When Newsnight's Emily Maitlis met The Daily Show's Jon Stewart
The British presenter turned fan girl to quiz the king of US satire
There is an agonising moment between us, alone on the stripey sofa, where I am trying to understand if there was reconciliation between father and son before his dad died in 2013. It is the only time in an hour and a half’s conversation there are pauses.
“You hate talking about this?” I say. “Yes... [pause] Well, I don’t know what to say... Do you mean did I forgive him? And did he understand what that meant? Is that what you mean? Because I’m not sure what reconciliation is. Do you mean did we have a Steel Magnolias moment where we hugged and cried?” Stewart denies that adult success came as the result of being an unhappy kid. “My childhood was anything but tortured – my parents split up, I didn’t live in the middle of the civil war in Sarajevo.”
There is, constantly, with Stewart, the sense of a man who has to be participating rather than just observing. Growing up, he would always rather bartend at a club than go to it. “I worked in a punk club because I really liked the music. But just going there felt aimless so I thought well, s**t, I’ll just get a job here, then I can see the music and have a reason for being here.”
Stewart recently announced his retirement from The Daily Show, his spiritual home for the last 16 years (his final show is on 6th August). “I’m going to have dinner on a school night with my family, who I have heard from multiple sources are lovely people.” Although he later admits to me they actually couldn’t take more than about 20 minutes of him at one sitting.
I ask if he fears that aimlessness he talks of, without being the anchor of a nightly show? “It’s a luxury. I have been fortunate enough in this business to make enough money... to be able to say (adopts the voice of Skipper from Penguins of Madagascar), ‘I’ve worked far too hard for too long, and I’m going to take some time with the kids.’ I love creating, I love writing. But you may be right, without that structure, my brain can eat itself.”
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Before the announcement of Trevor Noah as his replacement, he tells me he’d love to see Amy Poehler in the role – the actress, comedian and pioneer of the AskHerMore! hashtag that encouraged journalists to ask red-carpet actresses more than how long it had taken to get dressed. “I just think she’s talented and has a quality that’s awfully special.”
For a man who hates doing film junkets, he’s been more than generous with his time. We have discussed Isis: “I’m not a military strategist, but I think the best way to fight them is, like, to fight them.” And on the use of social media by terrorists to recruit, communicate and strike fear, he offers this analogy: “We’ve learnt how to split an atom – if you split it one way, you can derive energy that can light and heat thousands; if you split it another way, you can blow a ton of s**t up.”
Stewart is engaging and fluid and thoughtful and unashamed to have a view – a novelty in my world. I am momentarily lulled, stalker-like, into believing we are having a genuine conversation. Then the production company tactfully reappears at the door and I am reminded he is simultaneously jet lagged and about to fly home.
“One last question before you go?” I ask. And he shoots back, “Sagittarius!”
He is someone who has pioneered an entirely new way of formatting news and comedy, satire and politics, and I’m excited by what he will do next. Right now though the answer is obvious: get some sleep. And spend the rest of those darn Belarusian rubles. Although I do hope he saves some for his next visit.
Rosewater is released in UK cinemas on 8th May
Read more:
Jon Stewart explains decision to leave The Daily Show
Who is Trevor Noah? Meet the new host of The Daily Show
Why The Daily Show's Jon Stewart was a formidable news force
