Nothing frustrates me more than when, in the interest of news, people decide that trying to figure out which show is “better” is worth their time and effort. According to the Washington Post “The Fix” Blog, the Harvard University Institute of Politics has a very interesting new survey, which in part discusses the influence of Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert in the political arena this primary season.
They break down the poll results thusly:
Going inside the numbers, there are some fascinating differences within the 18-24 year old crowd when it comes to the Colbert-Stewart conundrum.
Males tend to favor Stewart (38 percent to 31 percent) while women go narrowly for Colbert. Democrats are Stewart people (43-31) while Republicans are part of the Colbert Nation (49 percent to 21 percent). Those who say they are following the campaign closely opt for Stewart by a 46 percent to 33 percent margin; those not following the race all that closely prefer Colbert 31 percent to 25 percent.
Perhaps the most fascinating divide in preference is age. Eighteen and 19 year olds prefer Colbert solidly (41 percent to 25 percent) while those between 22 and 24 are Stewart supporters by a similar — 43 percent to 26 percent — margin. The swing group appears to be 20 and 21 year olds; they split relatively evenly between Stewart (33 percent) and Colbert (32 percent).
Here’s the thing that Chris Callizza and so many other news reporters totally miss. The fan base for The Daily Show and the fan base for The Colbert Report are two totally different animals. While the TDS fans tend to lean towards the politically savvy, the TCR fans quite simply have been sucked into the cult of personality that Colbert and his writers have fostered within the fan community. For the Colbert fans, or at least for many that I’ve met, it’s not about the politics, although we are savvy enough to catch the references. It’s the interactiveness of the show that makes us feel like we are part of the show, right along with Stephen.
Also, regular viewers of the show learn that there are character points that carry stories from fruition to completion and sometimes these story arcs can last for months, or even years. For months, Stephen has been making references about the greatest game and hunting man, and last week, he finally acted out on these fantasies of his by eating Bobby (and admitted to having done this once before). And recurring characters like Tad, Killer, as well as recurring elements such as the On Notice Board and Formula 401 help the audience to feel even more like they are “in” on the joke.
Any fans who frequent the Colbert fandom haunts online will notice that they skew heavily female. From the commenters and staff here at No Fact Zone, to the Colboards, to OSCLA (an entire board comprised of fangirls), the fan base online is overwhelmingly female. So many reputable newswomen easily fall under Colbert’s spell when interviewing him and talking about him (and that goes for supermodels too). I find it so very odd that this little morsel of information tends to totally slip by the pollmakers and the newsman and the people who try to compare Colbert and Stewart and figure out why their audience skews so differently when it comes to gender.
Most importantly of all, I think it’s important that, while many have a bias towards one or the other, I also feel that most fans appreciate both Colbert and Stewart for the different traits they bring to the table. And most fans that I know watch both shows. It’s not an either/or here, people! We can (and do) appreciate both shows for their individuality, their ability to bring the news to us in a way that we enjoy and appreciate, and their constant drive to be the funniest shows on television right now.
In OSCLA’s defense, we’ve definitely grown up a bit recently as far as the slumber party talk is concerned.
Anyway, I think these percentages are silly. I have a little over 200 members on The Jon Stewart Experience, most of whom are also members of The Colboard. As far as OSCLA, well, I can’t think of one of them who don’t enjoy watching and posting about both shows.
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Absolutely agreed, DB. TDS and TCR are two entirely different animals and it’s not about choosing one over the other. And there’s no need to choose just one: it’s not like they’re competitors on different networks.
The pollsters overlook the obvious distinctions because they’re not really concerned with which host audiences prefer and why — they’re concerned with attracting attention to their poll (that, to be fair, does have a lot of interesting content — it’s about much more than Jon vs. Stephen).
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Slight inaccuracy there… I own both JSX and OSCLA and I’m a dude…
…granted I’m the only regular dude on the boards.. :D
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Easily half the audience at the Report Thursday were over 40, split evenly between men and women if that means anything.
The two shows totally complement each other, why does the media insist on making it a contest?
