Joey Daniewicz – “GSA-holes – Can You Make Bill O’Reilly Pay $4.00 for a Shrimp?”
The Daily Show isn’t so much a fake news show as it is meta-commentary, a mission to irreverently watch the watchmen of the 24-hour news cycle. Fark.com’s Drew Curtis has noted that industry is built for events like 9/11 and truly not much else. That event catalyzed many things, but notable here is that it brought more audiences, countless changes, and a jolt of hyperactive scoop-seeking to the 24-hour cycle channels. Considering he’s spent that past fourteen years reacting to this programming, I would point to this development as The Daily Show’s primary focus. It’s herein that I find its defining moment: Jon Stewart trying to pitch Bill O’Reilly scenarios under which he might purchase a shrimp for four dollars.
After covering a stupidly spendy conference held by the General Services Administration, Jon Stewart notes, in particular, Bill O’Reilly’s outrage over the spending of four dollars per shrimp. The magic of Jon Stewart isn’t in his serious take-downs, I don’t think. It’s when he does something weird, like his recent digs at Senator Chuck Schumer’s musings, according to Jon very reminiscent of an old Jew like Schumer is, at a diner. So Jon Stewart brings his greatest foe and most special friend on via satellite–just seeing Bill’s face onscreen is delightful–and tests O’Reilly’s proclamations, pushing them to the very brink.
It’s charming, hilarious, and if you look close enough, it’s a celebratory laugh at the extreme rhetoric laced in 24-hour news channels. I can actually say there’s no moment of Stewart’s I’ll remember more fondly.
Let us know in the comments what your favorite moments have been!
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