Moment of Zen: Farewell to "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart"

Credit: Comedy Partners (Comedy Central)

NOTE: While the author of "At The Matinee" respects viewpoints from all sides of the political spectrum, this post isn't about politics or anything related to the field of politics, this is related to the field of satire and comedy.  Thank you.

May 22nd, 1992: The "king of late night," Johnny Carson (1925-2005) hosted his final episode ofThe Tonight Show on NBC.

August 6th, 1993: Joe Franklin (1926-2015) retired from hosting his local New York (and later, Secaucus) talk show, The Joe Franklin Show.  Throughout Franklin's 40 years in television from his WABC and WOR/WWOR shows, the pioneering talk show host hosted more than 21,425 programs (more on "the king of nostalgia" here). 

November 18th, 2011: Regis Philbin stepped down from "Live," after co-hosting 17,000 hours of live morning television.

December 18th, 2014: Stephen Colbert hosted his last episode of The Colbert Report on Comedy Central.  That same evening, Craig Ferguson hosted his final episode The Late Late Show on CBS (read the previous blog post here).

May 20th, 2015: After 33 years in late night television (on NBC and CBS), David Letterman bid farewell to The Late Show on CBS.

August 6th, 2015: After sixteen years and over 2,500+ shows on Comedy Central, noted personality Jon Stewart bid farewell to The Daily Show.  One could have said that the evening of Thursday, August 6th was a "golden" evening for comedic satire.

Cover from the DVD box set of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart:
Indecision 2004 episodes during the 2004 Presidential campaign.
Stewart is surrounded by his then-Daily Show corespondent
team, consisting of Stephen Colbert, Rob Corddry,
Samantha Bee and Ed Helms.  From the vast At The Matinee media vault. 

"So if you smell something, say something." -Jon Stewart, on his final telecast of Comedy Central's The Daily Show.

On the same night that the first televised  Republican 2016 Presidential candidates' debate took place, Stewart bid farewell to his Daily Show colleagues (past and present), along with pre-recorded messages from celebrities, dignitaries, top guests and foes who wanted to bid farewell to Jon Stewart. The tribute included a farewell greeting from the president of the fast-food chain Arby's, Paul Brown (Stewart made hilarious rants about Arby's during his stint as host of The Daily Show).

Throughout Jon Stewart's tenure as host, the majority of Daily Show corespondents throughout the years have credited the show as a springboard to later successes in their careers.

Past and present Daily Show corespondents were on hand to bid farewell to Stewart, including Steve Carrell, Lewis Black, Wyatt Cenac, John Oliver (who has his own successful weekly satirical news series on HBO), Samantha Bee, Jason Jones, Mo Rocca (who is now a correspondent for CBS' Sunday Morning with Charles Osgood), Vance DeGeneres, Larry Wilmore (who now hosts his own post-Daily Show series, The Nightly Show), original Daily Show host Craig Kilborn (who hosted the show from its inception in 1996 until the end of 1998), Ed Helms, Michael Che, Rob Corddry, Nate Corddry, Aasif Mandvi, Jordan Klepper, Dave Attell, Hasan Minhaj, Kristen Schaal, Rob Riggle, Jessica Williams, John Hodgman, Olivia Munn, Al Madrigal, Matt Walsh, Dan Bakkedahl, successor host Trevor Noah, Bassem Youssef, Josh Gad and last but not least- the great Stephen Colbert, sharing his moments with Stewart (apart from Colbert's faux arch-conservative pundit role on the successful Daily Show spin-off, The Colbert Report from 2005-2014).  Colbert will be taking over David Letterman's old Late Show spot on CBS this September.

Promotional leaflet (circa 2005) for
The Daily Show with Jon Stewart,which was included with the
Indecision 2004 DVD box set (from the vast At The Matinee
media vault).

There were also pre-recorded appearances by noted celebrities, politicians, pundits and news commentators, including Representative Charles Rangel, New Jersey Governor (and Republican Presidential candidate) Chris Christie, Senator Chuck Schumer, former First Lady, Senator, Secretary of State (and current Democratic Presidential candidate) Hillary Clinton, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, MSNBC morning hosts/commentators Joe Scarborough and co-host Mika Brezinski, CNN anchor/reporter Wolf Blitzer, Senator (and Republican Presidential candidate) Lindsay Graham, Secretary of State (and former Massachusetts Senator) John Kerry, Stewart's arch-nemesis Bill O'Riley, and Senator John McCain- all taking a jab at Stewart.

The show ended with legendary musician Bruce Springsteen and his E Street Band (one of the band's members, percussionist Max Weinberg, was Conan O'Brien's original bandleader on NBC's Late Night with Conan O'Brien from 1993 to the program's conclusion in 2009) performing a tribute song in honor of Stewart's Daily Show career.

During Stewart's Daily Show career, the show transformed from a niche cable "fake" news program with celebrity and comedic personalities, to one of the most-watched popular television programs in the nation.

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart surpassed traditional news platforms over time, as Stewart interviewed political experts, figureheads, authors, pundits, politicians, humanitarians, national and world leaders.  When it came to certain politicians and people in the field of politics- Stewart would put them on the "hotseat," and ask questions that no other anchor/host from a news (or interview-based) program would have asked.

