Well, this is depressing. Over the past few years especially, I’ve been hearing some counter-narratives about Jon Stewart and what he’s really like as a person, comedian and boss at The Daily Show. The default position for so many people is “I love him, he’s so clever and sassy.” The counter-narrative is that he’s a terrible boss, he hasn’t done enough to encourage female comedians, female writers or racially diverse comedic talent and that he actually does have some racial-humor problems. The counter-narrative has always been pretty easy to dismiss, especially when it’s being told by “media critics” or obviously disgruntled comedians who have long-standing issues with Stewart. But this story… it’s difficult to dismiss. I think it’s probably true and it really upsets me.
To set the scene, Wyatt Cenac did an interview with Marc Maron for his WTF podcast. Cenac was a Daily Show writer and on-air “correspondent” between 2008 through 2012. Maron obviously asked Cenac some questions about his work on TDS. It all began when Maron asked Cenac “You got along with Jon?” Cenac replied, “Naw.” Here’s what Cenac described to Maron:
While Cenac initially wanted to see Stewart as a father figure, he didn’t get that. What he remembers instead is a moment when Stewart screamed at him in front of the entire staff. “There had, in my experience, never been an explosion like that,” he said.
This happened back in the summer of 2011, when Stewart was roundly pillorying the 2012 presidential hopefuls, including one Herman Cain. He made fun of Cain by doing a “voice.” At the time Cenac was on a field assignment, and watched the bit from home. “I don’t think this is from a malicious place, but I think this is from a naïve, ignorant place,” he remembered thinking. “Oh no, you just did this and you didn’t think about it. It was just the voice that came into your head. And so it bugged me.” Stewart had been getting flak from Fox News for the voice, and he wanted to do something to respond — an Avenue Q–style “Everything I do is racist” segment.
Cenac, who was the only black writer there at the time, voiced his concerns during the writer’s meeting. “I’ve got to be honest, and I just spoke from my place,” said Cenac. “I wasn’t here when it all happened. I was in a hotel. And I cringed a little bit. It bothered me.” He wanted them to drop the bit and said that it reminded him of Kingfish, a character Tim Moore played on Amos ‘n’ Andy. He remembers:
“[Stewart] got incredibly defensive. I remember he was like, What are you trying to say? There’s a tone in your voice. I was like, “There’s no tone. It bothered me. It sounded like Kingfish.” And then he got upset. And he stood up and he was just like, “F–k off. I’m done with you.” And he just started screaming that to me. And he screamed it a few times. “F–k off! I’m done with you.” And he stormed out. And I didn’t know if I had been fired.”
The fight carried on at Stewart’s office and was only stopped when one of the office dogs began pawing at them. (Aww.) Eventually, the show had to go on, and Cenac remembers going outside to a baseball field and having a breakdown. “I was shaking, and I just sat there by myself on the bleachers and f–king cried. And it’s a sad thing. That’s how I feel. That’s how I feel in this job. I feel alone,” he said.
“Something like this, I represent my community, I represent my people, and I try to represent them the best that I can. I gotta be honest if something seems questionable, because if not, then I don’t want to be in a position where I am being untrue not just to myself but to my culture, because that’s exploitative. I’m just allowing something to continue if I’m just going to go along with it. And sadly, I think that’s the burden a lot of people have to have when you are “the one.” You represent something bigger than yourself whether you want to or not.”
As I said, I believe Wyatt. His story is coming after I’ve read some other critical pieces about Stewart’s mixed legacy at The Daily Show and how few diverse voices were really allowed in the writers’ room. Within this particular story, do you think Jon just couldn’t fathom one of his writers standing up to him and that’s why he went berserk? Do you think it was that Jon Stewart The Great couldn’t fathom the idea that he himself was being racially insensitive if not flat-out racist?
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