Jim Cramer On "Daily Show": Jon Stewart Hits Hard (VIDEO)

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WATCH FULL, UNEDITED, UNCENSORED VIDEO OF THE INTERVIEW HERE

NEW YORK -- Jon Stewart hammered Jim Cramer and his network, CNBC, in their anticipated face-off on "The Daily Show," repeatedly chastising the "Mad Money" host for putting entertainment above journalism.

"I understand that you want to make finance entertaining, but it's not a ... game," Stewart told Cramer, adding in an expletive during the show's Thursday taping. The episode was scheduled to air at 11 p.m. EDT on Comedy Central.

It was perhaps the hardest lashing Stewart has given to a TV commentator since 2004 when he called Tucker Carlson and his then co-host Paul Begala "partisan hacks" on CNN's "Crossfire," the since canceled political commentary program.

The program opened in mock hype of the confrontation, which caught headlines through the week as each snipped at the other over the air. The show announced it as "the weeklong feud of the century."

In his opening, Stewart announced that it was "go time." He played a video clip of Cramer's Thursday guest appearance on "The Martha Stewart Show" in which Cramer beat a mound of dough, pretending it was Stewart.

Said Stewart: "Mr. Cramer, don't you destroy enough dough on your own show?"

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Once Cramer came out for the interview, Stewart wondered: "How the hell did we get here?"

Cramer, his sleeves characteristically rolled up, said he was a "fan of the show."

But the humorous tone _ at least for Stewart _ changed as the interview continued.

Stewart repeatedly said Cramer wasn't his target, but aired clip after clip of the CNBC pundit.

"Roll 210!" announced Stewart, like a prosecutor. "Roll 212!"

Most were from a 2006 interview not meant for TV in which Cramer spoke openly about the duplicity of the market.

"I can't reconcile the brilliance and knowledge that you have of the intricacies of the market with the crazy ... I see you do every night," said the comedian.

Stewart said he and Cramer are both snake-oil salesman, only "The Daily Show" is labeled as such. He claimed CNBC shirked its journalistic duty by believing corporate lies, rather than being an investigative "powerful tool of illumination." And he alleged CNBC was ultimately in bed with the businesses it covered _ that regular people's stocks and 401Ks were "capitalizing on your adventure."

For his part, Cramer disagreed with Stewart on a few points, but mostly acknowledged that he could have done a better job foreseeing the economic collapse: "We all should have seen it more."

Cramer said CNBC was "fair game" to the criticism and acknowledged the network was perhaps overeager to believe the information it was fed from corporations.

"I, too, like you, want to have a successful show," said Cramer, defending his methods on "Mad Money." He later added: "Should we have been constantly pointing out the mistakes that were made? Absolutely. I truly wish we had done more."

Cramer insisted he was devoted to revealing corporate "shenanigans," to which Stewart retorted: "It's easy to get on this after the fact."

At one point, Cramer sounded the reformed sinner, responding to Stewart's plea for more levelheaded, honest commentary: "How about I try that?" said Cramer. "I'll do that."

By the end, the two-segment interview went far beyond its allotted time. Comedy Central said the on-air version would be cut by about eight minutes, though the entire interview would be available unedited on ComedyCentral.com on Friday.

WATCH FULL, UNEDITED, UNCENSORED VIDEO OF THE INTERVIEW HERE

Stewart's Intro:

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Intro - Brawl Street: Get Read to Buy Low! And Sell Die

Daily Show Full Episodes
Important Things w/ Demetri Martin

Political Humor
Jim Cramer

Interview Part 1:

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Jim Cramer Pt. 1

Daily Show Full Episodes
Important Things w/ Demetri Martin

Political Humor
Jim Cramer

Interview Part 2:

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Jim Cramer Pt. 2

Daily Show Full Episodes
Important Things w/ Demetri Martin

Political Humor
Jim Cramer

Interview Part 3:

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Jim Cramer Pt. 3

Daily Show Full Episodes
Important Things w/ Demetri Martin

Political Humor
Jim Cramer

WATCH FULL, UNEDITED, UNCENSORED VIDEO OF THE INTERVIEW HERE

Comments

[ohmetoo]

