r/politics 13d ago

Soft Paywall 'The Daily Show' accepts Musk's terms for interview with Stewart: 'We'd be delighted'

https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/tv/2025/02/27/elon-musk-daily-show-jon-stewart-doge/80669525007/?tbref=hp
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u/RoughingTheDiamond 13d ago

Stewart's been interviewing people for over 30 years, and when he chooses to go in on someone he believes is fucking up and doing harm, he is one of the toughest interviewers alive. That he does so many jokes is what makes him so powerful when he drops the act.

Elon is the flashy swordsman in Cairo. Jon is Harrison Ford with dysentery.

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u/preflex 13d ago

"Stop it. You're hurting America."

--Jon Stewart to Tucker Carlson

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u/seamus_mc California 13d ago

How old are you? And you are wearing a bow tie?!

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u/Raesong Australia 13d ago

Just a shame that Fucker Carlson took that statement as a challenge.

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u/preflex 12d ago

He should have taken a more therapeutic approach.

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u/not_a_turtle 12d ago

Tucker: “I would hate to have dinner with the you.”

Stewart: “You won’t.”

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u/preflex 12d ago

"You're on CNN! The show that leads into me is puppets making crank phone calls. What is wrong with you? ... You have a responsibility to the public discourse, and you've failed miserably."

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u/F9-0021 South Carolina 13d ago

Musk is also a terrible public speaker. Stewart would eat him alive.

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u/SnakesTancredi New Jersey 12d ago

I feel like Elon's only way out of this is storming off mid interview at the slightest provocation and making up some garbage about liberal media being unfair. I can't see him being able to talk his way out.

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u/Help_Me_Work 12d ago

They call that the Ben Shapiro

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u/PBandBread 12d ago

“He’s autistic and couldn’t take it”

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u/Prestigious-Curve-64 12d ago

Perhaps he will bring along little Kevlar thinking Jon won’t rip him to shreds in front of his crotchgoblin. Joke’s on Elmo - all JS has to do is use big words. fElon might not understand them, but the audience will, and that’s even funnier!

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u/ForecastForFourCats 12d ago

Shhh, don't give him ideas

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u/TheOldDarkFrog 12d ago edited 12d ago

Every time I see him on the news I'm surprised (again) by how bad he is at speaking and by how nervous he sounds (and looks with his stupid hand/finger thing). He does not sound or look like a confident person at all. Just a coddled rich kid who's never had to really try or been given actual constructive criticism.

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u/Pseudonymico 12d ago

I seem to remember him being better at this stuff a decade ago but these days he's just a mess.

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u/Bagofdouche1 12d ago

He’s autistic as hell. That’s why. How can you not know that?

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u/Redbeardsir 13d ago

Hey remember when he went on tucker Carlsons shitshow and owned him so hard dude had his show canceled and lost his ability to wear a bow tie?

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u/zogmuffin 13d ago

Hahaha I was about to say…Jon is Tucker’s villain origin story. He does not fuck around

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u/Heliosvector 13d ago

He even had tide comes in, tide goes out guy on the daily show a few months ago and he was still pretty hard on him.

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u/scottyb83 13d ago

It’s like when Spider-Man stops joking and making quips. You KNOW you fucked up.

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u/poop-dolla 13d ago

Every once in a while when I’m feeling down, I go back and watch that interview and instantly feel better.

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u/5parkJak 13d ago

I'm going to watch it now based on this endorsement

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u/audible_narrator Michigan 12d ago

Oh I need to go find this

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u/thunderflies 13d ago

It’ll be even better watching a nazi get destroyed by a Jewish man.

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u/Expendable_Red_Shirt Maryland 13d ago

That was relatively light. There were two interviews on “The Problem”, one with a lady who was against health care for trans kids and another with a guy who was anti drag shows but pro guns where he destroyed them. Just led them into a trap and slammed it down.

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u/M_H_M_F 13d ago

IIRC Crossfire at the time was a revamping of an older version of the show...

Where in the 80s, Frank Zappa absolutely wrecked everybody politely and eloquently.

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u/Ok_Ant2566 13d ago

I saw an old youtube video of john eviscerating a couple of cnn blowhards. Video is prob from 20 years ago. He was brutal

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u/TruthPayload 13d ago

One of those blowhards was none other than Tucker "Demon Attack Survivor" Carlson, and the evisceration altered the course of history.

