Friday, March 13, 2009

Shenanigans

The conclusion?









So there's that. It went down just about how I thought it would go down. As I've said before, Jon Stewart is clearly funny and intelligent, and he can talk off the cuff with the best of them. Obviously, he was up to the task of taking on Cramer. It being his show, he was able to dominate the discussion with his arguments and have video clips at his disposal. In addition to the stuff he had prepared, he was passionate and honest without being too condescending.

I thought Cramer came off pretty well too, considering he went on The Daily Show knowing he might get straight lectured for an entire interview. It's not surprising but he was a different character than the guy who made the talk show rounds saying Stewart was "a comedian". He might have been lying through his teeth but at least he seemed understanding and wasn't overly defensive. He didn't hurt himself anyway. And he did have a good point that he simply tries to be entertaining while giving out boring stock tips. My response would be that "boing" noises, rubber toys and yelling aren't entertainment but I'm probably not his target audience. Aside from that, the stupid antics aren't what Stewart took issue with, as he pointed out.

It's pretty amazing how The Daily Show and Jon Stewart have created such a following over the years (something that Cramer obviously realized) and it'll be interesting to see if this has the same impact as his ranting on Crossfire. Some people want Stewart to raise these issues in a different way, one that tones down the jokes but I disagree. He does what he does in a manner that gets a younger audience (albeit a primarily liberal-leaning one) interested in issues that they might normally ignore. He's not hiding behind comedy, so much as using comedy to bring these issues to our attention. I say, let him tell his jokes and make his faces if every-so-often we get discussions like this one. We'll see if it actually gets CNBC and Cramer to think a little bit differently and change their ways, but it was informative and entertaining at the very least.
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