Obama speaks with Jon Stewart, host of "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart," during a taping of the show in New York on July 21, 2015. US President Barack Obama speaks with Jon Stewart, host of "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart," during a taping of the show in New York on July 21, 2015.Saul Loeb—AFP/Getty Images by [Karol Markowicz](/author/karol-markowicz/) ## Karol Markowicz Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Aug 6, 2015 2:47 PM CUT As Jon Stewart wraps up 16 years of hosting _The_ _Daily Show_ Thursday night, one thing is certain: We’re all dumber for his tenure. Under Stewart, _The Daily Show_ became must-see TV for a segment of the population who considers the mocking of political opponents and their positions to be appropriate discourse, and worse—an acceptable method of news-intake. A 2014 Brookings Institution [study](http://www.brookings.edu/~/media/research/files/reports/2014/06/10%20immigration%20reform%20survey/finalimmigrationsurvey%20%282%29.pdf "undefined") found that more people trusted _The Daily Show_ than MSNBC for news. Headlines such as “Jon Stewart destroys [Glenn Beck](http://www.gq.com/story/viral-video-of-the-day-jon-stewart-destroys-glenn-beck "undefined"),” “Jon Stewart [demolishes](http://www.mediaite.com/tv/stewart-demolishes-megyn-kelly-and-fox-for-freaking-out-over-santas-race-and-the-war-on-christmas%E2%84%A2/ "undefined") Megyn Kelly and Fox,” “Jon Stewart [eviscerates](http://www.rawstory.com/2013/04/jon-stewart-eviscerates-cnns-misreporting-of-boston-marathon-bombing-case/ "undefined") CNN,” “Jon Stewart [crushes](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/04/17/jon-stewart-dick-cheney-iran%5Fn%5F7084762.html "undefined") Dick Cheney” became standard for Stewart’s viral videos. He would pick a target, usually a conservative and frequently a Fox News personality, and would proceed to “destroy,” “demolish,” “eviscerate,” “crush,” and sometimes flat-out “shred” them. Like a musician lecturing into a microphone onstage, Stewart only permitted one-way mockery. When anyone questioned his opinions and methods, he would say his show was just comedy. In 2013 when it seemed that Stewart was mocking the Obamacare rollout a little too often, he got pushback from his liberal followers. Stewart was quick to point out it was just [equal-opportunity joking](http://www.mediaite.com/tv/howard-kurtz-on-jon-stewarts-neat-little-game-wants-to-be-political-critic-until-he-has-an-impact/ "undefined"), and he wasn’t taking a position. He, of course, did not offer similar explanations when hammering President George W. Bush’s policies. In a famous exchange on the CNN debate show _Crossfire_ in 2004, Stewart called Republican Tucker Carlson and Democrat Paul Begala “partisan hacks” who poisoned the discourse. When Carlson pointed out that Stewart had given a softball interview to John Kerry, whom Stewart admitted [voting](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2008/08/25/ST2008082503384.html "undefined") for, Stewart blew up and [said](http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0410/15/cf.01.html "undefined"), “You’re on CNN! The show that leads into me is puppets making crank phone calls! What is wrong with you?” Yet Stewart was exactly the kind of partisan hack he eviscerated. Politico recently [reported](http://www.politico.com/agenda/story/2015/07/jon-stewarts-secret-white-house-visits-000178?hp=t3%5Fr "undefined") that not only had Stewart met in secret with President Barack Obama right before big stories were set to hit, but Obama’s aides had also worked with _Daily Show_ writers so that their side of the story was well-represented. --- > “” --- As Kyle Smith [noted](http://nypost.com/2015/07/29/jon-stewarts-secret-obama-meetings-reveal-hes-a-partisan-hack/ "undefined") in the New York Post, “Remember when, under a Republican president, it was the duty of all comedians to be the loyal opposition, to speak truth to power? Stewart does the opposite.” When your writers are taking tips on how to joke about politics from the White House, it’s safe to say it doesn’t matter that your show is on Comedy Central. It’s a bad sign for the country that any percentage of people got their news from this compromised comedian. Goodbye Jon Stewart’s _Daily Show_. Good riddance. ### See Jon Stewart's Most Memorable Guests On The Daily Show  Kurt Vonnegut appeared on the show in 2005, one of his last public appearances. Comedy Central  Denis Leary and Jon Stewart have long been friends, so every time the actor appeared on the show, the two comedians would opt to make fun of one another rather than conduct an interview, leaving the audience in stitches Comedy Central  After releasing Hugo in 2011, Martin Scorsese visited the show Comedy Central  Last year, Christopher Walken talked tap dancing on the show Comedy Central  Barack Obama appeared on the show in 2005 as a senator, twice in 2008 as a presidential candidate, again in 2010 during his fist term, and finally in 2012 as he ran for a second term Comedy Central  First Lady Michelle Obama has appeared twice on the Daily Show, once in 2008 and twice in 2012 Comedy Central  During one of Paul Rudd's may appearances on the show, Stewart revealed that the comedian was his first test guest after her took over for Craig Kilborn Comedy Central  Rachel Maddow was a repeat guest on the show where she described Justice Scalia as a "troll," said she could kill Bin Laden with a spoon and declared she was "embarrassed" by Bush Comedy Central ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3987151/daily-show-jon-stewart-dumber/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3987151/daily-show-jon-stewart-dumber/"},"headline":"Thanks, Jon Stewart, for Making Us All Dumber","datePublished":"2015-08-06T14:47:40.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T05:02:09.059Z","description":"Stewart was exactly the kind of partisan hack he eviscerated","url":"https://time.com/3987151/daily-show-jon-stewart-dumber/","keywords":["Humor"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt260464af119b353d/69885e238e06012b4a461baf/jon-stewart1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Karol Markowicz","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/karol-markowicz/"}],"articleSection":"Ideas","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt260464af119b353d/69885e238e06012b4a461baf/jon-stewart1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"US President Barack Obama speaks with Jon Stewart, host of \"The Daily Show with Jon Stewart,\" during a taping of the show in New York on July 21, 2015.","caption":"US President Barack Obama speaks with Jon Stewart, host of \"The Daily Show with Jon Stewart,\" during a taping of the show in New York on July 21, 2015.","creditText":"Saul Loeb—AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/ideas/","name":"Ideas"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/humor/","name":"Humor"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3987151/daily-show-jon-stewart-dumber/","name":"Thanks, Jon Stewart, for Making Us All Dumber"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Jon Stewart Reveals What He and Obama Did in Their 'Secret' Meetings","description":"As you might have heard, President Barack Obama asked the inimitable Jon Stewart to his house on two occasions. 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