"Daily Show" On And In Iran: Stewart Mocks American Media, Jason Jones Reports From Tehran (VIDEO)

Jon Stewart devoted the bulk of his show to Iran last night, first mocking American talking heads for repeatedly asking if Obama was doing enough. "Someone should have the guts to entangle us in the politics of that region," Stewart quipped sarcastically. He then moved on to Iranian leaders who insist that this is not a popular uprising by the people, but an insurgence from the West and got increasingly upset at being blamed yet again for doing the wrong thing in Iran. "I just want to garden!" Stewart yelled, oddly.

Aasif Mandvi, the "Daily Show"'s senior foreign looking correspondent, then defended the Iranian regime saying, "Without their meddling [Western] eyes seeing and their trouble-making ears hearing, maybe this whole thing would go away."

Finally, Jason Jones revealed another package from his actual trip to Iran in which he spoke to three men that were subsequently arrested by the Iranian government. These men were all reasonable and engaging, and therefore a threat to Ahmadinejad's repressive regime.

For more of the "Daily Show"'s Iran coverage click here.


WATCH:

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Crisis in Iran
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Jason Jones in Iran

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Crisis in Iran - Westerners Are to Blame
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Jason Jones in Iran

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Jason Jones: Behind the Veil - Persians of Interest
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Jason Jones in Iran

Comments

[Shaas]

Last we wanted a new regime for Iran by removing the shah - you know who come into power.
So let Iran do their mistakes, we do not need to export to Iran misjudgements.

[TParrish]

You're right. The current Iranian government has made political hay out of the fact that we meddled with them by helping to install the Shah, and the fact that they think that when we supported Saddam Hussein during the Iran-Iraq war, we provided him with the poison gas that was used on the Iranian soldiers. They have very legitimate, very old gripes against us. More recently, they were called part of the "Axis of Evil" by our president, and it was obvious to everyone that Bush, and large portion of the Republican party were looking at Iran as the next invasion after Iraq. The Republicans are wetting themselves with happiness, thinking about invading Iran while pretending to help them.

We need to stay out of this. If a revolutionary war begins, we might be able to come to the aid of the revolutionaries the same way the French helped us in ours, but short of that, we need to keep our hands off.

[Furby]

One little problem, "we" don't know how to do that.

[RobertHenryEller]

The idea of giving Iranians phone cards may sound ridiculous, but is not.

During the breakup of the Soviet Union, George Soros was supplying people in Eastern Europe and the former CIS countries with Fax machines and other communications devices, so that dissidents could communicate with each other.

It works.

[TParrish]

Right. I have friends from Latvia who lived under the Soviet rule, and who told me that the way the Soviets controlled the people was by limiting communication and the preventing the spread of information. One could go to prison for having an unlicensed typewriter or (ready?) mimeograph machine. John Stewart's Montgomery Burns imitation was funny, but the derision was not completely deserved. Anything that assists in the dissemination of information hurts oppressive regimes.

[RobertHenryEller]

Grazie, TParrish. Molto gentile.

[motu]

Except - THEY DON'T NEED OUR HELP with this...
can't you see they have their ways of getting communications out just fine.
Why do we have to be such self righteous 'liberators' when we don't even expose our own failings?

[RobertHenryEller]

Motu, you are correct: We have been guilty of self-righteousness. In fact, over the not-too-distant past, we have wronged the people of Iran.

But I'm only talking about the usefulness of helping people communicate. What they say and do with that is up to them. I don't think this is self-righteous.

Don't you think that Iranians have been aided by all the ways they have been able to communicate with each other, and thwart their government's ability to stop them from communicating?

