I tried to pretend Jon Stewart wasn't really leaving The Daily Show. Right up 'til his last show, which I couldn't help watching.
His watch ended just as it should've. There weren't a lot of big name stars dropping by to sing his praises. Except for the dozen or so who got their start on his watch.
I'd forgotten how many big names began as Daily Show "correspondents." But they came back to remind us. And to thank Jon Stewart, publicly.
As they kept popping up on screen, and Stewart became more and more uncomfortable and emotional, I kept thinking how all those people had gone on to big box office movies or to take over well-established late night talk shows, while Stewart wished them well but stayed behind to continue The Fight.
I'm sure he got all kinds of offers. I mean, the man was able to get over 250,000 people to gather in D.C. for a "Million Moderate March," aka the "Rally to Restore Sanity."
Now, what would make a man create a rally just to say, and demonstrate, how good the American people really are and pretty much nothing else? A rally that would be remembered most for the hilarious but sometimes truly touching signs held by proud participants?
Okay, he had an agenda. But it was an agenda that made many media pundits a little nervous. I mean, here are some excerpts from the speech he gave to an adoring crowd that day:
"The press can hold its magnifying glass up to our problems, bringing them into focus, illuminating issues heretofore unseen. Or they can use that magnifying glass to light ants on fire and then perhaps host a week of shows on the sudden, unexpected dangerous flaming ant epidemic. If we amplify everything, we hear nothing..."
"The press is our immune system. If it overreacts to everything, we actually get sicker, and perhaps eczema. And yet, with that being said, I feel good -- strangely, calmly, good --- because the image of Americans that is reflected back to us by our political and media process is false...."
"We hear every damn day about how fragile our country is, on the brink of catastrophe, torn by polarizing hate, and how it's a shame that we can't work together to get things done. But the truth is, we do. We work together to get things done every damn day..."
"Most Americans don't live their lives solely as Democrats, Republicans, liberals or conservatives. Americans live their lives more as people that are just a little bit late for something they have to do -- often something they do not want to do, but they do it. Impossible things every day that are only made possible through the little, reasonable compromises we all make..."
Love, people. He did it for love.
Think about it. I've already mentioned all the people who left him holding down the fort. He built that fort. Not as a place to hide but as a battle station which he manned with uncommon valor. Oft disguised as rapier wit. But also, sometimes hidden behind spit takes, madcap monologues Groucho Marx would've loved, and streams of the most creative cuss words many of us had ever heard.
He was...spontaneous, that way, our Jon.
But beneath all that, the man was serious about public service. And that's what really set him apart. He cared about the people he spoke to every night. The ones on stage and in the audience.
He really read the books before he discussed, and often deftly debunked, their premises. He forgot to talk about the movies movie stars came on the show to tout, preferring to tease them until they gave us a little glimpse of the person behind the persona. As much, I suspect, for their sakes as for the viewers.
Best of all, from the set of his "fake news" show he lambasted real news shows for really important reasons. He asked pundits and the politicians they pretended to know so much about the kinds of questions those pundits didn't have the nerve, or the freedom, to ask.
And sometimes he cried. Just cried. Most famously, on 9/11. But lots of times. Just couldn't do the monologue planned. Words quit working. So he wept his way through to a wisdom that probably surprised him. And comforted us.
So The Daily Show, with Jon Stewart, never seemed like just a good career move. A pulpit, maybe. A bully one, to be sure.
And he took that very seriously.
We now have only John Oliver--a much-loved and lauded Daily Show alumnus--to continue that tradition with the necessary comedic talent and incisive intelligence. In fact, his one-man show, Last Week Tonight, is arguably the best Daily Show "spin off" since that Colbert guy took off on his own.
Wonder whatever happened to him?
I don't wonder what will happen to Jon Stewart. He'll be fine even if he just goes home and plays with the kids for a while. In fact, that's probably what he's looking forward to most. Another thing I like about him.
But I do wonder if the people who used to be so scared of and angry with him--a few of whom showed up for his last "hurrah"--will understand how much better he made them, by forcing them to work both harder and smarter.
His new mission will apparently be trying to ensure that first responders get the health care they need. He'll head over to butt heads with Congress in person, now that he has a little time on his hands.
He has nixed the idea of running for office in the past. But maybe he'll use some of that "spare" time to give that some serious thought. Wait--here's a better way to get him to consider that:
C'mon Jon. If you really loved us, you'd do it.
That's the kind of language Jon Stewart understands.
Photo credit: Jon Stewart candid, by Martin Monroe (http://flickr.com/photos/willismonroe/73332530/) [CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons. Poster, author screenshot.