Stephen himself said that Jon deconstructs the news to highlight the absurdities while he “reconstructs the news” in the guise of his character to accomplish the same ends.
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Leave it to the MSM to parse through polling data and divide up demographics for comedians just like they do with politicians.
They are two very different styles of comedy, so there should be one ginormous asterisk at the end of that poll. I started watching both TDS and TCR in mid-2007 (yeah i was a latecomer) and I love both of them, but not everyone warms up to both of them. It’s really different strokes for different folks.
I’ll leave a discussion for who I think is funnier to some other time.
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Amen! I’d rather die than have to choose between them. Although I straddle both fields here, even I realize the huge differences between the two fanbases. I was just surprised the the poll showed Republicans watch TCR. Are they “it-getters” or is it going over their heads that Stephen is, in fact, of the same kind of political leanings as Jon?
Also, I’m female, and yes, I am easily swayed by my ovaries when it comes to these two. I believe Jon and Stephen are both incredibly, inexlicably sexy.
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I totally agree with you, DB. You really can’t compare apples and oranges. On the outside, they may look similar, and in th beginning TCR started out similar to TDS, but it’s evolved too much to compare them anymore.
The Daily show usually makes fun of the news.
The Colbert Report usually makes up the news.
For many people, myself included, we watch and enjoy both of them. And an added bonus of watching TDS is that you pick up more on the political points of TCR.
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@Pulp:
Well, yeah, there *is* you. :) You are the sole bastion of testosterone on OSCLA, and we salute you! :)
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@DB,
Thank you for your thoughtful analysis of this story. I agree with everything you said.
Personally, I wouldn’t think of watching TCR and not TDS. The two shows have very different flavors but they compliment each other well. I have always viewed the two shows together as one hour of great television.
Jon and Stephen, I love you both! :-)
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I’m sorry for the double post but I thought of one more point. I wish the authors of these types of stories would take notice of the fact that Stephen and Jon’s viewers are not all 18-24 year olds. There is a growing number of us “older” folks and we were well represented at the Philly taping I attended. There was also an equal mixture of men and women.
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Geeze, looks like everyone pretty much covered everything. I agree, DB, that the fandom (and, consequently, NoFactZone and CU) for TCR really makes you feel like you’re a part of the show, and not many shows out there really make the audience feel that way. I honestly can’t remember a time when any show left some of the hilarity up to the fans to run with, hence The Green Screen Challenge, or more recently, the Doritos Stickers. I so enjoy that aspect of what the wonderful folks at TCR do every week, and I’m constantly amazed and entranced by their brilliance and hard work. For the record, I don’t ever remember laughing until my face hurt while watching a television show until I started watching this one. It’s an adrenaline high that’s hard to come down from every weeknight, and I can’t thank the writers, producers, and Stephen enough for that. : )
@ Caitlin,
I hear ya on the ovary factor. : )
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@ One of the Heroes:
I agree with you about the age thing. I understand that 18-24 is an important demographic for advertisers, but I find the repeated emphasis on that group in relation to TDS and TCR odd given the fact that *none* of us who *were* in the 18-24 year old demographic when Jon Stewart joined TDS in 1999 are in that demographic now, but we all still watch it and readily embraced TCR as well.
Not to mention the fact that my parents are in their 60s and love both Jon and Stephen, and my 90-year-old grandfather is also a fan.
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In regards to the age thing, I went to the March 20 taping this year, and this 80 year old woman was in the audience laughing the hardest. She also was asked when she watched the show, and said that she waits for the repeats instead of staying up for the 11:30 taping. The best part about it was that she was able to rattle off every single time of the day the show aired.
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I started watching TDS sometime in 2004, and have watched TCR from the very beginning. I love both shows and both Jon and Stephen. I have to admit, because of his personality, I am obsessed with Stephen, though. His show is almost a variety show (singing, oddball interviews, etc.) I’m on the West coast, and watch the shows the next day thanks to TiVO.
I’m also a 54 year-old fangirl – WristStrong bracelet and all.
The poll is kind of lame, in my opinion.
