Jon Voyage! A Look Back At The Top 10 Memorable Moments From Jon Stewart

Now back in December, I wrote a blog post that chronicled The Top 10 Awesome Things That Stephen Colbert Has Ever Done. It was when Colbert was ending his long running show, The Colbert Report in order to take over David Letterman's spot for The Tonight Show on CBS. 

But before The Colbert Report had aired, and even before Stephen Colbert became a household name, there was Colbert's mentor and friend, Jon Stewart. Stewart, who hosted The Daily Show, bid farewell as the show's host after an extended 16 year run.

It was Stewart who had turned The Daily Show into a sharp-edged commentary on current events, and delivering the news in layers upon layers of hilarity and sarcasm. In becoming the nation's satirist in chief, Jon Stewart embedded his program with a personal sense of justice and vigilance. For a segment of the nation's viewers who had lost all its faith in broadcast news outlets, many people had turned to Jon Stewart's show. Stewart was a trusted figure who was able to bring the truth to light and to educate young viewers about the actions happening in our world. 

So even though his show has now ended, let us remember the the Top 10 Memorable Moments that Jon Stewart had given us, on and off the air:


#10: That Time Jon Stewart Was on Crossfire

Back in 2004, Jon Stewart appeared on CNN's Crossfire, a debate show hosted by Paul Begala and Tucker Carlson. Stewart appeared on the program to critique the program and its hosts, whom he blamed for reducing complex social issues and breaking them down to insincere, theatrical shallow arguments. Essentially, Crossfire was more of a show about bickering than actual intellectual debating. On the show, Stewart told the hosts, " I made a special effort to come on this show today because I have privately amongst my friends, and occasional newspapers and television shows, mentioned this show as being 'bad.' . . . It's not so much that [Crossfire] is bad, as it's hurting America. . . . Stop hurting America." Several months later after Jon Stewart's appearance on the show, CNN announced it was canceling Crossfire. The Crossfire incident alone, was proof that Jon Stewart was the news's most reliable critic. Watch the video here. 


#9. That Time Jon Stewart Interviewed Jim Cramer

When America was suffering from the subprime loan-fueled economic collapse, the nation tuned in to CNBC's Mad Money, an American financed television program hosted by Jim Cramer. The main focus for Mad Money was what to invest in, and how to successfully speculate publicly trade stocks. Remember, Mad Money had aired when American's economy was at it's lowest point. People were so desperate to survive the recession that they would turn on Mad Money and listen to the advice and aid from Jim Cramer. However, most of the things that Jim Cramer said on his show turned out not to be true. This caught Jon Stewart's attention, and he primarily aimed his scorn at Jim Cramer for his unreliable counseling on Mad Money. Cramer agreed to appear on The Daily Show where Jon Stewart used Cramer's own clips from Mad Money to use his own past assertions against him. The interview was so long that Comedy Central had to cut the interview into three parts (all three parts are on The Daily Show's website). Overall, the interview not only displayed Jon Stewart's brilliance as a comedian, but also showed that he can be just as cutthroat as other anchors on television. Watch the video here.

#8: That Time Jon Stewart Sparred With Bill O'Reiley

Who knew that watching two white guys fight for 13 minutes could be so entertaining? Bill O'Reilly from Fox News's The O'Reilly Factor, appeared on The Daily Show to talk about his new book. O'Reilly and Stewart had been longstanding rivals and have outspoken their distaste for each other's viewpoints. After briefly plugging O'Reilly's new book Killing Patton, Jon Stewart got right down to making the first punch. "I want you to admit that there is such a thing as white privilege . . . I just want you to say that I'm terribly, terribly wrong on this." O'Reilly shot back that if there's such a thing as white privilege, there's also Asian privilege, since according to him, "they make more money than white people." Stewart dismissed the notion, noting white people had "set the system," which generated a history lesson from O'Reilly, pointing out that slavery in America has ended. The interview eventually spun out of control, leading to a shouting match. Watch the video here. 

