Was Jon Stewart doing ‘Amos n Andy’ imitation of Herman Cain?
Jon Stewart and Fox News have been going back and forth the past few days ever since Stewart appeared on Chris Wallace’s show. How liberal is Jon Stewart? How conservative is Fox News?
Then Georgia presidential candidate Herman Cain took offense at a recent Stewart imitation of Cain. After Cain jokingly said he’d like bills to be only three pages long, Stewart mocked him via a voice somewhat like Cain’s and implied Cain does not like to read. Here’s the exact joke:
JON STEWART, HOST, “THE DAILY SHOW”: While Pawlenty attempts to get us to face the problem inside us, candidate Herman Cain offers real solutions to fictional issues.
HERMAN CAIN (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Don’t try to pass a 2,700-page bill. You and I didn’t have time to read it. We are too busy trying to live, send our kids to school. That’s why I’m going to only allow small bills, three pages. You will have time to read that one over the dinner table.
STEWART: Bills will be three pages. If I am president, treaties will have to fit on the back of a cereal box. From now on, the State of the Union address will be delivered in the form of a fortune cookie. I am Herman Cain, and I do not like to read.
And here is what Cain has to say with Juan Williams on Fox News:
WILLIAMS: Tell me what’s your beef with Jon Stewart.
CAIN: First of all, Jon Stewart is a comedian. I understand that. But when he starts to mock the three-page joke, him being a comedian, he ought to have known that that was a joke. But he took it seriously and then he started to stretch it out with all of the other stuff. Now, when he mocked me in the dialogue of the old “Amos and Andy”…
WILLIAMS: Dialect.
CAIN: Dialect of the old “Amos and Andy.” I think that was a bit much. But, you know, he is a comedian. I’m running for office. I’m a problem-solver.
WILLIAMS: You know, one of the things that drives conservatives crazy, Mr. Cain, is when liberals respond to any criticism by playing the race card.
CAIN: Right.
WILLIAMS: Are people going to say, “Hey, Herman Cain is now playing the race card on Jon Stewart”?
CAIN: I’m not playing the race card. Some people in the media are playing the race card. I didn’t complain. Look, the list of names that I have been called and the many times that people have tried to pull me into the race card game, I just have refused. I have got a long list of names in my radio studio where every name in the book they have called me. So I really am not overly — I’m not offended by what he was trying to do. He’s a comedian. I’m a problem-solver. So I wasn’t — I’m not the one playing that card. Some other people are playing that card. It’s not about color. I keep saying that. It’s about content of ideas and it is about character.
And here is Stewart defending himself on his own show last night by pulling the “I’m just a comedian who makes fun of everybody’s dialect” argument. It is actually funny to watch Stewart do mock accents of everyone from Dick Cheney to Pres. Obama:
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191 comments Add your comment
Cain is able
June 29th, 2011
6:02 pm
I like them both.
Cain is able
June 29th, 2011
6:08 pm
I keep trying to tell my liberal friends that Fox news is not that bad, but this is making me look bad. A whole news channel attacking Jon Stewart seems more silly than anything Stewart has ever said.
Cain is able
June 29th, 2011
6:09 pm
I want to see H.Cain on the Stewart show!
sldkfjslk
June 29th, 2011
6:18 pm
Herman Cain can’t even solve the problem of making a decent tasting pizza.
do-dah do-dah
June 29th, 2011
6:19 pm
You want to make a bet on what % Cain will gather from you Republicans and tea partiers?? So proud that you guys are coming into the 21st century with a person of color running for Prez under your banner- right? He will never top 10 % folks.
Huh?
June 29th, 2011
6:21 pm
There is no way that FOX can actually be this dense….it’s a comedy show…..just like their news division.
Terry in Iowa
June 29th, 2011
6:33 pm
Jon’s really gotten to the Regressives here. It’s kind of fun to watch them foam at the mouth. The Daily Show is outstanding and usually hilarious and they target anyone who gives them ammunition: Regressives, Liberals, Progressives, Conservatives, Libertarians, etc… even not politicians. Jon’s especially good a self deprecating humor.
The one really good thing about TDS is they do their homework, yes it’s often exaggerated (that’s often what makes satire funny), but they are experts at shining the light on what passes for news, be it FOX, MSNBC, CNN or anyone else.
You regressives need to lighten up. If you pull your head out of the and get past your ignorant arrogance you’ll find it is pretty funny stuff.
John K
June 29th, 2011
6:34 pm
Love it. Of course Stewart did nothing of the sort. But good to see Cain take a page out Palin’s playbook and whine about any form of criticism.