[roeschh2]

"Conspiracy Theory" Websites

http://www.counterpunch.com/roberts06192009.html

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/1552784/Bush-sanctions-black-ops-against-Iran.html

http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=3206417

[Deadgnome]

Thanks

[Khirad]

Wow, like this is new. The conspiracy theorists keenly forget the IRI's own culpability in their brutal rule and mismanagement. I'm not idealizing anything - I'm familiar with the players. But the fact that the elite in the IRI are more fractured than at any time is itself a story. If this were a result of our campaign to foment a color revolution, and it succeeds in a year or so, I'll still put more weight on the IRI's misrule than any of our subversive machinations. If not successful within a year or two, and the IRI doesn't change, even considering the hypothetical that we don't lift a finger, that regime is still rotting from within.

[Bobzmcishl]

Stewart did a good job of mocking the cable media coverage of Iran and their narcisstic view of it. The rest of the piece wasn't that funny given the deaths of many Iranians. So Stewart is not perfect but he hits the target most of the time. Even today at the Obama interview the press was still annoyed that he didn't "act out" in some way that would have given them more to talk about. Obama is doing the right thing -acting like an adult in this situation.

[akuma river]

I think they did as well as they could considering the circumstances.

They are a political comedy show and they can't just ignore this like other comedy shows are but they also have to keep the light comedy tone. It's probably a little morbid humor...but sometimes that's what is needed.

[motoGpifupleez]

One day, perhaps in the distant future, American media will return to reporting, rather than commenting and parroting RNC talking points.
Long live 'The Daily Show', 'The Colbert Report', 'DemocracyNow!', 'TruthDig', 'The Nation', and
'Mother Jones'.

[SiberianRat]

Yep!

[OneHeart]

After watching that episode, I tried to get on-line to comment to the Daily Show about that excerpt. I thought it was callous and not funny to replay the interviews from Jason of those three that got arrested. Then the kicker? When the son of one of the interviewed who was arrested while in the hospital was interviewed. Jon tried to make a joke about him as part of the 'axis of evil'. The son was not humored. Here is a son, whose father was arrested in the hospital than returned for a critical operation, dealing wtih this comic moment. The son appeared very disturbed by Jon's comments. Jon took noticed finally and changed his tone and attitude.

I really like Jon but this excerpt was inexcussable. The citizens are fighting for their lives and their freedom and stupid interviews by Jason and the comments made by Jon, this time, were in poor taste. Make fun of us, Americans, and our political folly but not when people are fighting and dying for freedom...­especially when a son is so worried about his father, whom he may never see again.

I would like Jon to make a disclaimer or somewhat an apology to the son and to those who are fighting for their freedom. ..and no, I am not Iranian, just a concerned citizen that fights for anyone's freedom. So, Jon, do the right thing. I still love your show and will continue to watch and enjoy.

[AlliK]

Point of clarification: Jon never once said anything about the “axis of evil” in his interview of Ebrihim Yazdi’s son. He made a joke about the Iranian government treating a man who was ill and hospitalized as a serious threat to the nation’s safety. You are of course entitled to your opinions (I personally love that they are covering this and seem to be the only show with anything thoughtful to say) but you should really get your facts straight when you criticize their coverage.

[tbone32]

very well said.

[Mekarri]

The whole time Jon was trying to make a joke out of what is going on in Iran, I kept thinking about all the brave people that have died and that video of that young woman dying in front of the whole world. So I didn't find anything amusing about it. I thought it was insensitive and callous. I was very disappointed in Jon Stewart.

[propitiousmoment]

Co-sign, I thought the Jason Jones segments were in very poor taste, really not the kind of thing I have grown to expect from Jon.

[Mercedes1981]

I agree

[nolacuse]

I'm sorry, but did we watch the same segment? After Jon's attempt at a joke fell through, he adjusted his tone and spoke seriously. He ended by saying that everyone that met this man's father found him to be kind and reasonable. He stated that they were all hoping for the best for him, including being released quickly and a speedy recovery from the hospital. I wouldn't call that insensitive. His joke didn't work. No offense here, but that is his job: to find humor in anything and everything. He tried to do that, but quickly realized he could not.

