Jon Stewart: Quotes about thinking

Jon Stewart is American political satirist, writer, television host, actor, media critic and stand-up comedian. Explore interesting quotes on thinking.

Jon Stewart: 242 quotes0 likes

“It should have been a crowning moment, but I clearly remember thinking, What am I doing here? I hate crowds.”

Jon Stewart book Naked Pictures of Famous People

Naked Pictures of Famous People (1998)
Context: Hitler: I'm not going to lie to you, it took a while. There were moments all along where I knew something was wrong. I remember one time... I think it was in Munich. We were having a rally. 100,000 people all chanting my name. The bonfires were going. The whole shebang. It should have been a crowning moment, but I clearly remember thinking, What am I doing here? I hate crowds.

“You would think that if you bring oxygen to the organism, the organism lives. But there may be other organisms in there that thrive in darkness and in a more anaerobic environment. Watching those creatures writhe will always be interesting.”

Jon Stewart

On whether satire would be difficult under an Obama administration
Hartford Advocate Interview (2008)
Context: If someone was to introduce hope and idealism into our political system, I think the tension that would create in other areas would certainly be ripe. You would think that if you bring oxygen to the organism, the organism lives. But there may be other organisms in there that thrive in darkness and in a more anaerobic environment. Watching those creatures writhe will always be interesting.

“And then I'd get it and think, well geez, Poland's just up the road a piece and… you know the rest.”

Jon Stewart book Naked Pictures of Famous People

Naked Pictures of Famous People (1998)
Context: Hitler: Denial is a powerful thing... I always thought I could stop any time I wanted. "If I could just get Czechoslovakia, that'll be the end of it. I'll be happy then." And then I'd get it and think, well geez, Poland's just up the road a piece and... you know the rest.

“Just because we hit on points that resonate, or people think are real complaints—that doesn't make us journalists.”

Jon Stewart

Hartford Advocate Interview (2008)
Context: People would like to place a standard on our show that doesn't exist. We're not set up for reporting; we don't have an apparatus for that. We're discussing things that hopefully people might get something out of, but it's wildly inconsistent. Just because we hit on points that resonate, or people think are real complaints—that doesn't make us journalists.

“President Bush has uranium-tipped bunker busters and I have puns. I think he'll be OK.”

Jon Stewart

Rolling Stone interview http://www.rollingstone.com/news/coverstory/jon_stewart_stephen_colbert_americas_anchors, October 31, 2006 <br class="br">Context: Here's the way I look at it. President Bush has uranium-tipped bunker busters and I have puns. I think he'll be OK.

“Did you really just ask me if I want it to be bad? I have kids! What do you think? "Yeah, I don't want them to have any kind of a -- I want things to corrode to the point where we're all living in huts." […] [I] "like things to go a little wrong" like birdshot to the face of a guy that would survive, not "like things to go wrong" till it's like Mad Max, every-man-for-himself-let's-all-ride-around-and-machine-guns, which seems to be the way that it's”

Jon Stewart

going
Responding to King's suggestion that as a political comedian Stewart would "want things to be bad" because that would provide him with the most fodder for jokes

“What is the fear of the "gay agenda" that has so upset people? Do people think that if gay people are given a place at the table, they'll be so convincing we'll all end up blowing them? What is the issue? "You know, I'm straight, but you've made such a convincing argument…"”

Jon Stewart

Stand-up performance at RIT (2005)

“I can't control what people think this was. I can only tell you my intentions. This was not a rally to ridicule people of faith. Or people of activism or to look down our noses at the heartland or passionate argument or to suggest that times are not difficult and that we have nothing to fear. They are and we do. But we live now in hard times, not end times. And we can have animus and not be enemies.”

Jon Stewart

Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear closing speech (2010)

“If you look on their lawn, there are… it looks like a tent city of reporters. I don't know what insight they think they're going to glean from these people's grief, but if there's ever a situation where someone who's just lost their daughter has anything to say other than "this sucks," I'd be happy to see a news crew on their lawn, but until then, why are these people there?”

Jon Stewart

On exploitative media coverage of the Danielle Van Dam case, Paley Center for Media interview http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OymCVXtl3-4&feature=channel_page, 2002