Oct. 15, 2004

Stewart vs. ‘Crossfire’

Perhaps the most well-known moment from Mr. Stewart’s run as host didn’t even occur on “The Daily Show.” In 2004 he appeared on “Crossfire,” the CNN debate show hosted by Paul Begala, a former Clinton administration adviser, and Tucker Carlson, a conservative journalist and commentator. Mr. Stewart critiqued the program and its hosts, whom he blamed for reducing complex social issues to two-dimensional grist for partisan bickering.

It’s not so much that “Crossfire” is bad, as “it’s hurting America,” he told the hosts. “Stop hurting America.”

Several months later, CNN announced it was canceling the show. “I agree wholeheartedly with Jon Stewart’s overall premise,” Jonathan Klein, the president of CNN, said at the time. Making fun of Fox News and CNN was already the bread and butter of "The Daily Show," but the “Crossfire” incident solidified Mr. Stewart’s status as cable news’s most prominent critic. Watch the entire clip here →





Steve Bodow

Executive producer of 'The Daily Show'

That was a time when Jon was out doing a lot of appearances on other shows, which he seldom does, because we were promoting “America the Book.” And that [pause] interaction that he had with Tucker Carlson was pretty well unplanned.

Paul Begala

Former aide to President Bill Clinton and former 'Crossfire' co-host

I believe he clearly came in there wanting to blow the show up. And he did so.

He was very nervous in the makeup room. That was my first inkling that there was something going on. I went in the makeup room to meet him, because I’m a big fan. Also my cousin was in the Army and Jon’s done a lot to entertain the troops. He never brags about it, never takes credit, never promotes it. He’s not Bob Hope. So I wanted to tell him: "My cousin is in the Army and I wanted to thank you." And I was struck that he seemed nervous.

I was trying to parse how much of this was serious and how much of this was comedic. When he [said that we were] hurting America and everybody laughed, I thought that was obviously a joke. That’s hyperbole. Because I don’t think 30 minutes of debate, even if it’s bad, even if it’s shouting, I don’t think that hurts America. I think this is a pretty tough country.

He was extraordinarily earnest after the show. Really decent. I don’t think it was a show. I think a lot of it was our fault. It went off the rails quickly and it wasn’t entirely Jon’s fault.

It worked out for him. In my life, it doesn’t make my Top 100 list of bad days. A bad day is when they come to you and say: “They just impeached your boss. And by the way, can you write a statement — we’re about to launch air strikes.” That’s kind of a challenging day.

Albanese

My takeaway at the time was, "Well, we’re screwed." I really thought our show was canceled. One of the lines somebody uttered was, “Polish up your résumé, everybody.” “Crossfire” seemed like the culturally relevant, accepted thing, and we were the wiseasses in the back of the class, making fun of those guys – we didn’t know we were allowed to do it to their face.

I don’t think he was trying to get the show canceled. I don’t think he went there planning to do that. But to this day, when he does the audience warm-up, he will get questions about “Crossfire.” “Is Tucker Carlson still mad at you?” That was 10 years ago! But my answer is, "Yes, probably, he is still mad." He probably has a room in his house with a lot of Jon Stewart pictures with arrows through them.

Karlin

I was there. I was in the green room. We talked about it in the car ride to the taping, whether he wanted to do it or not. Whether he wanted to say what he was going to say. That was somewhat premeditated. I don’t think he saw it necessarily going in that direction, and certainly not becoming a thing. But it had been a running thing in our writers’ room, how awful that show is and it’s such a missed opportunity. We had lots of highfalutin, intellectual hand-wringing over it. I think Jon wanted to bring that to them, and it kind of devolved. He would say the same thing. Again, everyone looks at the post-Sept. 11 show and the “Crossfire” episode as these seminal moments. And I think Jon probably looks at those as not his favorite moments.