Colbert, Stewart in funny (but serious) Jobs tributes
In tributes to recently deceased Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart couldn't play it straight. But each had a serious undertone.
When you are a news anchor--albeit for the Comedy Channel--you can't shy away from the news of Steve Jobs' death.
But are you really supposed to play it straight? Are you supposed to reminisce about, in Stephen Colbert's case, the day Steve Jobs gave you one of the first iPads so that you could flog it at the Grammys?
Or, in Jon Stewart's case, are you supposed to mention occasions when Jobs called you in appreciation of some skit of other?
Well, yes, in both cases.
Yet, as you watch both of these tributes from their shows, it's unmistakable that both these comedians harbored a serious respect for the Apple co-founder.
Of course, Colbert first had to offer of Jobs: "No one else made me beg quite like him." The close of his monologue, though, was poignantly humor-free. It consisted of mere gratitude.
As for Stewart, he was more serious. He spoke of how he felt that humanity had wrung everything out of Henry Ford and Thomas Edison. But with Jobs, it was a fearful: "Haaa, we're not done with you yet."
At heart, though, just as The Onion yesterday offered: "Last American Who Knew What The F*** He Was Doing Dies," Stewart described the feelings of many as: "What are we supposed to do now?"