Jessica Williams returns to The Daily Show to cheer up Jon Stewart

With a week to go before the election, Jon Stewart calls on an old friend to dispel his depression.

By Matt Schimkowitz  |  October 28, 2024 | 11:58pm
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Jessica Williams returns to The Daily Show to cheer up Jon Stewart
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Well, we’re down to the wire. Red One will be released in theaters nationwide in less than three weeks, which means there’s only one week until the election. Being an original Gryla fan, The Daily Show’s Jon Stewart is feeling the heat. After yesterday’s very chill racism appreciation rally at Madison Square Garden, Stewart returned to The Daily Show to dissect why Trump’s rhetoric is so disturbing. Despite the near-constant coverage of Tony Hinchcliffe’s disastrous open mic night set during which he called Puerto Rico an “island of garbage” and mused about how he and his Black friend “carved watermelons,” Stewart more or less avoided the big shiny object. The comedy community always protects its own—well, except Marc Maron who released a very thoughtful and necessary statement on “The New Fascism” earlier today.

For his part, Stewart thought it was more pressing to discuss Trump’s threat to deport anywhere from 2 million to eleventy billion people on day one of his presidency. Pointing to clips of Trump saying that he would invoke the Aliens Enemies Act of 1798 to ruin the lives of millions of people, Stewart also showed off the array of different forms of racism shared by the speakers at MSG. So when Trump mentions a “1798 law that was last used to intern Japanese and German citizens in World War II will be a fine tooth comb. It just makes me very sad.” But when you find yourself in times of trouble, Jessica Williams comes to you. Making her triumphant return to The Daily Show, Williams wondered aloud whether Stewart had a terminal disease and reassured this wealthy, white, 50-something part-time host would be okay should Trump be elected. But he’s not the only type of person in America.

“For non-old white people, for people of color, and women, and queer people, it’s going to be a completely different story,” Williams said to the camera. “I know you’re exhausted as hell. I’m exhausted. Everybody’s exhausted. Our political discourse is exhausting, but it’s easy to throw up our hands and be like fine, ‘I’m tired. Go ahead and take people’s rights. I’m just going to plow through a case of Truly’s and binge 52 episodes of Love Island.'”

“I just want to be clear: Do not let them exhaust you; don’t let the constant draining wear you out. Do not turn away. Look right down that barrel and say, ‘Not today, apathy.'”

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