Stewart's show would spawn two best-selling books (with fellow Daily Show correspondents and writers)- America (The Book) in 2004 (the audiobook version won the 2005 Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word album), and Earth (The Book) in 2010.  Stewart is also praised for charitable causes, it was noted that he helped raise $2.2 million dollars (from his final show) for the organization New York Collaborates for Autism (according to CNBC).

In October 2010, both Stewart and Colbert (in his faux arch-conservative pundit role on The Colbert Report) took their comedic routine to Washington, D.C.- by having the Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear on the grounds of the National Mall.  It would have been great to have seen both Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert in person that year (a "Frederick to Washington" tour bus group was launched for interested patrons to attend the event, but was unfortunately scrapped due to a lack of interest for the event).  Luckily, I purchased a commemorative T-Shirt from the event (via Comedy Central's website).

With Stewart's departure from The Daily Show, the general public may never see another entertaining (and interesting) program like Stewart's Daily Show.  With the zaniness of the 2016 Presidential election coming in, who will we turn to for a satirical look at the election?  I guess Conan O'Brien's TBS show and Colbert's Late Show on CBS (which will premiere this September) will do for my "late night" fix.

At The Matinee salutes Jon Stewart for sixteen great years of The Daily Show.  

#JonVoyage

Television Corner: Farewell to several Late Night favorites: "The Colbert Report", the "Late Show" Christmas Tradition, and "The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson"

At The Matinee bids farewell to several Late Night favorites (and one Holiday tradition): The Colbert Report, the iconic "Christmas Tradition" on CBS' Late Show with David Letterman. and the last episode of The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson.

Here I am standing next to Stephen Colbert's portrait at the
National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C., during a
Frederick Community College Political Club field trip in 2008.

FAREWELL TO THE "COLBERT NATION": Nation- on the evening of December 18th, Comedy Central aired the last episode of The Colbert Report.  After nine years of his popular satirical show (a "spin-off" of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart), Stephen Colbert bid farewell along with a cavalcade of iconic guests (including Jon Stewart) that have appeared on the show over the years, joining the legendary "fake pundit" in a rousing rendition of We'll Meet Again.

To those that haven't heard, Colbert will be the successor host of CBS' Late Show, when David Letterman retires from his show on May 20th, 2015.  Daily Show correspondent and comedy writer Larry Wilmore will take over Colbert's old Comedy Central time slot on January 19th, with a new spin-off series- The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore.

I'll be watching his 2009 Christmas special for the Holiday season, A Colbert Christmas: The Greatest Gift of All (in addition to reading his best-selling books, I Am America and So Can You! and America Again: Re-Becoming The Greatness We Never Weren't)!

SPEAKING OF LETTERMAN- THE LAST "LATE SHOW" CHRISTMAS TRADITION: One of the most interesting aspects of CBS' Late Show with David Letterman is the show's annual Christmas tradition with Jay Thomas and iconic singer Darlene Love.

The "Late Show Christmas Tree Meatball Challenge" has been an annual favorite since 1998, where Thomas and Letterman throw footballs to hit the "meatball" (in place of the traditional star) on top of the Late Show Christmas tree.  In addition to the "meatball challenge", Thomas recounts his famous story (when he was a disc jockey in Charlotte, North Carolina) about his encounter with "The Lone Ranger"- Clayton Moore.

Years before the "meatball challenge"- another iconic guest on Letterman's Christmas show is Darlene Love, who sang her legendary 1963 Christmas song (from the Phil Spector Christmas album)  Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)- with musical accompaniment by bandleader Paul Shaffer.  She has sung her popular Christmas song on the program since 1986, dating back to Letterman's previous show on NBC- Late Night. 

This will mark the final Late Show Christmas tradition, due to Letterman retiring from late night television (in May 2015).

THE FINAL "LATE LATE SHOW WITH CRAIG FERGUSON":  After the final Late Show Christmas Tradition, CBS aired the final episode of The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson (which is also produced by Letterman's company, Worldwide Pants).  To commemorate Craig Ferguson's  special opening montage, past guests of The Late Late Show decided to honor the host in a special rendition of the song "Bang Your Drum" (including Regis Philbin).  The final program also included an interesting "farewell" to the series (NOTE: I'm not giving away the ending- including Secretariat's real identity, you'll have to see the conclusion for yourself).

For nearly ten years, the Scottish comedian/actor has entertained many with his edgy, off-the-wall jokes during the opening monologue and his "tweets and e-mails" segment.  Earlier this year, Ferguson announced that he was stepping down from The Late Late Show, to concentrate on his new game show, Celebrity Name Game and other projects.  British comedian James Corden has been named as the successor host to The Late Late Show in March 2015.   Farewell to Craig, his wise-cracking skeletal robot sidekick- Geoff Peterson (voiced by Josh Robert Thompson), and "Secretariat."

A "tip of the hat" to Steven Colbert, Darlene Love, Jay Thomas, Craig Ferguson, and to one of the greats of late night television- David Letterman.