Jason Holt 
The Ultimate Daily Show and Philosophy 
More Moments of Zen, More Indecision Theory

Savor moments of Zen like never before, with our Senior
Philosophical Correspondents

The Ultimate Daily Show and Philosophy is revised,
expanded, and updated to probe deeper than ever before the
philosophical significance of the quintessential ‘fake’
news show of the 21st century.

* Features significant revisions and updates from the first 2007
edition

* Includes discussion of both The Daily Show and its
spin-off, The Colbert Report

* Reveals why and how The Daily Show is philosophically
engaging and significant

* Showcases philosophers at their best, discussing truth,
knowledge, reality, and the American Way

* Faces head on tough and surprisingly funny questions about
politics, religion, and power

Table of Content

Acknowledgments xi

Introduction: From Wiley-Blackwell’s World Philosophy
Headquarters in Malden 1

Segment 1 Headlines: Faux News Is Good News 5

1 Rallying Against the Conflictinator: Jon Stewart, Neil
Postman, and Entertainment Bias 7

Gerald J. Erion

2 The Fake, the False, and the Fictional: The Daily Show as News
Source 23

Michael Gettings

3 The Daily Show: An Ethos for the Fifth Estate 38

Rachael Sotos

4 Seriously Funny: Mockery as a Political Weapon 56

Greg Littmann

5 Keeping It (Hyper) Real: Anchoring in the Age of Fake News
69

Kellie Bean

Segment 2 Live Report: Jon Stewart (Not Mill) as Philosopher,
Sort of 83

6 Jon Stewart: The New and Improved Public Intellectual 85

Terrance Mac Mullan

7 Stewart and Socrates: Speaking Truth to Power 102

Judith Barad

8 Jon the Cynic: Dog Philosophy 101 114

Alejandro Bárcenas

9 ‘Jews! Camera 3’: How Jon Stewart Echoes Martin
Buber 125

Joseph A. Edelheit

Segment 3 Field Report: Politics and Critical Thinking
137

10 More Bullshit: Political Spin and the PR-ization of Media
139

Kimberly Blessing and Joseph Marren

11 The Senior Black Correspondent: Saying What Needs to Be Said
155

John Scott Gray

12 The Daily Show’s Exposé of Political Rhetoric
167

Liam P. Dempsey

13 The Daily Show Way: Critical Thinking, Civic Discourse, and
Postmodern Consciousness 181

Roben Torosyan

Segment 4 Interview: Religion and Culture 197

14 GOP Almighty: When God Tells Me (and My Opponents) to Run for
President 199

Roberto Sirvent and Neil Baker

15 Profaning the Sacred: The Challenge of Religious Diversity in
‘This Week in God’ 211

Matthew S. Lo Presti

16 Jon Stewart and the Fictional War on Christmas 231

David Kyle Johnson

17 Evolution, Schmevolution: Jon Stewart and the Culture Wars
247

Massimo Pigliucci

Segment 5 Your Moment of Zen: Beyond The Daily Show
265

18 America (The Book): Textbook Parody and Democratic Theory
267

Steve Vanderheiden

19 A Tea Party for Me the People: The Living Revolution Meets
the Originalists 281

Rachael Sotos

20 Neologization à la Stewart and Colbert 298

Jason Holt

21 Irrationality and ‘Gut’ Reasoning: Two Kinds of
Truthiness 309

Amber L. Griffioen

22 Thank God It’s Stephen Colbert! The Rally to Restore
Irony on The Colbert Report 326

Kevin S. Decker

Senior Philosophical Correspondents 341

Index 348

About the author

Jason Holt is Associate Professor at Acadia University. He is author of Blindsight and the Nature of Consciousness, co-author of Flexibility: A Concise Guide, and editor of The Daily Show and Philosophy and a forthcoming anthology in philosophy of sport.


William Irwin is Professor of Philosophy at King’s College in Pennsylvania. He originated the philosophy and popular culture genre of books as coeditor of the bestselling The Simpsons and Philosophy and has overseen recent titles including Superman and Philosophy, Black Sabbath and Philosophy, and Spider-Man and Philosophy.