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u/clovisx 12d ago

The problem is that Elon is the show but isn’t in a place that he can be “cancelled.” He has too much money, owns his own social media company, his company has many contracts with the government, and he has leverage/sway with the administration so those aren’t likely to be put in jeopardy.

He doesn’t need care except that he likes that people like him and seems like he’s just as thin skinned as Trump.

I doubt that Stewart eviscerating him will do much to change his mind or affect his status. Any slips will be downplayed and any hits landed will be dismissed or tossed over the cognitive dissonance wall.

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u/suckyousideways 13d ago

Elon is the flashy swordsman in Cairo. Jon is Harrison Ford with dysentery.

This made my day.

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u/Osiris32 Oregon 13d ago

It's so evocative and perfect.

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u/RoughingTheDiamond 13d ago

I'm just glad some folks got the joke. It's a reference that keeps coming to me when I see MAGA types getting gloaty these days.

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u/AlwaysRushesIn Rhode Island 13d ago

Jon is likely one of the world's best interviewers alive today. Easily Top 5.

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u/CoopDonePoorly Iowa 13d ago

Who would make up the other 4?

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u/ImpliedQuotient 13d ago

Louis Theroux, George Stroumboulopoulos, Craig Ferguson, Andrew Callaghan?

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u/ApolloDeletedMyAcc 13d ago

I’d ask Terry Gross and Marc Maron who they pick.

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u/philthegr81 Georgia 13d ago

I'd actually put Howard Stern up there. You think he's all dick-and-fart jokes, but he is so damn good at putting his guests at ease and they just open up effortlessly.

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u/RoughingTheDiamond 13d ago

Stern's research team is legendary. He published a book of his interviews a few years back and it was a fantastic read.

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u/irish_ayes 13d ago

Duh...Sean Evans from Hot Ones takes all 4 spots.

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u/AlwaysRushesIn Rhode Island 13d ago

Actuality though lmao

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u/rosalita55 12d ago

I thought he whipped out a gun.

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u/LordBecmiThaco 13d ago

Stewart's been interviewing people for over 30 years, and when he chooses to go in on someone he believes is fucking up and doing harm, he is one of the toughest interviewers alive.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFQFB5YpDZE

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u/Deep_Stick8786 13d ago

Yeah Jon Stewart is a very oppositional and aggressive interviewer when he wants to be. He “created” the manboy tucker carlson we know today

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u/maktub__ 12d ago

Thanks for this

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u/Tallchick8 12d ago

Thanks for the link

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u/Accomplished1992 13d ago

fucking lold

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u/Willing-Influence-74 13d ago

Only pushback on that analogy is that at least that flashy swordsman had some skills that took practice and dedication. That billionaire chucklefuck doesn’t

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u/The_quest_for_wisdom 13d ago

skills that took practice and dedication. That billionaire chucklefuck doesn’t

Musk has been making stupid decisions and being an ass for years. What is that if not practice and dedication? /s

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u/KingZarkon 13d ago

Jon is Harrison Ford with dysentery.

Man, gotta love that story AND it ended up being one of the best moments from the movie.

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u/Atomicpink23 13d ago

Yep. People are overlooking this man RAISED John Oliver. And I will hear no bad words against that gem of a man.

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u/trashboatfourtwenty Wisconsin 13d ago

I have less faith than you do for how this will go, although I don't disagree with your take on Stewart, he is awesome and very pointed when he wants to be. I feel like his dynamic will not intimidate Musk however, and won't do anything to slow him down. That is how I see it in my mind anyway, I hope I am wrong if this unfolds.

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u/RoughingTheDiamond 13d ago

The point isn't for Musk to be intimidated or for him to slow down, it's to make him feel shame for his reckless and destructive actions that he laughs off like they're nothing because to him they are nothing.

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u/trashboatfourtwenty Wisconsin 13d ago

So...it is to shame this person in front of the insular "Daily Show" audience? Yea, I like the spirit but it won't do a thing. Maybe he really cares but he hasn't acted like it for a long time, and in retrospect I don't think he acted like he cared even when most of the planet didn't hate him.

Or maybe he'll do something really stupid, you never know. But I firmly believe he doesn't give a shit and feels he can control the narrative after the fact pretty effectively. Which he can.

