Every night at 10 p.m. in dorms, apartments and houses across campus, DVRs begin recording and TV sets flicker to life. An influx of wit, humor, and pithy critiques of everything from politics to the media to pop culture is inundating the minds of the young and impressionable.For the last eight years, Jon Stewart has elicited laughter from his predominately college-aged audience. Former President George W. Bush would often throwslow-breaking curve balls that hung up in the strike zone, allowing Stewart to knock it over the left field fence night after night. “The Daily Show” host has more home runs than Barry Bonds.
But all that is about to change.Stewart is a political humorist and satirist. Unlike “The Soup” host Joel McHale, Washington, not Hollywood, is his bread and butter.For all President Obama’s talk about creating new jobs and helping the economy recover, he overlooks the likes of Stewart and his protégé Stephen Colbert. Bush’s speeches were equitable to a toddler attempting Beethoven. Obama doesn’t make up words that find their way into the vocabulary of every politically conscious 20-something.  He doesn’t come up with lines that are completely incoherent and are still categorically wrong. Obama is smooth like Miles Davis’ “My Funny Valentine.” This competency may lead to the creation of jobs in other sectors, but “The Colbert Report” is lacking sufficient aid. President Obama seems satisfied subjecting the young voters, who  voted overwhelmingly in his favor last November, to the tired ramblings of Wolf Blitzer and the rancor of a former ESPN sports anchor.Stewart and Colbert’s shows attract viewers who are younger and smarter than average, according to a study conducted by the Pew Research Center. Statistics from the study show 54 percent of regular viewers of the comedy news shows qualify for the “high knowledge group,” which is defined as people who are able to correctly answer “at least 15 of 23 questions about politics and world affairs.” Only 41 percent of regular CNN viewers are put in the same category by the study.The Pew study also noted, “The … comedy news shows attract younger-than-average audiences.”This proves viewers of “The Daily Show” are younger and smarter than average. Stewart and Colbert have an attentive, educated audience.  Obama came into office with the promise of change. He said in his inaugural address, “the ground has shifted” — and the high ground belongs to the young. One of the greatest changes Obama could affect would be stoking the passions of the young by keeping them involved and engaged through the use of new media outlets like “The Daily Show.”The younger generation is often derided for being apathetic, but this recent election shows that’s an unfair characterization.The influx of intelligence and self-reflection brought about by Obama’s ascension will make things significantly more difficult for Stewart and Colbert. With this difficulty looming over the continued success of the two anchors, Obama may need to include job re-training in his proposed economic stimulus package so they can host “Good Morning America” and “The Today Show.” For the past eight years we have known where to go for news fit to ridicule. We also knew there would be no shortage of material. But times seem to be tight everywhere, and the satirical news media appears to be no different.–Contact Drew Walker at [email protected]