People of the Year 2004: Jon Stewart

Sifting over the events of Jon Stewart's scarcely believable 2004, it's hard to say what he should be most proud of. Obviously, the birth of his first child, Nathan, on July 3rd, has to go at the top of the list. But what comes next? That he and his Daily Show co-writers had a Number One best-selling book with America: A Citizen's Guide to Democracy Inaction? Or that he had that painfully compelling verbal pissing match with Tucker Carlson on live TV, in which he made headlines for calling the bow-tied Crossfire co-host "a dick" (and thereby won the respect of human beings everywhere)? And where would he rank the satisfaction of seeing Bill O'Reilly's claim that The Daily Show is watched mostly by "stoned slackers" refuted by the Annenberg Center, whose survey of 19,000 adults revealed that Stewart's viewers were better-informed on the presidential candidates than people who didn't watch late-night comedy? Or does Stewart just kind of lump all this stuff together in his mind and chalk up 2004 as the year when a stand-up comic with a half-hour fake-news comedy show on cable was celebrated as one of the most trenchant, and influential, commentators on the selection of the most powerful being on the planet? We called him to find out.

What was the best thing about last year?

Having a kid.

The worst thing?

Realizing he didn't like me -- that he thought I was "overexposed."

Well, what about that? You had one hell of a year. Was it your biggest year?

I would think so! By the way, you could pretty much bet it's going to remain my biggest year. Ultimately, when you're something that's praised, chances are you will be overpraised. And, hopefully, this election puts the final nail in the coffin of the "Importance of Satire." It may be important as an emotional valve, but in the practical sense it's absolutely meaningless.

So Tucker Carlson was a big moment in your life last year. What was that like?

I was there, I started to get dizzy, I blacked out and woke up naked and bruised on the curb on Connecticut Avenue. I only found out later that I apparently called someone a dick on national television.

Was it all as awkward and uncomfortable as it looked?

I'd say that other than going to Thanksgiving with the Falwells and announcing you're gay, it's pretty fucking awkward. But at least we finally got a chance for the media to start the conversation about whether or not I'm too big for my britches. Because that's what the conversation turned into.

Were you surprised that the appearance got as much attention as it did?

I was taken aback. That certainly wasn't the desired goal. I started out attempting to be lighthearted. But in my mind it went south when the condescension reached a point that I just thought, "You know what? Fuck you and your dismissive attitude." But I thought it was really telling afterward that [Carlson] would literally talk to anyone who would talk to him. I realized that this is the greatest thing that ever happened to him. For me, it's "Oh, my God, that was awful." And for him, it's "Let me go on Extra and Access Hollywood!"

You must have loved the Bill O'Reilly sex scandal --

The only thing to enjoy in that O'Reilly story is the schadenfreude of comeuppance for the powerful. When scolds fall prey to the same moral vulnerabilities as the rest of us, there's something satisfying in that.

Has it been difficult to find a focus for the show since the election?

The show's hard to do in the sense that everything you've been doing for months has been geared toward this one night. And then there's the next night. All of a sudden you think, "Oh. Right. Fuck."

Next: Tom Brokaw