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Salon: Trevor Noah will never, ever be good at his job — also, thanks a lot for Trump

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Henkka

Banned
I don't understand the "thanks for Trump" part. Was Stewart ever shown to wield significant political influence? And wouldn't he have to have influence over republicans to stop Trump winning the primary?

John Oliver tried with the Drumpf thing, and that was a miserable failure. What makes anyone think Stewart could've done better?
 

Garlador

Member
I don't understand the "thanks for Trump" part. Was Stewart ever shown to wield significant political influence? And wouldn't he have to have influence over republicans to stop Trump winning the primary?

John Oliver tried with the Drumpf thing, and that was a miserable failure. What makes anyone think Stewart could've done better?

Now Stephen Colbert, on the other hand, somehow managed to get into the White House Dinner and insult George W. Bush... with the president seated only a few feet away.

stephen_colbert_whcd.jpg

That was SOOO good.
 

BigDug13

Member
I don't understand the "thanks for Trump" part. Was Stewart ever shown to wield significant political influence? And wouldn't he have to have influence over republicans to stop Trump winning the primary?

John Oliver tried with the Drumpf thing, and that was a miserable failure. What makes anyone think Stewart could've done better?

Trump fans and Jon Stewart watchers have like zero crossover so yeah not sure what they're saying here.
 
TDS is just not as smarty written as it used to be. Its bearable at times but overall, Im watching it a lot less.

It could be worse though....it could be The Nightly Show.
 

ezrarh

Member
I've seen the daily show here and there this election cycle, he's simply not good

Thankfully bill maher is around still

Man, you can dislike the Daily Show in its current iteration but you can't just then go and say you like Bill Maher.

And I think a big reason for Jon's state towards the end is that despite the popularity of the show, he had no effect on the things that were important to him. The trajectory of American politics is still on a continual course towards more absurdity.
 
Trevor and TDS will be fine. As with any show like this, he needs time. Salon is and always has been a complete joke so I'm not sure why one of their "reports" is threadworthy.

Also, as a massive Jon Stewart fan, those of you wishing he had stuck around for one more election cycle are missing the poetry of his exit's timing. When he was building TDS into the cultural institution it was for years, Stewart's satire, incisiveness, and fury were a necessary antidote to an increasingly absurd news media that the public was grappling with. By the time he left, the news media and electoral politics had become the parody Stewart had been using to expose their hypocrisies for years; Donald Trump and Fox News "flanderized" the subject to such an extent that one doesn't even have to point out the nonsense to expose it - it's already there, plain as day.

I understand that he wanted to leave Noah with a content-rich election cycle to begin his tenure with, but there was a certain elegance to his timing: as Trump began his ascent, Stewart was leaving his post, almost as if to tell his viewers, "OK, this shit is too obvious now, you guys got this."
 
T

thepotatoman

Unconfirmed Member
Trevor Noah's problem is that he has no unique political view. He's practically a generic democratic pundit on CNN in the form of a stand up comedian.

Taking the news article of the day and reframing the main point of that article in the form of a joke, or taking a politician and making a joke that plays into the same characterization that everyone already plays into can only take you so far.

The funniest bits come from pointing out stuff that isn't pointed out enough, like Stewart did with hypocrisy, or Colbert did with truthiness. Jon Oliver doesn't have the best crafted jokes, but his bits as a whole are extremely funny because the absurdity he's pointing out is absurdity we don't think about very often, especially at the detail Oliver is covering. Samantha Bee and Larry Wilmore both found their own issues to cover too.

I'm not going to say what Tervor Noah's voice should be like the Salon article does by suggesting he go crazy about Bernie, or the show has to be pseudo investigative journalism like Oliver's show and the old Daily Show but he really does need something more than taking the shallowest look possible at the headline of the day.
 
If only someone had been around to make fun of Donald Trump, we could have avoided all of this.

Jon Stewart, why hast thou forsaken us
 

mnannola

Member
The first 500 hours of Final Fantasy XIII are bad but I swear it gets good at around 550 hours.

Dude [Random modern MMO] is an amazing experience once you get to max level. Trust me on this.

OT, I watched Trevor a few times and the show just seems kind of bland now. Not sure if it's because of him or the writing quality has gone down since John left.
 
Yeah. More importantly, it is time to grow up.

I knew of an uncomfortable amount of people who essentially relied on the TDS to stay abreast with politics.