And NOW we know WHY the middle class was let into the 401k markets. It allowed bank passport savings interest to fall to a pittance and allowed the shenanigans of the past 10 years, which Stewart so aptly laid out in one sentence;

""To pretend that this was one crazy lifetime tsunami that nobody could have seen coming is disingenuous at best, criminal at worst," Stewart said. "These guys at these companies were on a Sherman's march through their companies financed by our 401ks and all the incentives of their companies were for short-term profit. And they burned the (expletive) house down with our money and walked away rich as he--.. And you guys knew this was going on."

One of the big differences during this and past economic recessions is the 24/7 news cycle and the rising popularity of financial news networks like CNBC, which play all day on the trading floors and throughout the financial world. When Cramer mentioned they have 17 hours of live TV to do every day, Stewart suggested, "Maybe you could cut down on that."

[carstenspolicy]

I am a huge fan of Jon Stewart and have always thought that Jim Cramer is a bit nuts; however, Jon Stewart is coming across as a bit of an ass. Charging an entertaine­r/"journal­ist" such as Cramer with privileging entertainment over journalism which is just hypocritical. Stewart understands entertainment. By his own admission he is not a journalist. But claiming that he does not know why Cramer uses gimmicks to attract viewers is naive. Stewart shouldn't accost TV personalities for tapping into a ratings source.

Similarly, Stewart is castigating Cramer for not foreseeing the future. Give the guy a break. Stewart has an advantage here that Cramer isn't pointing out. Stewart is a reporter of past events. He uses retrospective vantage points to highlight absurdity. Thus, he is never really, "wrong." On the other hand, Cramer's show is based on predictions of the stock market. To hang this guy out to dry for failing to predict the economic downturn of particular stocks is nuts. I'm sure if he saw this coming, he would have told people to sell Bear-Sterns. He isn't a demon. He was just wrong. Nobody is perfect. Cramer understands he has made a mistake. He has admitted his wrongs.

His earlier probes of Cramer were funny, but this interview is a spectacle of ignorance and naiveté. Stewart knows he has an advantage, but it isn't a very good criticism. Give the guy a break.

[indy100]

Have to disagree with you. Anyone on television, radio, the internet or the moon giving financial advice should be held accountable. If you can't take the heat stay out of the kitchen!

[carstenspolicy]

At the same time, the American people are not innocent. This is part of the risk they decided to take on. If you decide to dabble in the stock market but can't handle losing money, don't invest.

[Rob Bond]

First off, Jim Cramer was really the only one brave enough to come out and defend CNBC from Jon Stewart's initial attacks. That's really the only reason this went so far between the two of them. He turned himself into a rep for the entire network.

That having been said, I don't think any of Jon Stewart's statements were out of line. Although they are both entertainers, The Daily Show exists on Comedy Central to make us laugh while Mad Money belongs to one of the twenty-four hour news networks. It may be idealistic, but a network which calls itself the Consumer News and Business Channel should value hard journalism and alerting the public to the truth above anything else. The point Stewart was trying to make is that if you're on television doling out investment advice, it doesn't make sense to have a soundboard of crazy noises, throw things, etc. I've watched his show a couple of times reluctantly and it does seem like it's intended for incredibly wealthy toddlers.

And anyone who asserts their views on future predictions so confidently deserves to be held accountable for them. Most journalism is about events that have already transpired! Bottom line: Cramer said Bear-Sterns was going up, and he was dead wrong. The EXACT OPPOSITE of what he so emphatically preached ended up happening. What's wrong with Stewart calling him, a financial expert, out on this?

[carstenspolicy]

Here is my problem with it: Stewart is going out of his way to beat an already dead horse. Cramer wasn't saying Stewart was out of line or that his points were invalid (he managed to wait an entire day to do that). Cramer went on Stewart's show and admitted he made mistakes and was wrong. However, that doesn't seem to stop Stewart.

