Jon Stewart premieres his new movie Irresistible from under Stephen Colbert's desk
What with the impeachment trial of thoroughly impeached Donald Trump continuing on Thursday, the time seemed fully ripe for Stephen Colbert to call in some satirical backup in the form of his former boss and guy who we could really use on the air nightly right about now, Jon Stewart. Starting out by using the Stewart-summoning phrase “The foundation of our democracy is really being tested,” Colbert indeed was immediately interrupted by Stewart banging away at the underside of Colbert’s desk, as he’s wont to do at times of greatest national crisis, a good cause in need, and/or especially egregious Republican bullshit. Or, you know, in case he’s got a movie to shill.
Emerging in a welder’s mask and toting the sort of oversized wrench kids in New York use to open the fire hydrants all summer, Stewart was greeted with a wave of grateful applause, and Colbert begging for “some of that patented Jon Stewart topical comedy about today’s news.” Waiting for the applause to die down, Stewart paused and then stammered out, “If I may, very quickly—no.” Noting that he’s actually in the past (the segment having been pre-taped last Thursday before the impeachment trial of the cartoonishly guilty president being sweatily shielded by his sycophantic GOP minions even began), Stewart, instead, staked out the time to premiere the trailer for his new movie, Irresistible, which stars, as he put it, his “favorite former Daily Show correspondent.” (The movie stars Steve Carell.)
Well, Stewart’s second-favorite(?) former Daily Show correspondent attempted to hide his disappointment (both at not being cast in the Stewart-written and directed political comedy and that Stewart wasn’t there to rip Donald Trump and the GOP one of his signature new ones), which got tougher, as Stewart kept playing the wrong clips. It turns out, Irresistible is about Democratic political strategist Carell attempting to turn an outspoken Wisconsin farmer (the ever-stellar Chris Cooper) into a national political figure and not, as the clips purported, Carell being left home alone by his family at Christmastime or undergoing a very painful chest-waxing. (He is also not a terrifyingly sexualized CGI cat.) It was no Mac And Me gag, but it’s nice to see Stewart in late-night again, even if it’s only to advertise political comedy he’s not going to let us see until sometime later this spring.
Irresistible, which also stars Mackenzie Davis, Rose Byrne, Topher Grace, and Natasha Lyonne, premieres on May 29.