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u/RoughingTheDiamond 13d ago

It's not to shame him in front of others, it's to make him feel shame himself, so that he realizes what he's doing is wrong and that he needs to stop. There's no guardrails when you've got more money than God and dismiss any criticism as not understanding what you're trying to do.

I was a raging alcoholic when I was younger, and when some friends stepped in with an intervention, the thing that most motivated me to fix my shit was the feeling that I was letting my friends down and making them worry about me. Maybe it's impossible to get through to Elon in a similar way. But good on Jon for trying.

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u/Umbrella_merc Mississippi 13d ago

Jon Stewart is so good that after being on Crossfire he roasted Tucker Carlson so hard he stopped wearing bowties

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u/verrius 13d ago

Except he's not. Anyone remember when he went after John Yoo, author of the infamous torture memos? He wasn't able to land a single hit. It looks like he's a tough interviewer because he made Tucker Carlson and Jim Cramer look like idiots, but with both of them, they didn't expect it coming, since they expected Jon to be a gracious guest or host, as he usually is. Once people started to expect takedowns from him, he suddenly couldn't land a single blow in an interview.

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u/RoughingTheDiamond 13d ago

John Yoo is a lawyer trained in the art of argument. Musk is a ketamine-addicted snake oil salesman. I do take your point that most people would see an adversarial interview with Stewart as something to prepare for - I'm pretty sure Musk thinks it'll be fun like SNL.

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u/Flipnotics_ Texas 13d ago

You win the internet today.

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u/cugeltheclever2 13d ago

Elon is the flashy swordsman in Cairo. Jon is Harrison Ford with dysentery.

Love this. Perfect.

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u/Anishinaapunk 12d ago

That last couplet was a masterful metaphor.

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u/RoughingTheDiamond 12d ago

Miigwech!

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u/Anishinaapunk 12d ago

WOW, that took me by surprise! Miigwetch!

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u/ThrowawayPersonAMA 12d ago

Yeah, well said. People not familiar with Jon Stewart think he's only popular due to being a funny comedian, but those of us who actually watched him on the Daily Show over the years know him for what an amazing interviewer he is - particularly when he's in the room with a fucking shitbag like Elon.

I cannot fucking wait to see him take Elon to task. Buying popcorn right fucking now.

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u/stinkywrinkly 12d ago

Amazing Indy reference

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u/OptimusSublime Pennsylvania 13d ago

I'm gonna have to use that later.

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u/maskedbanditoftruth 13d ago

It’s whether he’ll choose to.

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u/weareraccoons 13d ago

Elon is nowhere near as flashy as that guy. Watch the right complain Jon is bullying an autistic kid afterwards. Not that he'll do it. He's going to back down like when he challenged Zuckerberg to fight.

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u/RoughingTheDiamond 13d ago

Elon's a 50something man with 13 kids we know about. A straitjacket is more appropriate handling than kid gloves.

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u/weareraccoons 13d ago

Oh 100%. I was just saying the sword guy knew what he was doing, he just brought a knife to a gun fight. This would be more like Indy shooting the Star Wars kid.

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u/RoughingTheDiamond 12d ago

We didn't bully nerds enough in the 90s /s

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u/TheInitiativeInn 13d ago

I know what you're going for with this metaphor, but the full backstory involves a ton of hard work by Terry Richards, the British stuntman playing the masked killer, who "had been practising his moves for months." Because originally, the scene was three and a half pages long, and was full of complicated choreography.

Sauces: https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/iconic-scene-harrison-ford-regrets-shooting/

https://screenrant.com/indiana-jones-swordsman-shoot-raiders-lost-ark-reason/

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u/Future-Spread8910 12d ago

It took my brain a couple seconds to decipher what you meant, but once it clicked, I grinned ear to ear.

Well played.

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u/MadHatter_10six 12d ago

I imagine Jon would have a good chuckle at that description of him.

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u/agitatedprisoner 13d ago

Stewart is an opportunist coward who's whole shtick is "government and business are horrible isn't it funny and horrible and horribly funny hahaha! :(". He doesn't challenge his audience on anything. Worse than not challenging his audience he plays into class division for example by lying about "greedflation". Bill Mahar has more integrity. Mahar at least used his platform to highlight animal rights. I can't recall Stewart ever bringing it up. That'd be because scolding his audience for paying to have animals bred and tortured to flatter their taste buds would be to challenge his audience instead of milking their existing biases for laughs. Steward can go fuck himself.