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What Oliver and Stewart and Colbert have done over the years, and in my opinion what Samantha Bee has absolutely mastered, is nothing new. It's been in existence for forever. This is just our generation's version of it.
It's editorial and it's humor. The editorial really makes the humor land harder, and the humor makes the editorial very easy to ingest.
What Stewart did in 2001 was really learn how to weaponize it in ways that were incredibly specific and incisive. He didn't say Bernie Sanders is an old man who does old man things. His argument was that Bernie Sanders was way more reasonable and genuine than we've been accustomed, and as a result the media has no idea what to do with him than paint him as an old crazy dude. Agree or disagree, that's a way more incisive argument than anything current-day Colbert or Trevor Noah trots out.
Colbert on the CC show had that incisiveness, but has lost it for more bland editorial humor. Oliver and Bee have that incisiveness and then some. Bee in particular is a genius at weaponizing her editorial humor into actual political action.
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