Jon Stewart Rips Pepper Spray-Happy UC Davis Cops, Black Friday Shopper (VIDEO)

"The Daily Show" returned from its Thanksgiving break Monday night, with Jon Stewart wasting no time catching up on the abundance of pepper spray-related news from the last week.

Just two months after Stewart condemned NYC Deputy Inspector Anthony Bologna for using pepper spray on passive Occupy Wall Street protesters, it turns out that "Tony Baloney" isn't even the biggest pepper-spraying offender out there.

Of course, we're talking about the UC Davis police who were caught on tape doing what appears to be "casually rust-proofing" a group non-aggressive college student protesters directly in the face. Like the rest of the Internet, Stewart could hardly believe how nonchalantly the officers doused the young people -- who were seated on the ground -- with the painful spray:

"You know, there are better ways to get college kids to move," Stewart said. "Hey everybody! Green Day's in the quad! Free tacos!"

Unfortunately, police weren't the only ones who inappropriately maced humans while "The Daily Show" was on hiatus. When Stewart heard about the Black Friday Wal-Mart shopper who pepper sprayed 20 people over an X-Box 360 console -- not to mention, the media referring to it as "competitive shopping" -- he concluded that pepper spray might just be America's new "ahem," so to speak:

"Pepper spray is our new car horn!"

Click here to watch on "The Daily Show" website

Comments

[th am]

12:57 PM on 12/02/2011

Jon Stewart should have been more conscious about making a random Nazi joke. In context, it wasn't funny anyway & in the timeline of the real story the joke was past its prime. It also tends to run parallel to an odd racist/anti-immigrant element that has popped up in the anti-Katehi crowd. I don't think the bias was Stewart's intent, but he played into it with that "joke." All of this is drawing focus away from the real problem-brutality and suppression of speech rights.

[mudshark12]

01:03 AM on 12/01/2011

Tragic Humor? Jon, while he was poking fun was also being somewhat in bad taste as these were all very wrongful incidents committed by people with bad intent. I think the writers for his show need to try harder and also Jon needs to be a little less insensitive.

[vidian6]

02:34 AM on 12/01/2011

He may have made light of a very serious situation, however the idea that someone pepper sprayed a group of people so that they could buy and Xbox, is completely nuts. If don't make light of this it could only make you sad, that people can stoop so low for something so insignificant

[mudshark12]

02:44 AM on 12/01/2011

Read cattbutt's comment directly below. Some things are just not that funny, the only parts I liked were when he poked fun at the perpetrators, who should ALL lose their jobs or in the case of the lady x-box buyer @ Walmart, jail time is required. I feel sorry for the victims especially the students @ UC Davis.

[Jeffrey Bryson]

05:45 PM on 12/02/2011

Are you new to this show?

[mudshark12]

11:43 PM on 12/02/2011

I like Jon Stewart, I watch him on a regular basis. Sometimes certain incidents need to be treated more diplomatically, this was one of them; given the severity of the police brutality and the innocence of the victims.

[vidian6]

11:46 AM on 12/05/2011

That's what I thought.

[catbutt]

07:37 PM on 11/30/2011

All these comments by people who don't know what it's like to be pepper sprayed.
If you knew, you would understand how painful an assault by pepper spray actually is.

Take it from a bouncer who knows. If you are ever given the choice between getting hit in the groin with a baseball bat and getting pepper sprayed, take the baseball bat. Comparatively speaking, the bat is a walk in the park.

[kyrose777]

09:17 AM on 11/30/2011

Sure sounds like a major breakdown of sanity in this country. The students were abused. The shoppers were abused by a ruthless woman. Was she arrested? Do you think Jesus would want his name associated with all this? I think not.

[Add In Canadia]

01:44 AM on 11/30/2011

The police weren't spraying those kids with pepper on purpose! What you don't see is that every student had a woefully bland bowl of chili, and they were desperately asking the police help with their food problem. The police officer simply had bad aim.

[Shouterguy]

11:33 PM on 11/29/2011

According to Fox News, it's a food product.

Extra spicy crowd control, please.

[Shouterguy]

11:32 PM on 11/29/2011

Say it, don't spray it.

[Jeffrey Bryson]

05:48 PM on 12/02/2011

That would make for a good sign. F/F.

[bynddrvn5]

10:16 PM on 11/29/2011

As a new holiday tradition is born, competitive shopping.

Time to stock up on pepperspray and tasers - get shopping done in record time.

Love, Stewart and Colbert!

[NoSandwiches]

09:30 PM on 11/29/2011

Competitive shopping has its roots in enhanced interrogation. War is Peace; out!

[Madbunny]

10:28 PM on 11/29/2011

The price of chocolate has always been a dollar.

[Jeffrey Bryson]

05:49 PM on 12/02/2011

Oceania has always been at war with Eurasia.

[BlackJAC]

06:51 PM on 11/29/2011

Shouting "free beer and weed on the quad" would've gotten those college kids out of there quite efficiently.

[thedayfallman]

06:49 PM on 11/29/2011

Brilliant. I love how Stewart takes a truly awful thing, such as the pepper-spraying UC Davis cop, and uses comedy to reveal the absolute horror of it. Stewart 2016.

[Adrienne Williams]

06:25 PM on 11/29/2011

I'm dying, that made my day! Thanks Jon and Steven.

[manelady]

05:57 PM on 11/29/2011

Jon Stewart and Steven Colbert = last true journalists. The best part is they impart good information under the guise of "comedy." We laugh at the absurdity and the genius portrayals. Too bad we can't have a good laugh in reality. Bless Jon and Steven

[Tom Hendricks]

04:57 PM on 11/29/2011

Assault and Pepper

[christina444]

06:04 PM on 11/29/2011

LOL!

[vidian6]

02:36 AM on 12/01/2011

Good one!

[stanlord]

04:34 PM on 11/29/2011

Fire the Chancellor.....and raise the tuition more to pay the salary of the new one.