As for Jason Jones' piece: How was that uncalled for? He did what he and the Daily Show always do. He used humor and absurdity to point out how ridiculous it is that these three men were taken into custody. Why should he not replay those interviews? I thought they highlighted why those men should not have been jailed perfectly. Their arrests were public knowledge beforehand, so TDS revealed nothing new, they simply further supported the opposition by undermining the regime's decisions. I think it would have been worse to not show the interviews considering what happened to those men.

[Mekrabb]

GARDEN is not a verb.

[Beachchick]

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/garden%5B2%5D

[ThinkCreeps]

Love it. Damn facts.

[Simon Woodward]

But I suppose you'll be telling me that winterize (as in, winterize your pool) IS a verb?

[pgwodehouse]

It most certainly is.

[amdezurik]

do you need to borrow a pair of pliers?

[rabiddog6708]

The Daily Show and The Cobert Report = best 60 minutes on TV.

[apoyo]

Today Andrea Mitchell was more concerned about the use of note cards versus the teleprompter and the use of the press room versus the rose garden.

This is what the 24 hour news cycle brings you. Matters of true importance.

[progressiveevangelic]

http://www.countercurrents.org/roberts220609.htm

Are The Iranian Election Protests Another
US Orchestrated ‘Color Revolution’?

By Paul Craig Roberts

22 June, 2009

[HPfanRJ]

By George! I think you're on to something! The basiji who shot Neda through the heart was undoubtedly a CIA undercover sharpshooting operative who chose her as the most productive symbol and not some clueless Syrian hezbollah operative at all. Likewise the guy who persuaded Mousavi to claim the election early on was FAR more likely to be a brilliant CIA plant than one of those dull-witted Iranians that Mousavi has known and worked with for years. Me and Lush an' Sean an' Glenn all agree that you're making perfect sense.

[Homosapient]

I find it really sad that the only news organization that has someone reporting on the ground in Iran is Comedy Central. What does this say about us?

[Aroddo]

It means that the regular news coverage is a joke.

[jmundstuk]

That's not true.

[constitutional 1]

Not sure about the Daily show actually having someone in Iran, but the MSM is a joke,

[Anastasia]

Jason was there before the election and left before all Western media people were either kicked out or prevented from covering the story.

In an interview with Campbell Brown last night, when asked what his most memorable moment in Iran was, he replied that it was when he was walking towards the plane that would take him home, especially since it was his birthday and he hadn't been able to drink for a week.

Kind of an insensitive response.

[Hopalongpoppyseed]

Our American news coverage is lousy, but since you are on the internet, you can try the BBC and the Middle East newspapers, such as those in Turkey, Egypt, Jordan, etc. http://news.bbc.co.uk/

[Josh Peters]

There is also an English version of Al-Jazeera available for views from the area:

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/

[flamflurm]

Now that Obama's jumped in with both feet, Stewart and the rest of you will have to do a 180. Have fun with the explanations.

[Merckx]

Huh?

[klandish]

double Huh?

[Hopalongpoppyseed]

I am guessing that since President Obama has addressed the events in Iran this morning, that constitutes "jumping in with both feet," to flamflurm, who probably thinks that obama can do no good, otherwise why the knee jerk snark?

[CitizenJ]

You have to remember what flamflurm and his/her ilk consider "jumping in with both feet": anything that requires something more than involuntary cognitive vomiting.

[apoyo]

Funny how somehow people only hear what they want to hear.

[Hopalongpoppyseed]

And sad.

[Roses]

Huh?

[ladyv]

Uhh, nothing has changed.

[nolacuse]

"jumped in with both feet"- You say this phrase, but I do no think it means what you think it means.

I also don't think you understand how satire works.

[abigail1]

Jason's reports have been great.

[moUSAnMe]

as always, John nails it.

why can't the media get it? oh.........i mean they do, but then what would they "report"

[Knowledgeseeker]

American News Media is stuck on stupid, seems like they don't have any common sense.