That is insane.
I have always doubted and continue to doubt that this is that big of a thing. People are absolutely up to their ears with information from all sides, 24/7. You can't be on any social media channel without being absolutely inundated, or on any site that doesn't have "suggested articles" crammed with news.

The Daily Show and Last Week Tonight are part talk show and part 60 Minutes of our generation. They are funny shows that open with a few current events gags, then go deep on a bigger issue. While that can and does inform people, there is easily a sense when watching any of these shows that the audience is already aware of the situation and is just waiting for the juicy comedic reaction/hot take during the news section. The "big issue" section, not so much, but then -- that's the point of having that segment in the first place: to highlight something new/take a deeper look.

Without being funny or having strong commentary on these issues, there isn't much of a point to The Daily Show. So, a lot of people are moving on. 37% is a pretty huge drop.
 

Crisco

Banned
This is dumb and even Jon Stewart would think so. Salon liberals are the worst.

And seriously, what did 15 years of TDS calling out Fox New's bullshit accomplish? Not a damn thing.
 

JABEE

Member
It sure is popular to blame people for Trump. I don't know how influential Jon Stewart really was in politics. He went in on Bush, and Bush still won re-election. He probably hurt Bush for other political candidates to use in 2008, but Bush was already the butt of jokes internationally and at home. I don't know if there is a way to measure how his ridiculed actually impacted people politically beyond how it impacted yourself.
 

Flo_Evans

Member
Have you ever followed a new late night talk show? It's incredibly hard to get right. TDS even moreso, with how the writers are only just now figuring out how to write a joke that doesn't sound like Trevor Noah saying something Jon Stewart would say.

500 episodes is probably just around the point where even a talented host starts being consistently good. Colbert's show got good faster but he still had his growing pains, and he had nearly a decade of the Report as training. Noah's straight from stand-up to TDS.

Given all that, he's doing a decent job. The Lindsay Graham interview was good television, even when most of his interviews are bad. Remember how Stewart sucked at interviews for like the first five solid years? Or did you hop on further into his run?

notmyproblem.jpg?

I'm sure its hard but I really don't care. Not going to waste time watching someone practice being a late night TV host.
 

SecretDan

A mudslide of fun!
Noah is funny and I generally like his stand up.

But he is not Stewart and never will be. He really needs to try and make this show his own.

What he is doing now just isn't working. I find it incredibly difficult to watch.
 

Crisco

Banned
And also, why is a liberal rag talking about Trump's emergence as a bad thing? It's literally the best thing that could have happened.
 

kaching

"GAF's biggest wanker"
Could you recall an example, because I never noticed it. I always thought he did fine. That he just is not as funny as stewart is my problem with the guy.
There's not any particular interview that comes to mind. His rhythm is just off; either he struggles with the opening small talk and/or he's just lobbing softball questions for the most part because he just seems to be happy to be interviewing people of this calibre.

Don't get wrong, Stewart had his bad interviews too but he did a much better job overall of having a genuine conversation with most of his guests.
 

-COOLIO-

The Everyman
I'm not safe from hyperbole anywhere anymore.

what kind of serious publication titles their articles like that?
 

enzo_gt

tagged by Blackace
I'm fine with saying Trevor Noah is not as funny or witty as Jon Stewart; that's a matter of preference, but it's fine to say.

The insinuation that Stewart was somehow "balancing the force" and keeping Fox News and the GOP in check is a gross lie or a disturbingly wrong impression. During his "reign," Fox News only increased in viewership and influence and the GOP got stronger in its grip on Congress. Did his show have anything to do with it? NO! It's largely inconsequential to politics, and only really matters to bloggers talking about who eviscerated whom.

If his show had any impact, it was instilling progressives with a sense of false comfort that some good was being done in the world. Jon's voice was great to have, but it wasn't a substitute for real activism and it's sad (Sad!) that Salon and similar outlets and their readers think it was.
It's been kind of said already, but stating the Daily Show has been largely inconsequential to politics is pretty categorically disindigenous. I don't know how you could be alive during the Bush years and think that, and even moving forward into Obama administration, where Obama's interview on the show early on is still cited as one of the more damaging things to his favourability. If you want to associate things as loosely as the GOP's grip on congress getting tighter because of The Daily Show, I think it's a much stronger argument to say that The Daily Show helped move the general electorate further left after Bush and his reelection via Jon's criticisms.

TDS was not an insignificant social phenomenon, news and entertainment would cover it and respond to it frequently. It was as actively engaged in political cycles and everyone took notice.
 
