Comedian Jon Stewart said he thinks Senator Barack Obama may have this election in the bag.
A John McCain victory would be as improbable as a baseball team coming back from a 7-0 deficit, Stewart joked to a sold-out crowd at Matthews Arena Friday night, as part of Homecoming and Family and Parent weekend.
Despite his 5-foot-7-inch-stature, Stewart has become a comedy giant hosting “The Daily Show,” the political news satire program on Comedy Central.
“It’s great to be here at one of America’s finest directionally named universities,” Stewart said, shortly after taking the stage.
The performance was shown on two giant video screens, hung on both sides of the stage. About a dozen green plants lined the back of the stage, which Stewart quickly pointed out.
“It’s like the set of a bad porn movie,” he joked.
Sam Peisner, president of the Council for University Programs, which was one of the sponsors of the show, said and that Matthews Arena had reached capacity.
Setting the tone for the evening, Stewart polled audience members about their opinions regarding the upcoming presidential election. There was raucous cheering for Senator Barack Obama, the Democratic nominee, followed by a loud booing for Senator John McCain, the Republican nominee.
“So it’s about even,” Stewart deadpanned, before continuing, “No, really, there couldn’t have been a bigger disparity there. It’s like if I asked you, ‘Hey kids, do you like beer or shit sandwiches?'”
His act, which was about an hour and 45 minutes long, wasn’t all jokes. At times, Stewart took time to express his opinion on politics.
He took offense to the stigma against elitism in the race for the presidency.
“What is wrong with elitism?” Stewart asked. “Doesn’t elite mean ‘good?’ Don’t you want your president to be good? The Marine Corps are elite, the Blue Angels are elite. Why can’t our president be elite?”
Stewart went on to provide evidence on why he believed politicians shouldn’t strive toward being a common man.
“We got swept away by the ‘Macarena,'” he said. “We’re dumbasses.”
Stewart didn’t back down when talking about Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin.
“I’ve never seen someone with such a disparity between how cute someone is and how terrible what they’re saying is,” said Stewart, before mimicking Palin. “‘Obama is, you know, a terrorist. He just, gosh darn it, kills babies.'”
Stewart said he took offense to Palin’s comment given at a North Carolina fundraiser Thursday, in which she said she enjoys visiting the “pro-America” parts of the country.
“You know what: Fuck you,” he said, to massive applause. “If New York City was good enough for Osama bin Laden, it had better be good enough for you.”
Some of the biggest laughs of the night came when Stewart noticed gestures made by the American Sign Language interpreter. At one point, he took out his iPhone to photograph the interpreter, who was struggling to hold back her laughter, as she signed a phrase he had said about gay sex.
“This must be the most vulgar hearing impaired show of their entire [lives],” Stewart said.
After his stand-up routine, the comedian fielded questions from the audience. One student asked Stewart why he didn’t run for president himself if he had such strong opinions on politics.
“Well, I have very strong opinions about Major League Baseball, but I’m a shitty hitter,” he said.
One student, who identified herself as a Muslim, asked Stewart’s opinion on the difficulties of being a minority in America.
“Muslim minorities are in the shittiest position,” Stewart said, citing American intolerance in the wake of the September 11 terror attacks and back-to-back wars in the Middle East. “The only thing I can tell you is that Barack Obama is the nominee for president, and 50 years ago he couldn’t eat lunch at counters in the South.”
Elizabeth Correnti, a freshman journalism major, said she thought Stewart did an excellent job poking fun at serious topics.
“I have not laughed that hard in so long,” Correnti said. “I thought he brought up some really great issues and made light of them.”
Joe Africano, a freshman philosophy major, said he had trouble picking one part of Stewart’s act that he enjoyed the most.
“I loved it all,” he said. “It was amazing. I liked the insightfulness he had about the hardcore left and the hardcore right, and how [extreme partisanship] won’t work out in America.”
One of the final questions came from a female student who asked Stewart if he would give Northeastern a shout-out on Monday’s episode of “The Daily Show.”
“Of course I will. But only if you beat BC,” he shouted.
The Huskies claimed a 4-3 victory over Boston College Saturday night. Students can tune into Comedy Central at 11 p.m. this evening to watch the latest episode of “The Daily Show.”
