Why Jon Stewart Deserved the Win for Outstanding Variety Series

Joey Sack ’17 / Emertainment Monthly Staff Writer
Jon Stewart is one of the most well known political satirists and television personalities in the country today. He was nominated for the Emmy for Outstanding Variety Talk Series for The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, which ended this past December after 15 years on the air. Other nominations included The Colbert Report and The Late Show with David Letterman, both of which ended this past year as well. Now that he’s won, along with two other awards, here are a few reasons why Jon Stewart deserved his win for the Emmy for Outstanding Variety Series.

1. The Daily Show has influenced satirical news shows from The Colbert Report to Last Week Tonight with John Oliver. He and Colbert have often been seen as the most influential satirists in for the first part of the 21st century, with Colbert citing Stewart as a major influence. This Emmy win highlights the amount of influence Jon Stewart has had on the television landscape.
2. He, unlike Stephen Colbert and David Letterman, whose shows ended this year, isn’t moving on to other television projects right away. Jon Stewart is taking a break from entertainment, focusing his efforts more on lobbying Congress on the behalf of 9/11 responders, which is both a noble effort and something that will keep him away from television for awhile. That makes this Emmy win a nice parting gift from television to Jon Stewart until his inevitable return in some hilarious and/or politically charged capacity.
3. The Daily Show with Jon Stewart has had a huge influence on people’s political views, telling people that “bulls**t is everywhere,” and helping people to not simply accept things for the way they are but to challenge the politics and hypocrisy that is so prevalent in the country and the world today. Along that same line of thought, many of the people who watched the Daily Show see Jon Stewart as one of the best journalists of contemporary times. It’s indicative of the changing face of journalism and how much of the news has become interactive and open to debate and different opinions.

Jon Stewart is one of the funniest men in entertainment today, and the was the host of one of the best news satire shows in recent history, which was often better at reporting the news to the masses than other, legitimate news stations. The rewards that the show received at the Emmys tonight cement The Daily Show’s place in television history, and will ensure that the people involved will be in high demand for years to come. Trevor Noah will undoubtedly be funny and successful as the new host on The Daily Show, but with so many Emmy wins attributed to the previous host, he has a lot to live up to. One of the most important things that a talk show can do is make people do just that: talk. And The Daily Show with Jon Stewart did this and more during its 15-year run. Congratulations to Jon Stewart and the entire Daily Show team.