This is dumb and even Jon Stewart would think so. Salon liberals are the worst.

And seriously, what did 15 years of TDS calling out Fox New's bullshit accomplish? Not a damn thing.
Making sure people were aware that Fox News was a racist, GOP-agenda-driven shitshow instead of a "fair and balanced" generic cable news network was worthy work. Not sure the metric should've been "Fox News' ratings crater after sick Jon Stewart diss." The effects that social commentary have are subtle and hard to quantify, but word got out about those assclowns and that was a good thing.
 

DietRob

i've been begging for over 5 years.
I've been watching The Daily Show consistently for at least 15 years and continue to watch it nightly. I will agree that I sorely miss Jon and the show is certainly different now. I miss how much Jon actually cared about exposing bullshit mountain. However, the last 4 or 5 years of TDS with Stewart had basically turned into the Fox News rebuttal show so a shift from that was needed.

I do think they pivoted a little too far away. I think it's unfair for the article to blame all that's wrong with TDS on Noah though.
 

stufte

Member
Watched it for a few months before I stopped watching for good. I watched Stewart since before George W Bush was elected, and I'm bummed he retired. They should have just ended the show when he left.
 
IS there even a they? This lady has been hitting at Trevor Noah pretty hard since the switch.
the first article was amused..by the fifth I knew it was a thing.

and who the fuck is she thanking for Trump? anyone with a presscard should be trying to choke themselves with it at this point.

oh. oh...she's blaming Trevor for Trump because Jon was supposed to save us? The media became a joke and that is the punchline?

Sophia A McClennen really has it out for Trevor Noah. This isn't the first time she's blamed Trevor for Trump or Fox News. The amount of responsibility this person puts towards satirists is troubling, as if they're literally the only source of news she absorbs about issues. She holds them as saviours.

sophia_mcclennen_trevor_noah_1_by_digi_matrix-da2xerp.png
 

DietRob

i've been begging for over 5 years.
I've been watching the start of Late Night with Seth Myers and his political coverage and "A closer look" have been really good.

If Comedy Central does look to replace Noah I think Seth would be a great choice since they let Sam and Jon Oliver get away.
 

Foggy

Member
Sophia A McClennen really has it out for Trevor Noah. This isn't the first time she's blamed Trevor for Trump or Fox News. The amount of responsibility this person puts towards satirists is troubling, as if they're literally the only source of news she absorbs about issues. She holds them as saviours.

Holy smokes, Trevor Noah is the Man of Steel of salon.com

She needs to let it go or she's pandering to a frothing audience that needs to let it go. Either way...
 

Henkka

Banned
Sophia A McClennen really has it out for Trevor Noah. This isn't the first time she's blamed Trevor for Trump or Fox News. The amount of responsibility this person puts towards satirists is troubling, as if they're literally the only source of news she absorbs about issues. She holds them as saviours.

Okay, that's a bit weird.
 

siddx

Magnificent Eager Mighty Brilliantly Erect Registereduser
Author seems to have a history of having some weird issue with Trevor Noah. Like a troubling amount of negative attention that seems to point at a deeper issue. Strange lady.

Trevor is perfectly fine, he has his own style and the job seems to suit him as he is far more entertaining at it then his rather generic and predictable stand up. Having writers to help add strong humor and topics to his charming and likeable demeanor is a working well for him.
 
Sophia A McClennen really has it out for Trevor Noah. This isn't the first time she's blamed Trevor for Trump or Fox News. The amount of responsibility this person puts towards satirists is troubling, as if they're literally the only source of news she absorbs about issues. She holds them as saviours.
Er, or maybe that's just her beat? Sometimes people with jobs have assignments.

Not defending the article or Salon, both are crap, but "she sure writes a lot about <some subject>" isn't really a great criticism of a professional writer.
 
Er, or maybe that's just her beat? Sometimes people with jobs have assignments.

Not defending the article or Salon, both are crap, but "she sure writes a lot about <some subject>" isn't really a great criticism of a professional writer.

Did you not read the rest of my post?

"The amount of responsibility this person puts towards satirists is troubling, as if they're literally the only source of news she absorbs about issues. She holds them as saviours."

Read some of her articles, they're constantly repeating diatribes about satirists being needed in these dark post-Stewart times to stop Fox News, Trump, or other injustices because no one else can.
 
Did you not read the rest of my post?

