Funnyman
After our pre-concert Moroccan Dinner last night, we went to see Jon Stewart at the Tower Theater in Upper Darby. Not being a native Philadelphian, I had never been there before. My partner, who grew up in nearby Havertown, spent a lot of time there in her younger days. As we were sitting down, she noted that the floor was sticky & said that the place probably hadn't been cleaned since the last time she was there.
Jon Stewart opened with some talk about Philly (and Upper Darby, where the concert was). One of his first comments was that the Tower looked like it hadn’t been cleaned since he attended an Alarm concert there back in 1984. He then talked about Imus, race, religion, politics (natch) and he talked about life -- dogs, kids and life in general.
I laughed till I cried, as did the rest of the audience. Jon Stewart was relaxed and friendly and funny and the crowd obviously loved him.
At the end of the show, he took questions from the audience, and in closing, he advised us not to let Bush et. al. make us despair too much, since “this too will pass... all the stuff that makes us angry or sad will pass."
See also, City Grrrl and Jon Stewart Makes A ‘Stand’ At The Tower.
And don't miss his Bill Moyers Journal interview.
UPDATE: Along with noting that there were a lot of oldies in the audience (moi included), Ryan Cormier of Delaware News Journal included a sampling of Jon Jokes in, Your Moment of Zen. Here are a few of my favorites:
Jon Stewart on...
Upper Darby
"It's great to be back in Upper Darby. If this is Upper Darby, I would really hate to see Lower Darby."
Upper Darby's 69th Street pedestrian bridge
"I'm not an urban planner, but if I was trying to revitalize downtown Upper Darby, I don't know if I would go with the giant 69. I find that when you're trying to lure business back, it's best not to go with an oral sex joke on your walking bridge."
Million Man March
"It was a great show of solidarity. If black people truly understood the power that they have through the deep fear lurking in our hearts, that would have been a very different march with one small adjustment. It would still be the Million Man March, but they wouldn't have announced they were doing it. If a million black people just showed up one day. Can you imagine being at an outdoor cafe that day. 'This Arugula salad is so good...[turns head]...What's happening!?!'"
Jews and blacks
"Both groups have been persecuted for thousands of years, but we just express our sufferings differently. Blacks have the blues. Jews complain, we just never thought to put it to music. We whine, but we just have no sense of rhythm. My grandmother wrote a blues song called, 'Gee, It's Drafty Here.' Perhaps you've heard the B-side: 'Now It's Too Hot.'"
Gay marriage
"I could understand gay marriage being a big issue if, say, the government was trying to make it mandatory. I can't quite wrap my head around why it's such an effective issue and why to many people care. And I know there's the religious argument that it's an abomination. But have you read the Bible? Everything is an abomination. If you read Leviticus, shellfish is an abomination. An abomination. Where's that sign at the protest? 'God hates fags...and scallops!"
And finally, Stwewart took some questions at the end of the night and someone up front noticed that Stewart did not have a ring on his finger.
Q: "Where's your wedding ring?
A: "My wedding ring? How do you know I'm not wearing it?"
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