Former RNC Chairman, Michael Steele
June 29th, 2011
6:35 pm
Hi there my bibbles. Why are we continuing to quibble and bibble with one another. Why should it be Beef Stew’s fault that Pizza Guy can’t take a joke? If Cain-bibble wants to get his bibbles in a bibble, let him go cry like a baby in the bibble.
Seeing some of the anti-semetic comments on here makes me a sad bibble. I thought Atlanta was past the days of Leo Frank, I guess not. Let’s all be good boys and bibbles and try to get along with one abibble.
I love all my fellow bibbles be they republibibbles or demobibbles. Let’s all bibble our bibbles together and quit with the bibbling and the babbling.
Bibble out, y’all.
gm
June 29th, 2011
6:36 pm
Sorry uncle Cain it is not going to work: hypocrites of the tea pary movement will never accept you, oh they may brag for a minute because they have made you there black mascot, but you will never be as good as Romey or Bauchman, you will remain in the back seat.
All the rest of you Cains out there can never change the fact Obama was the first to be elected, and it came on the Dem party watch., your party will never elect a black conservatives no matter how he pretends he is one of them, at least Obama is not trying to be accepted by the good old white boys that ruining our country, why do you think that hate him, wake up toms.
LJ
June 29th, 2011
6:53 pm
GM, good old white boys ruining our country??? Who passed the stimulus package that now has more people unemployed than when it was passed? What great liberal leader said we have to pass this healthcare bill so we can see whats in it?? Wasn’t that the great Nancy Pelosi?? I’m pretty sure Obama told someone who was complaining about gas prices to buy a more fuel efficient car. Obama just agreed to release some of the oil from the reserves after oil prices drop and oil factories are reducing their volume to 50% becuase of the surplus of oil. Sounds like the Dems in charge really know what’s going on with our country
Art
June 29th, 2011
6:54 pm
There enough people in this world trying to divide us and eradicate our way of life without us doing it to ourselves.
Art
June 29th, 2011
6:55 pm
And before I get eaten alive… I meant to say, “There are enough people…”
This is Mrs. Norman Maine
June 29th, 2011
6:55 pm
Don’t even try it Hermie! You and Juan are the last people to complain. #whatacoupladamnhypocrites#
Terry
June 29th, 2011
7:00 pm
gm
Without a doubt the Dumbest Post of The Year.
You don’t know me or about other Tea Partier’s.
We don’t care about color, unlike your side.
We care about fiscal issues. The govt has to balance their books just like we have to at home.
It’s not rocket science.
BTW, try to go to the store, car dealership or any retail place tomorrow & try to purchase something that you don’t have the cash to cover. You will go home empty.
Ramzad
June 29th, 2011
7:23 pm
Herman Cain is a fraud. I hope the Tea Party invite him to tea and then lynch him when he gets out of his car.
Mr. Smarty Pants by Gum
June 29th, 2011
7:24 pm
John Stewart is not, nor has he ever, been funny. Seriously folks you must be very easily amused or high or both.
Big L
June 29th, 2011
7:25 pm
People hate Herman Cain because he doesn’t fall in line when it comes to politics. Being black, he must be an Uncle Tom because he doesn’t lick liberal boots. Why is it when you believe people should work for what they get instead of waiting for it at the mail box on the frost of the month, you ar automatically racist? The party that wants people to be open minded sure hates it when the built in voting base uses their own for something other than furthering the moocher agenda. In his current form and abilitiy, Herman Cain is twice as qualified as the man in the white house now, and this Honkey is gonna vote for him til he can’t anymore.
Not An American
June 29th, 2011
8:12 pm
I find it funny how the conservative slanted posts are struggling to find ground to stand on to continue their attacks on Jon.
There’s a reason why there are no conservative comedians (good ones anyways), to be a comedian you have to be informed and you have to critically think. Those two things are crucial to setting up a joke and to have to audience follow you along for it. The other important thing for most comics is the ability for the comics to be able to laugh at themselves, as well as the audience be able to laugh at themselves. A good example is Russel Peters who can get almost any ethnic and cultural group to go along with a laugh at pretty much at their expense (in a non-racist way) That I have to say non-racist is because people who take themselves too seriously cannot laugh at a joke.
With all that in mind, conservatives have nothing but a smug sense of superiority in which the only laughs they can get are at the expense of others; or in other words standing on top, pointing fingers at everyone else, whist spitting on them. A “We are right, everyone else is stupid” mentality. Such is the reason why the sentiment of most heavy right leaning posts seek to demean and degrade the target of their ire.
BTW, Obama has been the target of comedic jokes on his ineptitude, lack of drive and momentum; but you’d have to watch ‘liberal’ comedians to hear them. Though if you’re a heavily right leaning conservative, you wouldn’t tune in to those anyways; you’d be too busy listening to the right-wing pundits talking about how he’s destroying the country. Hyperbole is another tool of a comedian, but how do you do a hyperbole of the talking points on the right? It just doesn’t work.
