A "Daily" Dose of Iraq
The Daily Show with Jon Stewart offers fair and balanced reporting on Iraq.
By Rachel Joy Larris
September 13, 2007
Screenshot from “The Daily Show in Iraq,” which put a serious reporting spin on comedy.
In the run up to this week’s congressional testimony by Gen.
David Petraeus on the Iraq war, there has been endless speculation about the
situation on the ground in Iraq and the purpose of the U.S. mission there. “The
Daily Show with Jon Stewart” might not seem like an obvious choice to provide
objective coverage of the war. But blurring the line between comedy and serious
journalism has always been part of “The Daily Show’s” raison d’être, and late
August found Stewart introducing “The Daily Show in Iraq.” The new segments
featured actual reporting from Iraq by correspondent Rob Riggle, a breakthrough
for a comedy show.
The show is famous for green-screen segments in which
correspondents report “live” from various far-flung locales. But “The Daily
Show in Iraq” is far less light-hearted than usual “Daily Show” features. Genuine
moments of tension and anger were pushed to the forefront by Riggle’s presence
in Iraq, providing hard-edged fodder for the show’s typically hilarious and withering
political criticism.
Riggle, in addition to his job on “The Daily Show,” serves
as a major in the Marine Corps Reserves. He brought along cameras when he went
on a USO tour to perform for troops in Iraq. On the first night of Riggle’s
series, “The Daily Show” set up one of its standard green-screen bits, but this time the location was not a
simulation. Correspondents Riggle and Aasif Mandvi both told viewers they were
in Iraq. Riggle, frustrated that Mandvi would make the same claim, then attempted
to prove that, unlike his colleague, he was actually in a war zone. Riggle rolled
footage of himself in a C-130 transport plane, an indirect-fire bunker, and
then, less impressively, a golf cart. It was an amusing segment, but very much in
line with the usual tone of “The Daily Show.”
It wasn’t until the second night’s episode that the segment took
on a new tension and urgency. In it, Riggle raked several politicians over
the coals—namely, Sens. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) and Lindsay Graham (R-SC)
and Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN)—for ridiculous statements they’ve made about
the relative safety of Iraq. The segment (“The Daily Show in Iraq: Operation
Fluffy Bunny”) took particular umbrage at Pence’s infamous assertion that a Baghdad market he toured was "just like any open-air market in
Indiana in the summertime."
The segment then explored, via soldiers’ reactions, just how
unlike Indiana Iraq really is, with Riggle asking a few soldiers to list some
similarities. One said, "Well, there’s a river here. That’s about
it."
Another soldier’s response was less light-hearted: "I’d
had to say maybe the wind. ... No, not the wind. The food? No, not the food
either. Um, I’d have to say this place isn’t like [bleep]ing home at all."
This kind of palpable anger is unusual for “The Daily Show.”
The solider wasn’t clowning for the camera or faking his response. As Riggle said
in a voiceover, "Because with only two weeks off [from] 12-month
deployments … that got extended to 15 months after they showed up," the anger is real.
But it was the third night’s segment that most effectively built
on the tension between the usual tone of “The Daily Show” and the very real anger
of American troops in Iraq. Stewart asked Riggle how soldiers reacted to the Iraqi Parliament’s decision to break for the
month of August. "Normally, as a reporter, I do my best to filter how the
soldiers are feeling through my own ideological prism,” Riggle joked. “But this
time I’m going to let the soldiers speak for themselves."
And speak they did. As The Go-Go’s song "Vacation"
played in the background, soldiers complained caustically and sarcastically about
the Iraqi government. The soldiers said: "Hey guys, enjoy your vacation."
"Yeah, we’ll keep fighting for you." "Take the time off, I’m
sure it’s well deserved. You probably only get to see your family only three or
four times a week." "You go on, enjoy yourself. Ride your little jet
skis, do what you gotta do. I’ll be here taking care of your country until you
get back." "Have fun on your vacation. We’ll be over here holding
down the fort. Because this is an actual. Frigging. Fort."
It’s doubtful that even a network news correspondent could
get these sorts of bracing responses. But because they were appearing on a
comedy show rather than a traditional news program, the soldiers were less
guarded in front of the camera. Thanks to this distinction, “The Daily Show in
Iraq” was jarringly honest. It wasn’t always laugh-out-laugh funny. But it was
revealing.
Rachel Joy Larris is an editor for American Forum and the
National Women’s Editorial Forum. She also maintains a blog, NewsCat.
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Comments
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His name is spelled Jon, not John.
— Jon (not John) - Sep 13, 08:56 PM - #You and Jon are too far gone to know how far you both have gone.
— Simon - Sep 15, 12:07 AM - #