[paulcole]

> The host is a broken record increasingly with an agenda who flies an "I'm a moron" disclaimer

This is the same trick Jon Stewart used on The Daily Show to great effect. “I’m just a comedian” indeed. People just happened to like his takes.

[tinco]

There's a big difference between "I'm a comedian, I'm just poking fun at the truth" and "I'm a moron, I can't reliably interpret truth from fiction".

[paulcole]

Not sure why you care what I say, I’m just an HN commenter!

[tinco]

I trust you so much more than I would ever trust Bill O'Reilly.

[Spivak]

I think I half agree with you. A lot of Jon's segments were just straight up mean -- well beyond playful mockery which made him hard to watch sometimes and he got away with it because of the comedian label. Where I disagree is that he was always open about his politics and knew that his show was "serious takes with light hearted delivery" and made it a point to not talk about topics from a position of ignorance. When you hear him talk off-camera it's clear that he really cares about getting it right and saying something intelligible through the jokes.

When I listen to Joe it's different, I'm not saying he couldn't run with the bit of "I don't know nuthin' about nuthin'" and come from a place of empathy and curiosity which would be cool. But what it is in practice is "I'm a moron and you shouldn't listen to what I think I don't know what I'm talking about buttttt and then speaks authoritatively on some politically charged topic he's supposedly ignorant of."

[pengaru]

Jon Stewart also is arguably the spiritual originator of assaulting the "Fake News" media, though I don't think he ever used those specific words.

[farmerstan]

Jon Stewart is responsible for an entire generation of millenials thinking that pointing out political hypocrisy was enough.

[pengaru]

Is that right? My peers were largely rabid fans of his daily show, but that's gen X. I thought millenials were a bit young for that.

[cardosof]

It works because it's true. The joke's on the audience that takes seriously what someone with a comedian background says after "I'm a comedian, but..."

[brunellus]

Totally. The irony of this is lost on so many.