He’s made a career out of poking fun at them (and — in the overwhelming majority of cases — with good reason), but Jon Stewart will generously give his conservative foes the opportunity to get inflamed, exorcise years of escalating resentment, and hopefully make relative fools of themselves. The producers of The Daily Show have invited Bill O’Reilly, Glenn Beck, Sarah Palin, and Donald Trump (among others) to record a segment in which they can “turn the tables on [Stewart],” reports The New York Post. They will be given free reign to “basically tell Jon to ‘f*** off’,” said The Post’s source. That all sounds well and good, but since his only true comic value lies in playing it straight and allowing his ridiculous hypocrisy to reveal itself on its own, hopefully they won’t try too hard to give him the credit of seeming self-awarely funny.
With his August 6th finale looming, Stewart has increasingly given stellar opening monologues, reminding us how much he is going to be missed. Richard Lewis caught the mood when he appeared as a recent guest on the show, saying, to loud audience cheers: “You’re going to have the biggest wet dream during those primaries. We’re going to miss him, aren’t we? Am I right or am I fucking wrong?”