In the wake of Jimmy Kimmel Live! getting suspended “indefinitely” (see more Pop Thruster coverage of the story here), there was much anticipation about how the likes of Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert – himself now in the final months of his contract after The Late Show with Stephen Colbert was canceled – would respond to the ongoing threat to free speech in the United States prompted by President Trump and his MAGA lieutenants/henchmen.
For what it’s worth, we were not disappointed in the slightest.
The Daily Show: “state-sponsored” satire
Jon Stewart took over as The Daily Show host on Thursday night, and it was immediately clear that this was a “special edition.” As the YouTube description satirically notes, it’s “Jon Stewart’s post-Kimmel primer on free speech in the glorious Trump Era.”
Taking on the role of a brainwashed propagandist news host in a fascist regime, Stewart introduced the show as the “government-approved Daily Show with your patriotically obedient host.” Further, the CGI on set turned up the dials by way of a gaudy, Trump-y gold backdrop.
After setting the stage with the visuals and faux-sycophantic shtick, Stewart patiently laid the groundwork further by covering Trump’s trip to England, hilariously noting that “father has been gracing England with his legendary warmth and radiance” and that Trump deserves “the respect that any sun god would demand.”
The pivot point to an iconic moment in The Daily Show’s long and storied history comes when Stewart showcases a British reporter at Trump’s UK press conference, who asks, “Is free speech more under attack in Britain or in America?”
Stewart cuts in here, mockingly asking, “How dare you, sir!” and questioning whether the reporter works for The Antifa Herald Tribune.
This then allows for the crucial segue into the aftermath of the Kirk assassination and Kimmel’s suspension. Trump’s press conference reaction is then played, where he blathers on about Kimmel’s supposed lack of talent and ratings, said something horrible about Kirk, and should have been fired a long time ago.
And then Jon Stewart drops the hammer, calmly, brutally, magnificently with this:
In the U.S. we have a little something called the First Amendment and let me tell you how it works… there’s something called a talent-ometer. It’s a completely scientific instrument that’s kept on the president’s desk. And it tells the president when a performer’s T.Q., Talent Quotient, measured mostly by niceness to the president, goes below a certain level, at which point the FCC must be notified to threaten the acquisition prospects for billion-dollar mergers of network affiliates. These affiliates are then asked to give ultimatums to the even larger mega corporation that controls the flow of state-approved content. Or the FCC can just choose to threaten those licenses directly. It’s basic science. Read the Constitution.
I love that Stewart didn’t come across as serious or lecturing or angry. And I love that he didn’t go thermonuclear at the outset of the episode. Instead, he set things up with a unique approach, the “state-sponsored” shtick, and then calmly lowered the boom 12 minutes in by way of a laser-focused critique of what’s happening to the erosion of free speech based on the direct actions, whims, and sinister intentions of the president of the United States.
Then, after a classic round of showing off Republican hypocrisy with their own statements about free speech, Stewart lands on this:
Some naysayers may argue that this administration’s speech concerns are merely a cynical ploy, a thin gruel of a ruse, a smokescreen to obscure an unprecedented consolidation of power … some people would say that. Not me though, I think it’s great.
Check out where The Daily Show landed on Pop Thruster’s Best 100 TV Shows Ever.
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert: earnest (hot) fire
Stephen Colbert took a very different approach, directly and earnestly ripping into Kimmel’s removal from the air right at the jump of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.
“Tonight, we are all Jimmy Kimmel,” he began, adding, “Yesterday, after threats from Trump’s FCC chair, ABC yanked Jimmy Kimmel’s show ‘indefinitely.’ That is blatant censorship and it always starts small.”
After noting the dumb name change from the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America, Colbert noted that, “With autocrats, you cannot give an inch.”
Moving on to the decision on Kimmel, he added, “If ABC thinks that this is going to satisfy the regime, they are woefully naïve.”
Colbert then moved on to showcasing how “Everything is about corporate relationships,” detailing the corporate interests at play with regard to entities such as Nexstar and ESPN/Disney desperate to make nice with the FCC and Trump so that they can push their corporate mergers and dealings through.
Finally, Colbert moved into the chilling effect that Trump has directly fostered on free speech in the U.S. both by way of direct and indirect actions. He then quipped, “Trump has personally sued ABC, CBS, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Des Moines Register and his bathroom scale.”
While Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert remain (for the moment) important counterweights to the Trump administration and MAGA, massive and sustained engagement and action on the part of people who care about the future of the United States will be needed.
So what should I do about it?
What does that mean IRL, as the kids (maybe? still?) say?
Canceling your Disney+ or Hulu subscription wouldn’t be a terrible place to start.
And I say that as an immense fan of television and as the publisher of Pop Thruster.