Peg
June 29th, 2011
8:22 pm
One thing is very clear, from reading all these comments. At least half of the conservative commenters commenting on this story (dismissing the ones who insist on commenting on Obama’s policies instead of Cain or Stewart) did not bother to even watch the video the story is referencing. For people to say things like “He never does this to Obama etc” when Stewart is RIGHT THERE in front of you, doing the same thing to Obama (and Kennedy, Kerry, etc etc) just reveals a level of ignorance that you should be ashamed of. At least watch the video before making a comment about it.
RGB
June 29th, 2011
8:25 pm
Right On Big L @7:25PM.
Shut this blog down as you’ve said it all and you’ve said it Right.
Jim's friend
June 29th, 2011
8:40 pm
I thought this bit was the funniest so far this year on this show or on any other..
Sonny
June 29th, 2011
10:20 pm
I would vote for Mr. Cain in a heartbeat. My earlier comment would maybe be something John Stewart would use? I knew it would not work here, no other comment necessary.
Youknowitstrue
June 29th, 2011
11:07 pm
Stewart is the perfect example of the left wing media bias in this country. Everyone time I accidentally come across his program, he’s ripping on Fox News and the GOP. Not once have I heard him rip on or even impersonate Obama, which is suprising given how much of a joke Obama is. A few things come to mind, such as:
-Being the first President to require a teleprompter to be able to get through a press conference
-Inviting a rap-artist that celebrated killing cops to the White House
-Criticizing a State Law that he admitted he never even read
-Making a joke at the expense of the special olympics
-Stating that there were 57 states in the United States
-Mispronouncing the Marine Corps as if it were the Marine Corpse
-Feeling the need to apologize for our country’s ‘arrogance’
-Doubling the National Debt, which took more than 2 centuries to accumulate
-Joining Mexico in suing Arizona to force the State to allow Illegal Immigration
-Putting 87,000 workers out of work by using a forged document to place a moratorium for offshore oil drilling on BP, which had one of the best safety records of any in the industry prior to the oil spill
-Reducing theretirement plan holdings of GM stock by 90% and giving unions a majority stake in GM
-Spending hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars to take the first lady to a play in NYC
And the list goes on and on.
Come on Obama voters admit it, this man is a complete fraud and you know it. Just give this man four more years and watch the country our patriotic founding fathers worked so hard to build become what Greece is today.
SavannahS
June 29th, 2011
11:09 pm
Fox News had all their program leads complaining about Jon Stewart. It’s interesting to see how all the mouth pieces speak as one voice. They were all on message. This appears to be the result of several days of FOX trying to decide how to respond to Chris Wallace’s interview of Stewart. They still have not responded though to being called out on a long list of inaccurate (trying to be kind here) reports they have run as fact.
gerev
June 30th, 2011
12:36 am
When Chris Wallace first made the “Amos n Andy” suggestion two weeks ago – Stewart should have looked at his watch and said, “Gee Chris – less than a minute and your already playing the race card.” This isn’t about racism – it’s all about FOX getting even for Wallace giving Stewart a chance to expose their “other side” of the news. FOX would rather talk about anything other than Stewart/Wallace – so they go whole hog on Stewart being a racist liberal disguised as a comic.
Lloyd C
June 30th, 2011
12:58 am
These extremist conservatives are just keyboard warriors
no transparency
no accountability
no responsibility
just fatrolls and a keyboard. no muscles or guts.
LOLZ.
conservatives are crybabies.
first. anything they don’t agree with they call ‘liberal elitist’
second. anything they do agree with they consider “morally fair and balanced”
if anyone mocks fox news, it’s ‘they’re all against us”
LOLZ bunch of crybaby conservatives!
phil
June 30th, 2011
6:21 am
I don’t recall this it’s comedy deal from lib’s with Don Imus.
Rick B
June 30th, 2011
9:26 am
When I smoked dope 30 years ago in college, Jon Stewart would have appealed to me, too. Now (and not due to college) I am more enlightened, and am amazed at the bias, and what liberals like Stewart are allowed to get away with. To you conservatives trying to convince the liberals that they are ignorant and shallow-minded: reminds me of the old joke of trying to teach a pig to sing…just don’t do it.
Former RNC Chairman, Michael Steele
June 30th, 2011
11:30 am
What’s with all my fellow Republicans getting all personal when attacking Beef Stew and the bibbles that watch his show? Can we please criticize the program without resorting to name calling and claiming that the viewers smoke dope?
Listen, let’s just be good boys and bibbles and realize that there’s a lot more important bibbles going on in this great big bibble called America, baby.
