“The Daily Show” host Jon Stewart was ready with answers when an audience member asked about his most and least favorite guests. Stewart revealed that two guests came to mind as his most difficult interviews.
Jon Stewart recalls his Donald Rumsfeld interview and the “logic trap” he had planned for the former defense secretary
The Wrap reports that he revealed the names in a new episode of “After the Cut”.
When an audience member asked about his most and least favorite guests, Stewart answered the latter, saying, “Rumsfeld comes to mind. Donald Rumsfeld, at the time, was the architect of the Iraq War, Judith Miller comes to mind, who was the New York Times reporter that they fed stories to that helped gin up that. People that were architects of that war that I had to interview.”
Stewart dwelt on his experience with Rumsfeld, saying that he had thoroughly prepared for the interview. The host said that he had stayed up the night before the interview, reading Rumsfeld’s book and setting up the perfect “logic trap” for him. But he couldn’t perform as he had planned.
“I was going to win the interview,” Stewart recalled. “And, like, one minute into it, I’m like, ‘You know, when you guys were selling the war,’ and he’s like, ‘Well, making the case.’ And I go, ‘selling.’ ‘Making the case.’ ‘Well, you only told the good parts, so that’s selling, not making the case.’
Stewart said that though he realized that he had missed his opening, he could not control the interview from continuing to linger in “the space between selling and making a case”. He admitted that the guest was “so in my head” that the conversation bombed and “it tortured.”
Stewart also noted that he “literally couldn’t sleep” after the interview, saying, “I lost more sleep over that interview than he lost over the entire war. That’s who I was dealing with.”
Jon Stewart is an Emmy-winning comedian, writer, and political commentator. He is best known for hosting “The Daily Show” and for his satirical take on American politics and media.
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