As I inch closer to achieving my 34th year in just a few weeks' time, the reality of how my generation's pop cultural domain is not-so-slowly melting away becomes glaringly apparent, and even more so due to this book: "The Daily Show (The Book) An Oral History as Told by Jon Stewart, the Correspondents, Staff and Guests."
Having lapsed into an advanced state of Jon Stewart withdrawal long ago, I immediately snapped this baby up. It would at least serve to supplement my frequent revisitations with the "America: The Book" and "I Am America" tomes in my post-fake-news torpor. But halfway through it, I had to take a deep breath and admit to myself that this era was never coming back. Goddamnit.
The story of Jon and his under-the-desk Jews is, for this seasoned TDS fan, not a surprising one so much as an affirmation that something incredibly special had been fostered for almost seventeen years of my generation's life, during an inherently tumultuous and soul-searching moment in America's history. Jon and his team nursed us through the Bush years and the Obama years, reliably and unflinchingly pointing at the Bullshit Mountain and its turd kings four days a week. It got to the point that whenever some weird shit went down in Washington, we'd laugh and say "Oh and can't wait to see what Jon says about this." He was The News for us. Fuck everyone else.
This conversational and clever book is primarily a relatively sober analysis of the comedic sausage factory interspersed with classic on-screen dialogues from the show (many of which I can clearly see in my head even years later). Reading about the interoffice relationships amongst the correspondents and writers feels like old home week for me. It's lovely to see the seeds of Colbert's ascension, the intense but always hysterical election coverage, and the consistently random discoveries of my favorite correspondents.
I'm still on my self-imposed exile from all TV with commercials (including even my darling Colbert), and I don't see an end to that for a while. I get queasy just glancing at a sidebar link on Facebook that contains the words "president" or "trump." And until John Oliver comes back on the air, I am avoiding all news sources that talk to me.
This book--this very necessary book--gives me a sense that I am not crazy for my anti-news-cycle behavior. I am not the only one who misses Jon's reign with the passion of a thousand suns. I realize that I am perhaps better served by being lumped into "The Jon Stewart Generation" than the "Oregon Trail Generation." The Daily Show taught us how to spot BULLSHIT and how not to eat it. Thank you, Jon and co. Thank you.
