Jon Stewart: My Hero & Yours!

If you look back over the past 25 years – when I entered the world of book promotions – there have been many, many media personalities that knew how to grab attention over a sustained period of time.  Some were flash in the pans, like Morton Downey, Jr., and others have been around for decades, including Barbara Walters, Howard Stern, Don Imus, Oprah, Rush Limbaugh, and David Letterman.

I hate but admire Ann Coulter of Fox News.  Bill O’Reilly is no friend to liberals but should be admired.  Larry King, Geraldo, Jim Lehrer, Jerry Springer, Stephen Colbert, Sean Hannity, and Bill Maher know how to provoke dialogue and blood pressure.  But I think the top media personality is  Jon Stewart, of the award-winning, format-pioneering The Daily Show.  He is the best of the best. 

I grew up thinking Phil Donahue was the best talk-show personality ever.  For his era he was the best.  Oprah took a similar formula and made it spectacular.  Today we lack a daily talk show during the daytime that pushes the direction of the country.  The most creative talent has moved to late night.  From 11:00 pm EST until around 2:00 am, the best compete against one another.  It is such a tough landscape that the top- rated guy, Jay Leno, was dismissed only because networks are jockeying to get younger viewers.

From 11-12pm EST,  you have Arsenio, Conan, Kimmel, Letterman, Colbert, Stewart, Fallon and others battling for attention.  At 12:30 pm EST there are others looking for viewers too.  But the morning shows, evening network news, and daytime talkers are all in decline – in terms of quality, ratings, and quantity of shows.

Give me Stewart, 24-7.  It’s time he has his own channel, the way Howard Stern practically runs XM-Sirius satellite radio.  Stewart’s only flaw is he giggles like a girl – he really does – but his brilliance shines day in and day out in  a formula he developed but that never gets old.  He’s a master interviewer (I wish he had more time with his guests) and his daily news-driven monologue, supplemented with faux interviews and wacky sketches are fan favorites.

He’s spawned talent, such as Colbert and Steve Carrell.  It’s obvious that Stewart is a real thinker who uses humor to hide his true desire to fix this screwed-up world.  He has a way, with those cleverly edited pieces, to really show you who is a hero and who is a villain.

Judge Stewart?  President Stewart?  Just give me more of The Daily Show, 24-7!

SPEAKERS TOOLKIT FOR AUTHORS

http://bookmarketingbuzzblog.blogspot.com/2014/03/speaking-toolkit-for-authors.html

Brian Feinblum’s views, opinions, and ideas expressed in this blog are his alone and not that of his employer, Media Connect, the nation’s largest book promoter. You can follow him on Twitter @theprexpert and email him at brianfeinblum@gmail.com. He feels more important when discussed in the third-person. This is copyrighted by BookMarketingBuzzBlog © 2014