Jon Stewart addressed head-on the specter of censorship looming over US late night talk shows on Thursday with an over-the-top portrayal of a politically obsequious television host under authoritarian rule, the AP reports. Stewart hosted the Comedy Central program one day after ABC suspended Jimmy Kimmel's late-night show indefinitely following comments he made about the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk and two months after CBS said it would cancel the show hosted by one of President Trump's fiercest critics on TV, Stephen Colbert. The show opened with a voiceover promising adherence to the party line. "We have another fun, hilarious administration-compliant show," it said.
Stewart lavished praise on the president and satirized his criticism of large cities and his deployment of the National Guard to fight their crime. "Coming to you tonight from the real (expletive), the crime ridden cesspool that is New York City. It is a tremendous disaster like no one's ever seen before. Someone's National Guard should invade this place, am I right?" Stewart said. The Daily Show set was refashioned with decorative gold engravings, in a parody of gold accents Trump has added to the fireplace, doorway arches, walls, and other areas of the Oval Office. Stewart fidgeted nervously as though he was worried about speaking the correct talking points. When the audience members reacted with an "awww" he whispered: "What are you doing? Shut up. You're going to (expletive) blow this for us."
He took on a more stilted tone when he started describing Trump's visit to the United Kingdom, calling the president "our great father." "Gaze upon him. With a gait even more majestic than that of the royal horses that prance before him," he said. Elsewhere in late-night TV Thursday, Colbert took a more serious approach, calling Kimmel's suspension "blatant censorship." He also responded to remarks Carr made that it is important for broadcasters to push back on programming "they determine falls short of community values." "Well, you know what my community values are, buster? Freedom of speech," Colbert said to loud applause from his audience. And Jimmy Fallon praised Kimmel and vowed to keep doing his show as usual—then an announcer spoke over him and replaced most of his critiques about Trump with flattery, the AP reports. (Click to see what David Letterman had to say.)
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