{"id":1194,"date":"2012-12-11T10:47:25","date_gmt":"2012-12-11T17:47:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/paperbacktheology\/?p=1194"},"modified":"2012-12-11T10:50:24","modified_gmt":"2012-12-11T17:50:24","slug":"john-stewart-stephen-colbert-a-behind-the-scenes-look-at-the-daily-shows-beginnings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/paperbacktheology\/2012\/12\/john-stewart-stephen-colbert-a-behind-the-scenes-look-at-the-daily-shows-beginnings.html","title":{"rendered":"John Stewart & Stephen Colbert: A Behind the Scenes Look at the Daily Show’s Beginnings"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/a>An interesting interview took place between Stephen Colbert (interviewer), and John Stewart (interviewee), last Friday night at a fundraiser for the Montclair Film Festival. I think Colbert does these interviews in Montclair fairly regularly, but this was the first time he worked with Stewart on the project. The two basically sat telling stories about their work together over the past decade. This article<\/a> gives the highlights of the interview, it\u2019s worth a read if you are a fan. I had forgotten that Craig Kilborn hosted the show before John Stewart did. Stewart fought to move it toward a more classic form of satire (away from the Talk Soup sort of goofball humor and more toward biting satire). He got incredible push back from the writers and it basically took two years to get people on board or run off the folks who wouldn\u2019t. Also some behind the scenes information about Cat Stephens & how Colbert and Stewart first met. It\u2019s an interesting read, especially the tidbits section<\/a> at the end of the article. Here\u2019s an excerpt:<\/p>\n

Late night satire\u2019s biggest secrets were revealed live on stage in Montclair, NJ Friday night as Stephen Colbert interviewed Jon Stewart at the Wellmont Theatre, a fundraiser for the Montclair Film Festival.<\/p>\n

While the two have discussed their work onstage together before, this was their first lengthy public one-on-one. And despite their 14-year professional relationship, each brought forth stories that surprised both each other and the sold-out audience.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s widely known that Stewart executed a shift in the Daily Show\u2019s voice when he took over from Craig Kilborn in 1999, changing from a local news magazine format to the issue-driven satire it is today. But that change almost didn\u2019t happen, and Stewart almost backed out of the gig altogether.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I did not realize is, a lot of the people who worked there were a*%holes,\u201d Stewart recalled.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had, before taking [the job], some conversations with the powers that be there about the direction I thought we could move the show\u2026. I wanted it to be satirical in the classic sense of the word, not the Spy magazine sense of the word where you just add adjectives like \u2018pepperpot\u2019,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

When said when he met with the writing staff the month prior to taking over the show, he \u201cgot the impression that that had been discussed,\u201d and he was met with strong resistance.<\/p>\n

\u201cI walk in the door, into a room with the writers and producers, and the first thing they say is \u2018this isn\u2019t some MTV bulls*%#\u2019\u2026. And then I was told not to change the jokes or improvise,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He immediately phoned his agent, James Dixon, telling him to \u201cget me the f%#$ out of this. These people are insane.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHow close were you to saying that was it, you weren\u2019t going to do it anymore?,\u201d Colbert asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had to be talked down from a moderately high cliff,\u201d Stewart said.<\/p>\n

According to Stewart, it took about two and a half years for the \u201cnatural winnowing process\u201d to leave him with a fully supportive staff.<\/p>\n

Another notable insight related to Salman Rushdie\u2019s criticism of Stewart for including\u00a0Yusuf Islam<\/a>\"\u00a0(formerly Cat Stevens) in the Rally to Restore Sanity festivities in 2010. The bit featured Stewart, Colbert, Yusuf, Ozzy Osborne, and The O\u2019Jays\u00a0engaging in a battle of train-themed songs<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In 1989, Yusuf publicly condoned the fatwa against Rushdie after the publication of his book\u00a0The Satanic Verses<\/a>\". After the Rally, Rushdie told\u00a0Standpoint Magazine<\/a>\u00a0that \u201cI spoke to Jon Stewart about Yusuf Islam\u2019s appearance. He said he was sorry it upset me, but really, it was plain that he was fine with it. Depressing.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Friday night, Stewart relayed the exchange from his perspective. He said he did receive a phone call from Rushdie after the Rally, expressing his disappointment that they used a performer \u201cwho wanted to kill me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stewart said that he didn\u2019t know about Yusuf\u2019s comments at the time.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo I\u2019m like, I\u2019m sure he doesn\u2019t believe that people should be put to death for apostasy,\u201d Stewart recalled. \u201cI said, \u2018look, I\u2019m sorry you\u2019re upset, but I\u2019m sure the guy isn\u2019t really like that. Let me talk to him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stewart called Yusuf, who characterized backing the fatwa as a \u201cmisunderstanding\u201d, but immediately tempered that with \u201calthough why do you have to insult the Prophet?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe get into a whole conversation, and it becomes very clear to me that he is straddling two worlds in a very difficult way. And that he actually still \u2013 and it broke my heart a little bit. I wish I had known that. I wouldn\u2019t have done [the bit], I don\u2019t think. If I had known that, I wouldn\u2019t have done it. Because that to me is a deal breaker. Death for free speech is a deal breaker,\u201d Stewart said.<\/p>\n

Colbert added that at the time, Yusuf was scheduled to be a guest on upcoming episodes of both the Daily Show and the Colbert Report. Those appearances didn\u2019t happen.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An interesting interview took place between Stephen Colbert (interviewer), and John Stewart (interviewee), last Friday night at a fundraiser for the Montclair Film Festival. I think Colbert does these interviews in Montclair fairly regularly, but this was the first time he worked with Stewart on the project. The two basically sat telling stories about their […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1118,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[276,271,275,273,274,272],"class_list":["post-1194","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-craig-kilborn","tag-john-stewart","tag-monclair-film-festival","tag-stephen-colbert","tag-the-colbert-report","tag-the-daily-show"],"yoast_head":"\nJohn Stewart & Stephen Colbert: A Behind the Scenes Look at the Daily Show's Beginnings<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"An interesting interview took place between Stephen Colbert (interviewer), and John Stewart (interviewee), last Friday night at a fundraiser for the\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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