Jon Stewart And The Country Are Not Funny Enough For His Daily Show Return To Re-Capture Popularity | Bobby Burack

The Daily Show on Comedy Central was a cultural phenomenon and powerhouse for nearly the entirety of Jon Stewart's run as host, from 1999 to 2015.

The show's reach and influence decreased by some 70% upon his departure, when succeeded by Trevor Noah.

A political show declining at that rate during Donald Trump's presidency greatly deviated from the norm. Other political programs set record highs.

But the Daily Show lost what had made it one-of-one: the raw and unique capability to satirize the biggest stories in American politics and culture.

After Stewart, the show lost its wit. The show lost its way.

Trevor Noah was neither funny nor creative. He was a partisan hack who reiterated the same tiresome bits, week after week.

In a vacuum, the news Wednesday that Stewart will return as host of the Daily Show each Monday would be overwhelmingly positive.

However, times have changed. The country has changed mightily since 2015.

Let's review:

A reality television star won the presidency. Then a man in obvious cognitive decline assumed the White House amid a transparent rig-job from social and corporate media.

China delivered a global pandemic that it almost certainly created in a lab. The government locked us down in our homes. We were forced to wear masks and jab ourselves with experimental vaccines.

They dismissed violent riots in the name of Black Lives Matter. Ideas like ESG and DEI crept into the workforce.

Our cultural leaders promulgated a lie that gender is now an on-demand option, as if it's a wardrobe. Political figures can't define the word "woman."

The country is far more divisive, sensitive and volatile than the last time Stewart hosted the Daily Show. There are obstacles in place that he didn't face prior.

While an avowed liberal, Stewart was willing to make fun of both sides. He was more Bill Maher than Stephen Colbert on-air.

But the audience doesn't want that anymore. Sponsors won't allow that anymore. Media is a fractured form of what it was when Stewart departed the industry nearly a decade ago.

Stewart learned that from his time on AppleTV+.

Late last year, Stewart and Apple reportedly parted ways because the host wanted to do an episode reporting on atrocities that plague China, a nation that represents nearly a fifth of all Apple sales.

China is off-limits. So are people of color. And trans people. And Big Pharma. And most members of the Democrat Party.

Either Stewart understands those rules, or he's about to.

The Problem with Jon Stewart

Jon Stewart has also changed.

Aside from his interest in covering China, Stewart's show on Apple suggested he had mostly bought into the ideological requirements to be a card-carrying member of the leftist media today.

For example, he hosted an entire episode about white people, titled "The Problem With White People." He ambushed guest Andrew Sullivan during the episode, like only a weasel would:

Feeding off the race war at Apple made Stewart indistinguishable from the bevy of other hosts on left-leaning political networks.

And you see how little impact those shows have -- from Anderson Cooper to Joy Reid, from Stephen Colbert to Jimmy Kimmel.

The old Jon Stewart used to prioritize differentiating from the mainstream media's coverage. He rejected the inflation of political talking points in the media.

Times are different.

Ultimately, there's more fodder for political satire than at any other time in modern U.S. history.

Chief figures on both the left and right are parodies of their aisles. But never before have fewer people been willing or allowed to poke fun at both sides.

We are skeptical Jon Stewart's return to the Daily Show will buck that trend.