So, this video’s been making the rounds lately. (I would have reblogged Charlie Todd’s take on it, but the clip he posted was taken down by HBO. Here’s another link, in case this one’s removed as well.)
Politics aside, the little rant perfectly summarizes the difference between Bill Maher and Jon Stewart. Maher goes for applause breaks instead of laughs, substitutes cheap insults for jokes (“But it weighed the same”? What a dick!), and delivers his little snarks with the same smug, “How could you be so stupid as to disagree with me?” tone as Olbermann, Maddow and yes, Glenn Beck. He’s also one of that special breed of asshole who refers to Tea Partiers as “teabaggers”, willfully pretending to not know their proper name in order to backhandedly slur them, a shitty little trick that Fox News uses daily. (Check out their coverage of the rally for some choice examples. “What did they call it, the Insanity Rally? Oh, my mistake!”)
It’s the applause that’s most telling — laughter is how audiences respond when presented with a piece of truth that they didn’t expect; applause is how audiences react to being told something they already believe. Maher is in the business of pandering to those who agree with him, and that’s something that Stewart never does — he’s respected and beloved precisely because he challenges and provokes his audience with comedic truth. And that’s why, fifty years from now, Jon Stewart will be remembered as one of the defining comedic voices of the last few decades, while Bill Maher will be remembered for being a more-sarcastic-than-average pundit.
As for the rally itself — sure, Stewart’s a Democrat, and sure, he could have turned it into a Democratic rally, no problem. But he decided, instead, to hold a rally that reflected the values he’s — no shit — stood for over the last decade: that speaking truthfully matters more than making the other guy look stupid; that how we treat each other as humans is more important than our fucking party affiliation. It was, in short, a rally that hoped to make our society better. And I certainly prefer that over another fucking fundraiser for the Democrats.