#7: That Time Malala Yousafzai Left Jon Stewart Speechless

Twice has Jon Stewart invited Pakistani activist and 2014 Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai to appear on his show. But Malala's first appearance on the show, back in 2013, was exceptionally memorable, because her answer to one of Jon Stewart's questions left him utterly speechless. At a young age, Malala was the subject of an attempted assassination at the hands of a Taliban gunman because she was unafraid to speak out about the educational rights for girls in her native Swat Valley. When she was just 14 years old, a Taliban fighter boarded her bus, pointed a pistol at her head and pulled the trigger. Malala survived, made a full recovery in England and had become a transformative figure on human rights, leading her to become the youngest Nobel Peace laureate ever. In the key moment of the interview Stewart asked her how she reacted when she learned that the Taliban wanted her dead. She answered with this remarkable response:

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"I started thinking about that, and I used to think that the Talib would come, and he would just kill me. But then I said, 'If he comes, what would you do Malala?' then I would reply to myself, 'Malala, just take a shoe and hit him.'  But then I said, 'If you hit a Talib with your shoe, then there would be no difference between you and the Talib. You must not treat others with cruelty and that much harshly, you must fight others but through peace and through dialogue and through education.' Then I said I will tell him how important education is and that 'I even want education for your children as well.' And I will tell him, 'That's what I want to tell you, now do what you want.'" – Malala Yousafzi

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Wow. Seriously. Wow. Watch the video here. 


#6: When Jon Stewart Changed Television With "Indecision 2000"

Six days after Election Day 2000, America was in chaos as the government scrambled to figure out whether George W. Bush or Al Gore would be the next president. Enters Jon Stewart, who astutely summed the recount in Florida with gleeful, alarmed observations. And thus The Daily Show's newest segment, "Indecision 2000" was born! Frustrated with the presidential sideshow, Jon Stewart created "Indecision 2000" for television viewers who were exhausted by the traditional media coverage of the election. But Jon Stewart felt the viewer's pain and would try to ease the anxiety that many Americans were feeling about the election. The success of "Indecision 2000" would guide and inform Stewart's next 16 years on The Daily Show, which in turn helped changed political journalism. It was when many Americans concluded that it was not only acceptable, but sometimes critical for entertainers to seriously delve into politics. Watch the video here. 

#5: When Jon Stewart Published Not ONE, Not TWO, BUT THREE Books

If you have never picked up any of these three books, then shame on you! Also, who wouldn't want to pick up a book that was titled, Naked Pictures of Famous People? Well, if you were hoping to actually see naked pictures of famous people from Jon Stewart's first book, then you're out of luck, buddy. NPOFP was the first book that Jon Stewart wrote back in 1998. It's a collection of essays known for its wit and political satire that was later followed up by his second book, America (The Book). Back in 2004, Jon Stewart had the help with his Daily Show staff writers to create and publish America (The Book) that parodied and satirized American politics. An updated trade paperback edition was released later in 2006 as a "Teacher's Edition" with updated coverage of the Supreme Court Justices and annotating the paperback with red marks appearing throughout the pages of the paperback, correcting the satirical "mistakes" from the original edition of the book. Then finally, in 2010, Jon Stewart and his Daily Show writers released Earth (The Book) which was a parodied sequel to America (The Book). All three books are laugh-out loud hilarious and instantly capture their reader's attentions. 

