“The Daily Show,” which Stewart has helmed since 1999, has been perhaps the most influential news show of the 21st century, even though the program is more comedy than traditional newscast. Using humor to inform viewers and shape public opinion, Stewart has become not just a comedian, but a newsmaker in his own right.
“So Stewart wasn’t an actual news anchor,” writes Time‘s James Poniewozik. “What his show did with comedy was a kind of journalism nonetheless, using satire and some thorough research of source material to analyze the news and analyze its analysis. Any honest media critic knew Stewart was doing the job better than the rest of us. His show turned TV’s own tools and language against it to spotlight buffoonery, bad faith, hot air, and hypocrisy. Do the same thing in print and you’re an op-ed columnist. Stewart and company simply managed to do it in a format that people paid attention to.”
He also jumpstarted the careers of such people as Steve Carell (up for an Oscar for Foxcatcher), Stephen Colbert (soon-to-be host of CBS’ “Late Show”) and John Oliver, who hosts HBO’s “Last Week Tonight.” (Time)