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LOL! I’m a 41-year-old fangirl, although I prefer the term “fanwoman” as someone here once said. Heck, my 72-year-old mother likes both shows. Why is it that the 18-24 demographic is the only one that seems to matter? I love both shows but I have a much bigger crush on Stephen than Jon. I agree, you can’t compare the two as they are very different shows and, for me, they really complement one another.
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I’m gonna agree with everybody else here. I don’t see why we have to choose one over the other. I think the two shows complement each other very well, and they’re quite different stylistically so it’s hard to compare them. I can’t imagine watching one and not the other, but that’s just me. I mostly frequent the OSCLA and JSX boards, and like Meaculpa said, the fans at these boards tend to have love for both shows.
I also don’t understand the fixation on the 18-24 demographic. Although I’m 24, in my interactions I’ve come across a number of fans who fall out of that range.
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I agree with everyone here. I love both shows. They are both different in style, which gives them their own unique flavor I say. When I watch TDS is kinda helps me understand some of Stephen’s political points better. I actually would not be watching The Colbert Report if I didn’t like The Daily Show. I started watching the Daily Show after I found out that John Hodgman who plays the PC guy in those macintosh commercials is the Resident Expert. I was really interested in knowing who he was a when those ads started airing. As I watched TDS to catch his bits, I actually fell in love with the show and totally adore Jon. Eventually I decided to see what was so cool about the Colbert Report around Jan/Feb 2007. I thought the show was too weird first when I’d catch the toss and some of the commercials. I was curious about it after my Dad told me that he liked it over the Daily Show. (He’s 55). I was a fan in about 3 weeks. I didn’t really understand the show, but Colbert’s character sucked me in. He’s HILARIOUS!!!! I even have to eat a special flavor of ice cream now.
They say that the demographic is 18-24, but there are fans of any age. It’s cool to hear that people in the 70- 90 year old range like it as well. And there is no other show that would get me to plaster Doritos bags with labels in almost all of the major stores here. I’ve hit 5 now.
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I love both men / shows as well, but as others have pointed out, the fandom of TCR is an important factor which is probably why I am on this site. Kudos to TruthPower for hitting 5 stores for the Peabody challenge!
Also, shout out to Caitlin for her ovary statement. Haha. Personally, I sway towards Stephen as the sexier one, but I find both men to be smart, witty and funny.
I believe people of all different ages appreciate the shows as well and might I ask if anyone else tires of the commercials aimed almost exclusively at college guys during these two shows? Sure, I know it’s Comedy Central and that’s the demographic they’re trying to reach, but I just get tired of advertisements for beer and trailers for action films thrown at me. Not to sound elitist (haha), but I find these ads to insult my intellegence:) The shows just strike me as a stark contrast to the commercials.
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I miss that editing feature. Should have said “of all ages.” I believe that is enough of a distinction:)
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I hope Comedy Central/Viacom appreciates all the free focus group information they get here.
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I rarely watch the Daily show much anymore. If I can watch it, I’ll tune in an out, but I can miss it. I absolutely die if I miss Colbert. the cult of personality is like a drug. I get withdrawal. srsly.
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As much as they’re very different animals, I tend to think of TDS and TCR as an hour block – a package deal. They complement each other. And I don’t love either show – or either host – less because of it, I just love them for different things. I could never choose between them.
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I agree with Jess’ point: I sort of think of them as an hour-long package of goodness.
They’re so different, but at the same time, they compliment each other… like wine and cheese or something like that. (I’m not much of a food connoisseur, as you can tell.)
I guess that’s why I loved the “Midterm Mid-tacular” so very much, because it officially paired them together for that brief period of time, instead of just having the occasional toss. I love them separately, but together they make comic gold every time.
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@ rebnej/One of the Heroes/everybody else
To add onto the age thing, and I find this incredibly important that the world understand that, you know, when you talk about fan bases
YOU DON’T JUST START AT “18″
You people! I am proudly 13, and proudly a HUGEnormous Colbert AND Stewart fan (maybe more Colbert than Stewart but they both rock my socks)
but seriously, I’ve been watching the CR since it started, and TDS since I was 8! 8!!!!
And I’m not just liek freak of nature, there totally is a bunch of youth-it-getters out there!
