As anyone who reads the Daily Links will know, I'm a huge fan of The Daily Show and its host Jon Stewart (and have been for many years, even back when its host was Craig Kilborn)- it's certainly the best thing on TV at the moment (yes: even better than Lost). Which why I was very pleasantly suprised when my sometimes extremely lovely/othertimes extremely hostile flatmate just showed up and gave me a Loge (ie-awesome+v.hard to get) ticket to the show! I was very excited, and based on the enormous queue outside the theatre, pretty lucky to get tickets at all.
The show opened with excerpts from The Daily Show's take on the London bombings, which I'd not only seen before, but also posted in the daily links at the time- so not much new for me there. Then Jon came out and chatted for a bit, and said he was going to read some excerpts from his book America: A Guide to Democracy Inaction, which I guess this was pretty much a promotion for (the background was just an enormous projection of the book). Unfortunately, I'd read the book in like April, so while it was something of a treat to have Jon Stewart read it to me (it's also always nice to be in a laughing crowd), I'd heard all the jokes before. He also invited out the producer and head writer of the Daily Show to read with him.
It seemed like the three or them were having fun up on stage, which is always a good way for the crowd to have fun- it's a nice energy between performer and observer. But I did feel that they could have done more than just read verbatim from the book. I mean, the guy is a trained actor and stand-up comedian, surely he could have learned the lines as a routine and performed them? I guess it felt lazy. I've since heard that it's not uncommon in America to just have 'audiences' with famous people, like, they just show up and that's the show. But c'mon, Neil Gaiman does that for free- why should I pay to listen to someone's book promotion? I guess I expected a little more, uhm, effort?
Interesting side note: Woody Harrelson also jumped up from the crowd and joined in with the reading at one point, which was quite neat. He was obviously having a ball, as well.
After that they opened the floor up to questions, which was initially extremely funny and Jon was obviously having a good time chatting to folks (the audience seemed to be comprised overwhelmingly of Americans, interestingly). But then something happened, it's hard to pin down, but the best way I can describe it is that Jon...lost his patience? Like he was suddenly very tired or something, and there was a series of particularly inane questions. He put his head in his hands, and from that point on just gave people very short, sharp answers that actually sounded quite irritated (or at least very tired) and then cut the questions off and ended the show. It was kind of disconcerting and a little disappointing. Again, perhaps after having seen so many plays and concerts that consist of people trying their very hardest to entertain the audience have just spoiled me, raised my expectations to such a degree that I was simply unaccustomed to this kind of event- expectation being the death of happiness and all. But then, the guy is an entertainer, and the nature of that profession should make one very wary about becoming complacent.
I should clarify that I still like Jon Stewart a great deal. An enormous amount, in fact. TDS is still my favourite show. But I like him a little less than I did when I went in, which is not a good impression for a live show to impart.






