The forefather of modern political satire has relinquished his seat.
Jon Stewart sustained a perennial voice for and of the people the past 16 years.
A major void has been left in his departure.
The question is if anyone can echo his voice, because replacing it will be near impossible.
There are plenty of candidates who appear as likely contenders for the throne.
Bill Maher has been an outspoken renegade. But most of his views are of the Baby Boomer generation and angry liberals.
Maher doesn’t make the massive amount of information simpler. He leaves it complicated, mostly because it is, but the masses require simplicity to stay up to date.
Stephen Colbert was presumed to be the next coming. He held court directly
following Stewart for nine long years.
However, Colbert left Comedy Central, ditched his alter ego and headed to CBS to replace the legendary David Letterman.
The Nightly Show host Larry Wilmore, who took over the slot of Colbert, followed Stewart every night in 2015.
Wilmore is energetically smooth and aims for everyone to always keep it “100,” or “real.”
But the departure of Stewart is hurting the ratings of Wilmore’s Nightly Show, perhaps incapable of standing as tall on his own.
John Oliver from England, with an excitably sarcastic personality, is also another one of Stewart’s legendary correspondents.
He once guest hosted The Daily Show to positive reviews when Stewart took a temporary break for filming a movie.
Oliver is currently hosting Last Week Tonight on HBO, wherein lies the problem.
First, Oliver’s on HBO. So his audience is limited. And second, Last Week Tonight only airs once a week during certain seasons and runs alongside Bill Maher.
The HBO airing has been to his favor, allowing him to pull no punches and freely express his attitude.
He may be the best contender, but he requires more work and a larger audience.
There is an Internet representative by the name of The Young Turks who took this platform and used YouTube to crank it up.
The Young Turks are brash and heavily liberal, but keeps their audience up to date with all stories and political tomfoolery.
The Young Turks have unprecedented potential due to very little restrictions for finding an audience to see and hear them. It’s just up to the audience to follow and believe.
Finally there’s Stewart’s direct replacement, South African comedian Trevor Noah.
Little is known of Noah’s potential, other than a few stand-up specials and some great appearances on the Daily Show with Stewart.
The 2016 election is approaching and it feels silent. America can use some jokes and guidance like elections before.