#4: When Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert Hosted The "Rally To Restore Sanity And/Or Fear"

In October of 2010, Comedy Central aired a live staged rally at Washington's National Mall called the "Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear." The rally was hosted by Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert as a goofy, star-studded three-hour variety show with a serious message: “The image of Americans that is reflected back to us by our political and media process is false,” Stewart declared. “It is us, through a fun house mirror.” The rally was a combination of what initially were announced as two separate events. First, Jon Stewart announced that he would create a "Rally to Restore Sanity," while secondly, Stewart's counterpart, Colbert, announced he would create a "March to Keep Fear Alive." Eventually, the two hosts merged their events, creating the "Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear." The rally's purpose was a spoof of Glenn Beck's "Restoring Rally" and Al Sharpton's "Reclaim the Dream" rally. Stewart and Colbert's rally was groundbreaking, not to mention Jon Stewart's speech at the rally is still inspiration to this day. "The light at the end of the tunnel isn't the promise land," he says. "It's just New Jersey." His speech was even made into an auto-tuned song by The Gregory Brothers called Sanity Song, which was quite popular. Watch the full 3 hour coverage of the "Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear" here. 

#3: When Jon Stewart Grew Some Fluff On His Chin

Mind you, the only other time you might have seen Jon Stewart with a beard was when he played the science teacher in The Faculty. But on July 26, 2010, Jon Stewart grew out a full fledged white beard on The Daily Show and kept it for several weeks. Then when John Oliver was hosting The Daily Show in Jon's absence, Jon had skyped Oliver with yet another one of his white bearded looks while he was away directing his movie, Rosewater. Suffice to say that nothing really important happened while Jon had his white beard, but it's still funny to remember when he had a little white scruff on his chin as he hosted his show. Watch the video here. 

#2: When Jon Stewart Used The Choir to tell Fox News to "Go F**K Yourselves"

Who can forget this memorable moment on The Daily Show? Ever since Jon Stewart started making jokes about the roll-out of the Affordable Care Act, Fox News pundits had reacted as though Jon Stewart was responsible of the ACA's failure. So when Fox News correspondent Bernie Goldberg called Jon Stewart a "safe Jay Leno" with an "unsophisticated audience," Stewart got back at Goldberg. He got back at him real good. Stewart hired a gospel choir to send Bernie Goldberg and the rest of the Fox News team a very simple message: "[Fox News], go f**k yourselves!" Needless to say, Stewart's definitive message to Fox News made viewers all across America appreciate Jon and The Daily Show even more. Watch the video here. And here's a more recent version of the choir on The Daily Show telling Fox News to go f**k themselves here.


#1: When Jon Stewart Impersonated Glenn Beck
 

This is possibly the best thing Jon Stewart had EVER DONE! Ever since Fox News brought crazy wacko Glenn Beck to their network, all Jon Stewart ever wanted to do is turn Glenn Beck's bullsh*t into pure comic gold. Beck had been the yin to Jon Stewart's yang, as Beck embodied everything that was wrong with America as well as spewing ridiculous conspiracy theories on the air. But in April of 2009, Beck announced that he would be leaving Fox News, which then gave Jon Stewart the ultimate pay off. For one entire episode of The Daily Show, Jon Stewart impersonated Glenn Beck perfectly. He donned on the signature thick-rimmed glasses that Beck wore on his show, and took to the blackboard to prove that Hitler was planning to steal Beck one organ at a time and reprogram him as a weapon. Following that, Stewart parodied Beck's "hidden meaning" behind conservative libertarians. Everything was on point. If anything, Stewart out did himself by satirizing Beck's show. It's certainly the best Daily Show episode ever written. Watch the video here.

There are seriously hundreds of other great things that Jon Stewart did on his show during the 16 years that he was on the air. When he took the position to host The Daily Show in 1999, Stewart began to transform not only the show, but television into something more substantial. He created a show that prompted conversation among current events, politics and the media. 

As he said goodbye to the show on Thursday evening with a farewell broadcast, he signed off with wit and sincerity to all of his viewers. His final remarks to his audience: "Nothing ends," he said. "It's just a continuation. It's a pause in the conversation. So rather than saying goodbye or good night, I'm just going to say: I'm going to go get a drink. And I'm sure I'll see you guys before I leave." 

Jon Stewart had certainly been our moment of zen.