Jon Stewart Tried Out a Similar Joke on Last Night’s ‘Daily Show’ to One ‘SNL’ Was Forced to Apologize For
Jon Stewart returned to The Daily Show on Monday, after taking a brief respite from his grueling one-day-a-week schedule. Stewart began his monologue by roasting Donald Trump for recently bragging that he “won” a Trump International golf tournament, which the host then likened to the “Make-a-Wish Batman kid” celebrating his defeat of the Joker.
But the bulk of the segment was dedicated to the off-the-rails incompetence of the Democratic Party, best typified by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s unwillingness to battle the Trump agenda. Not to mention the various social media gimmicks that Democratic lawmakers have been focusing on, which arguably wildly undercut the severity of the current political moment.
In addition to mocking a cringey video game-themed TikTok post, Stewart also called attention to one Democratic congresswoman who shared a “Get Ready With Me” video in which she unpacked America’s healthcare crisis while applying mascara in the front seat of a car. “I’m having difficulty focusing on what you’re saying because I’m terrified that you’re a hard yellow light away from getting ready with Dan Crenshaw,” Stewart joked as the show’s over-the-shoulder graphic depicted a photo of the Republican congressman, who lost an eye while serving in the military.
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“Obviously that is not meant to diminish Congressman Crenshaw’s service, and how he was wounded in Afghanistan making a ‘Get Ready With Me’ video,” Stewart deadpanned.
Stewart then paraphrased amateur chainsaw performance artist and Daily Show no-show Elon Musk, asking, “Is that… Can I… Comedy is legal again, right?”
Stewart’s winking trepidation about poking fun at Crenshaw’s injury was likely informed to some degree by Pete Davidson’s history with the politician. Davidson previously joked that Crenshaw looked like a “hit man in a porno movie” during the Weekend Update segment of a 2018 episode of Saturday Night Live. He then added the qualifier: “I’m sorry, I know he lost his eye in war, or whatever.”
The joke sparked a backlash from right-wing media outlets, and not long after, SNL welcomed the newly-elected Crenshaw to Studio 8H and Davidson offered a public apology. “I made a joke about Lieutenant Commander Dan Crenshaw, and on behalf of the show and myself, I apologize,” Davidson said at the time. “I mean this from the bottom of my heart. It was a poor choice of words. The man is a war hero, and he deserves all the respect in the world.”
But Davidson later walked back that apology in a stand-up special, claiming that he “kind of got forced to apologize” and didn’t actually believe that he’d done “anything wrong.”
Since Lorne Michaels has no input on the inner workings of The Daily Show, presumably that won’t be an issue for Stewart.