"The amount of responsibility this person puts towards satirists is troubling, as if they're literally the only source of news she absorbs about issues. She holds them as saviours."

Read some of her articles, they're constantly repeating diatribes about satirists being needed in these dark post-Stewart times to stop Fox News, Trump, or other injustices because no one else can.
I get criticizing the content; perhaps I'm misidentifying you as being part of this but a few people are acting like her covering the political talk show circuit is a sign of obsession rather than responsibility.
 
I gave up on the show. Trevor is never funny, insightful, or incisive, and he's not starting to find any groove. You're lucky if the correspondent segment gives you anything fun.
 

firehawk12

Subete no aware
John Oliver and Samantha Bee are more interesting now than Stewart was during the last couple of years of his run. Meh.
 

akira28

Member
Holy smokes, Trevor Noah is the Man of Steel of salon.com

She needs to let it go or she's pandering to a frothing audience that needs to let it go. Either way...

nope they're 80% sure they're going to get comedy central to fire him and replace him with seth meyers or not-jon stuart.
 

Mully

Member
Salon is a tabloid news site in the clothes of a real news and news analysis website.

Noah is not as good as Stewart, but he's not the reason for Trump and Fox News' content during the election cycle.
 
Man, you can dislike the Daily Show in its current iteration but you can't just then go and say you like Bill Maher.

it's not possible for someone to like two completely different shows/formats/hosts for completely different reasons?

i try to watch as much bee, oliver, and maher as much as i can, but i only watch noah every now and then to check on his progress. he still seems a little nervous (?) to me, and his delivery needs work, but for now it really *is* hard for me to watch. edit: i also watch a little seth meyers every now and again, because it seems like he's starting to put out some solid political/comedy pieces on youtube.

as for the OP saying liberals hate losing stewart... this GAF thread is the only mention i've seen of it at all TBH. i wouldn't take this Salon writer's obvious fixation on noah as an indication as to what all liberals feel about him. come on now.
 
He doesn't know much about american politics and the writers do very safe humor. I honestly would have preferred him on a different program with his take rather then actual daily show. Oliver has been influencing a ton but he also goes for more specific goals and Bee is growing her audience. I don't hate Noah but I am really disappointed with how the daily show turned out.
 

gabbo

Member
I like Trevor, but he lacks that intense passion Stewart had. And the new batch of correspondents is garbage.

The current batch of correspondents is probably the best it's been in a long while.
Klepper, Minhaj, Roy Wod jr, all killing it (and Jessica Williams too, though she's been around less lately). The others are pretty consistently funny, but not on that same level. It feels a lot like the show right before Indecision 2000 became a huge hit (the Ste[v][ph]ens Era).

I would prefer that Noah hit harder at all political targets, but I also wish the show would use his outsider looking in point of view as a larger launching point for his segments. It would provide an equally biting, but completely different take on political satire that John Oliver can generally do, but he's the American on The Bugle for a reason, and Stewart couldn't provide because he was going for the everyman US pov. Even if it amounted to shaming the US media/govnt compared to the rest of the world it would work.
 

darkinstinct

...lacks reading comprehension.
Yeah, this election season is really sad with no Stewart.

Trevor Noah is just not that good at the politcal stuff.

He is great at it, just not the US political stuff. Let him live their for a year or two and he will adjust. His shows about South African politics are legendary.
 

legend166

Member
People seem to want righteous indignation to confirm that their viewpoints are correct and to get that warm fuzzy feeling of moral superiority.

I imagine it's hard to drum up too much righteous indignation over the issues faced by America (legitimate they may be), when you're a product of apartheid South Africa. Things just look great in comparison.
 
I don't see why people would expect Noah to step in without missing a beat when it took Stewart quite a while to really find his voice.

Besides, it's not like Stewart was flawless - he was actually pretty awful on a few issues, and his recent discussion with David Axelrod made me roll my eyes at some of the oversimplification going on.

I loved the guy's show, but c'mon.
 
I don't see why people would expect Noah to step in without missing a beat when it took Stewart quite a while to really find his voice.

Besides, it's not like Stewart was flawless - he was actually pretty awful on a few issues, and his recent discussion with David Axelrod made me roll my eyes at some of the oversimplification going on.

I loved the guy's show, but c'mon.

Yeah, that interview was... interesting.

I love Stew Beef, but his last few years were not great. He was still willingly getting caught in feuds with Fox News and the criticism that TDS relied on "applause jokes" was hard to argue against.
 
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