Why are people criticizing Obibble? He didn’t have anything to do with this bibble last I checked. So lets keep the discussion on the matter at hand, that Hermain Cain is a big ol bibble with nothing better to do than waste time and other people’s money in an effort to get him a better book deal, more radio syndication, and higher speakers fees. It’s all a bunch of bibble, ya bibble?
I remember when libralbibbles used to attack George W Bibble. I always said “you may not like the bibble, but you should respect the office of President of the United States.” Can’t we all just heed those words and try to be more civil bibbles?
Bibble out, y’all
Troglodyke
June 30th, 2011
12:12 pm
Liberals say and do the most moronic things on the planet.
SERIOUSLY?
Have you ever listened to Bachmann and Palin, for starters?
SheeshLouise
June 30th, 2011
12:34 pm
But Herman Cain DOES speak with that ol’ slave twang, and that’s something that irks me about him…and I am Black! “Hyah WE doin’ suh?” “We’z awlright today boss?’ Yessah, THAT’S Herman! And he loves being that way to keep his listenership entertained and feeling unthreatened.
left/right? i care
June 30th, 2011
12:53 pm
dawgfan, which way are you going? ummmm, yeah–it is funny when comedians like bruce bruce do “white voices”, he was paid well on “triple x, American”–(something close) when he was riding in the cheese truck and the good guys came to steal the guns that were being transported. and yes of course Blacks can be racist- but…. who is racist MORE–that is the question. and no–i cannot answer it, i do not know the answer, but i know that the matter is tiresome. if it is funny, laugh. if it is stupid, dont. if it offends someone, apologize. but, life is short, keep living, daggggg.
Big Tee
June 30th, 2011
1:50 pm
Enough with the hypocrisy already! I get sick and tired of ‘conservative’ (aka redneck/right-wing reactionary) bloggers criticizing Jon Stewart for making fun of Herman ‘Whiner’ Cain and then say if a conservative radio/TV host did likewise to an African-American they’d calling for his/her head. Limbaugh, Hannity, Beck, Boortz, O’Reilly and Ann Coulter have criticized, mocked and otherwise made disparaging remarks about minorities and they still have their radio/TV shows. The problem these crazy right-wingers have is they are happy to criticize, skewer and lampoon their opponents and ‘enemies’ but when they are the ones on the receiving end they whine and complain worse than a spoiled brat.
Edmonds
June 30th, 2011
4:28 pm
Jon, grow up!!!! You may think you are funny, but it would seem to me that you use your show to advance your liberal bias. Not funny Jon.
Satire anyone
June 30th, 2011
7:02 pm
John Stewart is like Rush Limbaugh both deal with political satire in their own unique way !
Tracey
July 1st, 2011
11:43 am
Rick B “He appeals to the stoners who have not the intelligence to get their news from any other source”
Um, his audience rates pretty high in education and money. Keep repeating O’Reilly’s cutesy nicknames for any liberal, leftist, Democrat, Jon Stewart viewer. It’s adorable!
Biggie Boortz
July 1st, 2011
6:53 pm
I LOVE that Flava Cain!
Jim
July 3rd, 2011
3:55 pm
I wonder how much money and free publicity Herman Cainis going to make off of this fake controversy.Or maybe this is just a job interview for FOX “news” … Haven’t we seen this before hmmmmm
eric
July 4th, 2011
1:18 pm
Wow! Did folks actually listen to the bit John Stewart actually did? Nowl, I just watched a bit of an Amos and Andy episode and the only similarity is that Stewart used a gruff sounding voice, could have been a Louis Armstrong voice, but not as gruff. It sounded a little more gruff than Mr. Cain’s own voice. I have a radio show and I commented on how the 3 page idea was a dumb idea. Does that make me a racist? Mr. Cain says that anyone who took his 3 page idea seriously was dumb because they did not get that he was joking. So the comedian Stewart made fun of the politician’s “joke” and it is racist. Before you start shouting that he only attacks conservatives and only does voices for Conservatives, watch the clip above or maybe watch 1 or 2 episodes. The guy skewers everyone. Yes, he is a liberal and he does not try to hide that, but he tries to attack hypocrisy and dumb ideas regardless of what political flavor they are.
Bottom line, if you are a politician, make sure you have a good comedic writer on staff, so your jokes are actually funny. Everyone else, take a chill pill and listen to the whole story.
http://www.canigetawordin.com
nutcracka
July 5th, 2011
3:49 am
I have no comments regarding the incident.
However, I see that Cain said to Williams, “…he mocked me in the dialogue of the old “Amos and Andy”…
And Williams corrected him… “Dialect.”
I thought that was funny. But I have a strange sense of humor.