Jon Stewart 从每日秀(Daily Show)退休了。上个星期四(Aug 4th)是他最后一期。一直喜欢看他的每日秀,他每天以“Welcome to the Daily Show. I am Jon Stewart. Thank you very much for coming” 为开场白, 然后概述当时发生的重大新闻,无论是谈论头条新闻,或嘲讽某位政治人物荒谬的话,或媒体机构自相矛盾的报道,他都是以诙谐幽默的语言,以达到喜剧效果。
每日秀于1996年开始,Jon Stewart 从1999年接手,将每日秀转型为新闻恶搞的形式,更关注政治和国家媒体的节目。这部节目是喜剧中心(Comedy Central)目前为止最长寿的节目,共播映了16年。还赢走了18个艾美奖项和40项提名。他的名人采访部分,有过在任的奥巴马,有克林顿等等,作为一个喜剧艺人,Jon Stewart绝对是喜剧名人里出色的一位。
而我最欣赏Jon Stewart 的是他对新人的提拔,由他的通讯员(correspondents)起步,有Stephen Colbert (先是有自己的节目:Colbert Report, 后接任David Letterman),Steve Carell(后在很多喜剧电影里有出色表演),John Oliver(后在HBO有了自己的节目 Last Week Tonight), Larry Wilmore (后在Comedy Central有了自己的节目The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore). 这些人的成功跟Jon Stewart的提携和支持是分不开的。同行之中有很多嫉妒和排挤,即使是成名了的人,也会担心被新人挤走,而他能帮助新人成长,不仅有宽广胸怀非常让人敬佩,也同时证明了他的功底深厚。
在最后一期里,Stephen Colbert 说了一段很感人的话(而且明显是没在节目计划中的):
“Here's the thing, Jon. You said to me and to many other people here years ago never to thank you because we owe you nothing.
It is one of the few times I've known you to be dead wrong. We owe you - and not just what you did for our career by employing us to come on this tremendous show that you made. We owe you because we learned from you. We learned from you by example how to do a show with intention, how to work with clarity, how to treat people with respect. You were infuriatingly good at your job, OK?
(APPLAUSE)
COLBERT: All of us - all of us who were lucky enough to work with you - and you can edit this out later. All of us who were lucky enough to work with you for 16 years are better at our jobs because we got to watch you do yours and we are better people for having known you. You are a great artist and a good man and personally, I do not know how this...
还有一段我很喜欢的部分,节目组请了Jon Stewart在节目里嘲讽过的政治人物,别家电台主持人等也录了一组片,给他们一个roast Jon Stewart 的机会,最搞笑的是John McCain 戴着一个愤怒面孔的木偶反击:“I’m John Stewart. I’m dumb. I’m stupid. Nah nah nah,” McCain said, holding an angry-looking puppet version of Stewart. “So long, jackass.”。Jon Stewart嘲讽别人,也给别人嘲笑自己,是一个大度有颗大心的人。
结尾是著名乐队The BOSS表演"Land Of Hope And Dreams" 和 "Born To Run.",剧组人员和嘉宾开始跳舞结束了这期节目。