There's still a thrill in watching Jon Stewart casually take apart a gun rights advocate

If you grew up watching Comedy Central from roughly 2000 onward, there’s a certain kind of nostalgia that can be hard to find a substitute for in the modern era: The feeling of watching former Daily Show host Jon Stewart—now The Problem With Jon Stewart host Jon Stewart—absolutely, calmly demolish someone in the midst of a “polite” debate. Stewart is a complicated guy, with complicated issues surrounding some of his positions. But there are few people on television better than he is at taking facts, rolling them up like a newspaper, and just slapping seven kinds of hell out of an opponent without ever raising his voice.

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Case in point: A new clip from Apple TV+ series The Problem that’s been circulating online today, which shows Stewart attempting to have a rational conversation regarding the “rational” positions of Oklahoma State Senator Nathan Dahm, who’s been working tirelessly in the state’s legislature to make it easier for people to get guns. And while there’s a fair amount of cross-speech and back and forth, part of the joy of watching Stewart work is that he lets Dahm talk—the better to make the absurdity of what he’s saying completely apparent. (In another portion of the interview that’s not in the 8-minute excerpt above, Stewart asks Dahm about a push to make safety training for firearms—which Dahm himself says increases guns safety—non-mandatory, and then seems genuinely boggled that Dahm can’t/won’t make the logical leap). Stewart pushes back on all of Dahm’s dodges, has facts at the ready, and allows Dahm to take his own arguments apart. It’s vintage stuff.

This is the sort of thing The Problem has been best at over the last two years, even as it sometimes struggles with wider issue coverage; it’s reminiscent of a clip that similarly circulated last year, when Stewart took on then-Arkansas district attorney (and now, depressingly, Arkansas Lt. Governor) Leslie Rutledge on her opposition to providing gender-affirming health care to trans kids.

We can’t bring ourselves to believe that moments like this represent anything more than a moral victory; demonstrations of hypocrisy only affect those inclined to shame. But there is still a visceral thrill in seeing Stewart in his element again.

The Problem is currently airing the second half of its second season.