Here is the bottom line, it doesn't matter how specialized you are, people cannot predict the future. There is a level of uncertainty inherently linked with any decision. Yeah, Cramer was emphatic in his advice on Bear-Sterns stock that turned sour. Is it awful that it happened that way? Yes. But again, Cramer admitted this.

My main problem with this is that a comedian who avoids making predictions, future projections, etc, has gone out of his way to use a retrospective vantage point to tear apart a economic pundit who has admitted he is wrong. The entire process is a bit redundant.

Again, I love Stewart and generally think that Cramer is nuts. But I get tired of Stewart hiding behind his veil of comedy. He conveniently attacks every member of the media (with hilarity) while refusing to actually take steps to fix the process. I enjoy the comedy, but getting on his high-horse to castigate people gets annoying given his position in the media market and his absolute refusal to admit he is apart of this process.

[JoeySoCal]

By the way, on the topic of 'Businessmen' and 'Financial Investors' type guys. I mean, what is their job supposed to be if not to try and stretch the rules as far as they'll go.

Soldier's are trained to eradicate an enemy. Businessmen are trained to 'produce' money. You can't very well perform the labor required to produce a material product wearing a white collar shirt, stuffy tie, and a three piece suite. So then what is their job? Honestly, to this day, I do not know. But I do know this- I don't expect their first priority to be integrity, they don't deal in the business of integrity, they deal in the business of dog-eat-dog. Who doesn't know this? Their first priority is generating money.

The point of all this is, who can blame the chimp for attacking the guest? It's what he was designed to do. It was the owner's responsibility to regulate the chimp and the guests to prevent an accident. Processes do not function without rules. While I appreciate the power of the invisible hand of the free-market, for the life of me I cannot understand the refusal of otherwise intelligent seeming libertarians to acknowledge that a lack of rules and regulations results in deterioration and chaos.

[JoeySoCal]

Part III, End

To Jon's great credit, he actually works to improve the situation. It so happens that Jim Cramer bares little more blame than the rest of us. And while those WEB clips of Jim were educational for the audience, they were 'Gotcha' journalism with respect to Jim, himself. The clips of his bad calls from actual television are fair game though. It comes with the gig, right Jim?

Both of you, go back to work. You are two great men. Keep being great.

[JoeySoCal]

What does Jim say all the time? Do your homework, hours a week for each stock you are even thinking about buying. That's why I haven't bought (hardly) any. Because I don't have hours a week to spend on it.

Stewart is, of course, right in that CNBC is largely an empty shiny object, with all the caked on lip gloss on the sexed up 'financial analysts'. But I mean, have you looked at CNBC's neighborhood? Cable tv with upstanding cohorts like FAUX and Who Wants to be a Super Model, and Telenovelas on Telemundo. I mean, the truth is, the bullshit level in this society is stressing the richter scale, we all know it, and most importantly, we all, as consumers, contribute to it.

Consumers, by and large, get what they demand. So when you look around yourself and find something to criticize, chances are, it ought to be yourself or your neighbor for being such a Neanderthal in what they choose to spend their time and money on. Remember, the media market responds to eyeballs, it's not rocket science. If you look, they'll make more. Obviously, and maybe unfortunately, people choose to look at crap rather than epitomes of integrity.

[JoeySoCal]

Jim Cramer is awesome. If you can't see that the man is fundamentally decent, then you are caught up in your own self-righteous indignation. And god knows I love Jon Stewart. Jim Cramer did not deserve to bare so much of this burden. While Rick Santelli was not man enough to come on the show and face the wrath that he deserved, it is inappropriate to put it on Jim Cramer.

Yes, we all want all media reporting to be sharp like a razor, the epitome of integrity, but is a freeish market not a cornerstone of our society? And does a freeish market not respond to the demands placed on it. Think about the stupid crap that American consumers demand. If you look at it objectively, in dysfunctional relationships usually both parties share responsibility for problems.

The crux of this is what it always comes back to in America, and a free-market consumerism society. If you are stupid enough to invest your life savings mostly on advice from a guy with clown hair (sorry Jim, it's great) jumping around, throwing stuff and screaming into a camera- then well, of course, now you deserve what you get then, don't you.

