Jon Stewart got behind “The Daily Show” desk Thursday evening for a special, live-broadcast edition, going on air minutes after the first 2024 debate between President Biden and former president Donald Trump concluded on CNN. The host didn’t mince words, attacking both candidates’ performances and criticizing their inability to put together a coherent argument during the event.
“Let me just say after watching tonight’s debate: both of these men should be using performance-enhancing drugs,” Stewart said, getting a round of applause from the studio audience. “If performance-enhancing drugs will improve their lucidity, their ability to solve problems and, in one of the candidate’s cases, improve their truthfulness, morality and malignant narcissism, then suppository away.”
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During Stewart’s monologue, the audience could be heard cringing and gasping when clips from the debate were played. The “Daily Show” host also took the space to criticize CNN’s month-long promotional campaign for the debate, as well as the shallowness of cable news narratives heading into the evening: that Trump needed to “not be a bully” in the debate and Biden needed to “not have a senior moment.”
“A lot of people have resting 25th Amendment face,” Stewart joked about Biden’s performance, referencing the Constitutional amendment regarding the process of replacing a president due to death, removal, resignation or incapacitation. “While Biden was preparing at Camp David — for a week! — did anyone mention he would also be on camera?”
The Thursday broadcast, titled “Indecision 2024: The First Presidential Debate: America Watches Through Its Fingers,” is only the first live episode for “The Daily Show” this year. The Comedy Central series is also planning to go live after the next presidential debate, which is set for Sept. 10. Additionally, the production is also preparing to tape a full week of shows from both the Democratic National Convention and the Republican National Convention later this summer.
President Biden and Donald Trump attacked each other’s four years in office as a disaster for the United States during Thursday’s debate. The candidates’ responses often had relatively little to do with the questions from moderators Jake Tapper and Dana Bash.
