This has been one of the longest two weeks of my life while The Daily Show went on hiatus but I’m guessing after winning so many Emmys everyone just went off and got drunk in Cancun for a few days. I know, I know, everyone deserves a vacation but still: what does one do without Jon Stewart and company to mock the daily news, the media, the president, the world and the pundits? Well let me tell you: I felt myself growing more and more cynical about the world I live in and while this type of depression comes with the news by default at least with the Daily Show my constant frowning was always turned into a moment of laughing and shaking my head as if saying: “oh, silly world, tricks are for kids.” So what does one do without Jon? I was left to the mercy of network media, I was left to the horror of Katie Couric on CBS asking me to come up with a new sign off. It was a surprise at first: me come up with a sign off for Katie? But then I remembered there was no pressure as I’m pretty sure someone who makes as much money as she does probably has a back room full of monkeys on typewriters, smoking cigars. Meanwhile Tucker Carlson is set to go ballroom “Dancing With the Stars” tonight on ABC; what would’ve happened to my world had this event gone unnoticed by Stewart? Oh, the horror, the humanity!
Anyways, they chose a great day to come back and I couldn’t help but compare last night’s episode on the 5th anniversary of 9/11 to the first Daily Show episode right after 9/11 five years ago that included one heck of a touching speech by Jon that was pretty much a statement of the global state of mind at the time. Last night however was such a contrast not just for the show but for what has happened to the world and especially where America has gone since that horrible day. One is about acknowledging a broken sense of safety and the other is realising that 5 years on it hasn’t quite been restored. Or has it?