[compromise]

What happened to the full video of Cramer describing his short selling technique? Everyone seems to have pulled it down because thestreet.com, where it originally appeared, suddenly has a copyright issue.

[BroMan]

"Mr. Cramer, don't you destroy enough dough on your own show"

Brilliant.

[WierdWookie]

Reninds me of a 1960's show. Goldie Hawn- "Sock it to me, Sock it to me...

[alternative-diplomacy]

contd from above...

I think there is a greater lesson to be learned here. In recent years, Conservative Syndicated talk radio host, like Rush Limbaugh have succeeded in shouting their ideologically motivated positions into the mainstream media chatter, and with the 24 hours news cycle driving the debate, traditional news gathering and reporting standards have all but disappeared, leaving in its wake, a hallow fourth estate of the realm, lacking in every aspect of the word.

Maybe what the profession need is a Jon Stewart shakedown - a wake up call, reminding them of the invaluable position of influence and bully pulpit they command, simply by virtue of their trade. If a radio show host can throw around one-liners and effectively dominate the news cycle for weeks, then maybe we should all agree that there has to be a radical reform of the profession where we can allow room for proper non biased news reporting like it used to be, as against the very partisan Cable networks that now dot our airwaves, constantly cramming their ideological viewpoints into our living rooms, like it or not.

[alternative-diplomacy]

Rarely has a comic garnered so much national attention and even a light hearted mention at a White House briefing podium like The Daily Show's Jon Stewart has, lately.

His week-long raucous with CNBC's Mad Money anchor and host, Jim Cramer, and the culminating finale on Jon's turf, only but helped to further buttress the increasingly popular argument that the era of the twenty four hour Cable news cycle and its attendant bunch of highly paid and mostly partisan and special interest based punditry, does much to add to the already deafening "noise level" as against offering real solutions to the deepening economic crisis, especially at a time when most Americans are barely able to stay afloat.

In an interview that lasted less than half an hour, Jon Stewart the "comedian" as Jim Cramer in an earlier interview on NBC's Today's Show, repeatedly tried to make us see, not only schooled Mr Cramer on the responsibilities and quite frankly the essence of what good journalistic instincts and conduct should be all about, but even went further as to make Mr Cramer concede to the fact that indeed, his gig, like most of the other Cable News platforms, was nothing but a ratings seeking, morally bankrupt and a "ball of hot air" spectacle, "selling snake oil and camouflaging it as multivitamins" rant. Again, Cramer agreed with this premise... wholeheartedly. He did so, looking every bit like a wimp and it was quite frankly, an uneasy sight to watch.

[DRicha8374]

I bet you Cramer will think again before Jon is just a comedian, the problem with those who have think that because you chose a job, that they think requires no brain, that you actually have none. Jon just prove him wrong.

You go Jon

[sc92705]

Cramer does not instruct people to short stocks on "Mad Money" even if he believes you could make money. He does not get into hedging. This is because his show has a bullish stance on the market even when it does not make sense.

Shorting and hedging is discussed extensively on "Fast Money" where you get a much more frank assessment and the FM traders declare if they are long, short, or hedged.

Stewart said it was unfortunate Cramer was the face on this whole matter when it was really CNBC is has the issue with. Yeah, well, Jon, you threw Jim under the bus.

I like Cramer but I NEVER go with his picks. He only recently gave up on applying fundamental principles. He has said for awhile the market is lousy and broken. Jim is much better for the helicopter view of the market.

[BikeFreak]

Jon is the MAN.

Cramer...not so much

[jefffG]

I bet Jon Stewart will become a star in Europe within the next few days . Here in France no commentator would dare to give the same lesson to those financials"experts" who have dramatically failed . Here in Paris , things are slow to react ........and the same band of "salesmen" is still on TV , speading their arrogance and stupidity about financial business and stock exchange .....etc.
Bravo to you Jon Stewart , for your touch of genius in your show and your sense of reality.
All the Gordon Gekko should sit now and shut up....and CNBC get back to work seriously and modestly.