If Ever The Daily Show Called for an Emergency Episode, Monday Night Was It

Of course the American air strikes on Iran Saturday grabbed the attention of the nation. How could they not?

Given that, and given Jon Stewart’s recent record of impassioned, brilliantly-delivered commentary, last night’s Daily Show was arguably as close one gets to must-see TV among the show’s loyal viewers.

But there was nothing to see, because the show is dark this week (and next).

As a result, If Jon Stewart had thoughts about the US diving into another conflict in the Middle East—as he did last week, ridiculing all the people who tried to argue the US was not “involved” in Israel’s war against Iran—he was compelled to keep them to himself, at least for now.

Still, it begs the question: Is there any news event so major that perhaps the most celebrated comic voice on politics and current affairs might check in with his staff on a Sunday and suggest they really need to find a way to be on the air for this the next night? Sort of like what Rachel Maddow did, coming in on Sunday to anchor for MSNBC?

Complicated? Expensive? Undoubtedly.

Exciting? Attention-getting? Yep, that too.

With Stewart as chief anchor, The Daily Show has always maintained its comedy-first identity, even as it has become a go-to for viewers eager to hear Jon’s take on the week’s often mind-boggling news.

Since he returned to the show last season, Stewart has brought his always-funny, more-and-more resistance-minded point of view to the job of joking about the state of the country and its politics.

And he has clearly been in control of the Monday night program, from its message to its length, which regularly runs well over its scheduled half hour slot.

It’s not like a sudden decision to do an original Daily Show because of major news would disrupt other essential programming on Comedy Central. South Park notwithstanding, Stewart himself has called attention on several occasions to the almost complete lack of any other original programming of consequence left on that once-vibrant basic cable channel.

Unrealistic? Probably. With the staff on break and the studio dark, to pull something like this off would mean rounding up a crew, at least a few writers, and finding an audience to show up and laugh. One imagines there are any number of other expensive logistical challenges that reduce this idea to the outer limits of whimsy. Still, it would be talked about—a not-irrelevant achievement in the current state of late-night television.

Stewart’s absence Monday was underscored by other quieted voices across late night.

Jimmy Kimmel would have been all over the Iran news, but he began his extended summer vacation last Thursday.

John Oliver’s HBO show did air a new show Sunday and could have jumped quickly on the Iran news—if only it hadn’t been taped on Saturday before news of the attack had broken.

Jimmy Fallon was on. He has focused on keeping NBC’s Tonight Show upbeat, steering clear of diving too much into the partisan wrangling over Trump. But the Iran news apparently proved too rich, inspiring a string of more than 15 monologue jokes, some relying on themes explored by other on-duty writing staffs, including one riff on the NSFW-sounding name for Trump’s bombing raid: “Operation Midnight Hammer.”

Fallon’s joke: “It’s named after Trump’s favorite Stormy Daniels movie.”

The Tonight Show host had probably the biggest laugh line of the night with his version of mocking Trump’s truly weird invocation of God in his television address. Fallon, affecting an embarrassed face rub, said, “Even God was like, ‘Jesus.’”

Seth Meyers went right for the guts of the story in his “Closer Look” segment last night, comparing the messaging surrounding Iran’s possession of bomb-ready uranium to the Bush Administration’s awfully similar selling of Iraq’s acquisition of “high-strength aluminum tubes” as proof of imminent nuclear bomb capability.

Stephen Colbert also made the air strike the centerpiece of his monologue.

“It’s hard to trust Donald Trump,” he said. “It feels like we’re all in the back seat while the Uber driver goes on a road rage. ‘Hey Buddy, we’re in the car too, and if we’re dead we can’t give you five stars.’”

Colbert hit all of the night’s popular themes: the name of the operation, Trump’s weird God reference, and the president misspelling his own first name as “Donakd ” in one Truth Social post.

The Late Show host also found his own target in Trump’s staff saying he based the rationale for the attack not so much on intelligence, but instead on “a feeling.” Colbert suggested, “If you’re going to make a decision that endangers the lives of American troops and civilians, what does that require? Cut to a clip of the band Boston, singing “More than a Feeling.”  

There were laughs to be mined in the details of the attack and what Trump said about it. But given his usually razor-sharp analysis of the tempestuous times we live in, Stewart would almost certainly have added a few left hooks amid the jabs last night.

Truth be told, he wouldn’t have had to mount a very special edition of The Daily Show to do it. As an executive producer on The Late Show (and good friend to its host), one could easily imagine him—and maybe even fellow Daily Show alum Oliver, too—joining Colbert at the Ed Sullivan Theatre to get at least get a few licks in.

Alas, not this time.