Don’t ignore us! (we’re your future!!)
But yeah, also, I think its idiotic to compare the two shows, I mean I could choose between them, but I don’t want to! They’re both great for different reasons–
but I do think sometimes that you have to be maybe a sort of whimsical kind of person to get some of it, because a lot of my teachers think “Colbert is too silly” and such, but I just think they’re too lame to get it.
But seriously!
Kids can it-get too!!
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I’m a 43 yo fangirl! I always enjoyed TDS and Jon (saw him in person too), but I crush on Stephen and won’t miss the TCR. That’s just the way it goes!
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Just as more evidence that the two are inseparable, if you haven’t read the Rolling Stone article yet (from which that awesome cover picture comes):
http://www.rollingstone.com/news/coverstory/jon_stewart_stephen_colbert_americas_anchors/page/1
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The.Truth–
My younger sister likes to watch TCR as well, and she’s ten. She doesn’t get a lot of the more political bits, but I’d say she’s an “It-Getter”. She understands that he’s joking and doesn’t really believe what he’s saying, and it really didn’t take much explaining. She has a very mature sense of humor sometimes.
I don’t count much when I say that I too, don’t agree with the 18-24 restrictions, because I’m 18, but I do agree with all of you.
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I believe Jon and Stephen have become peers now and if you want to laugh for a longer time than one show, then you should watch both. That’s all there is to it ,really.
One question: What was that song on Paulina’s answering machine?
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Anecdata that disprove the poll are kind of silly-a few fans above or below the ages analyzed don’t disprove the overall trend.
That said, this survey does seem pointless,
It does feel at times like one big fandom. I recently had to delete a post about an Ed Helms project from the colbert_report community on LJ, and people are constantly uploading Jon stuff to Colbertpics.com.
When one show spins off from another, they naturally will share a following. I personally find some of the cult of personality aspect of TCR irritating. But only some.
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@ ColbertGirl27,
I really think they do underestimate the female fan base when it comes to some of the advertising, and I dare say the same for Comedy Central in general. I’m a CC junkie, aside from TCR and TDS, I also watch a lot of stand-up comedy (Secret Stash is just the best…if you play your cards right, you can catch an unedited version of Eddie Murphy’s “Raw” on occasion), but one of the things that really makes me want to change the channel even though I’m watching some of my favorite stuff, are the Girls Gone Wild commercials. Seriously, CC, EVERY commercial break? *gags*
Point is, they just don’t get that women appreciate comedy too, and seem to pander more to their male demographic. Hey, girls like to laugh until liquids shoot out of their noses just as much as the guys do…
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THANK YOU LISA!
I *hate* the Girls Gone Wild commercials. So much. Every time one comes on, I change the channel… out of embarrassment for those girls if nothing else.
Though I do find it SO funny that they’ve started airing “Guys Gone Wild” commercials as well. And yet, I have no inclination to buy it. At all.
They should just have the girls from Girls Gone Wild team up with the guys from Guys Gone Wild and they can just have at it and leave the rest of us alone.
Okay… i’m done now.
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When discussing the ads and the demographics, remember that it’s not Com-Cen or Viacom deciding who is important, it’s the advertisers – the ones who actually pay to put the ads up there.
18-24 year old males are the demographic that they care about because that’s the demographic advertisers will pay to pander to. Things like GGW vids. And Axle. (I’m lucky – my TCR comes without ads).
As for Jon v Stephen… I tend to watch both, but if pressed for time I’ll skip TDS. And I delete TDS as soon as I watch it but will watch a TCR episode over again at least once.
And I admit that whether or not I enjoy an episode of TDS depends on the other correspondents or the field piece that’s shown.
I like JS, but am definitely an SC fan – and I’m pushing 50. (They mean it when they call me Senior International Correspondent.
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When discussing the ads and the demographics, remember that it’s not Com-Cen or Viacom deciding who is important, it’s the advertisers – the ones who actually pay to put the ads up there.
“18-24 year old males are the demographic that they care about because that’s the demographic advertisers will pay to pander to. Things like GGW vids. And Axle. (I’m lucky – my TCR comes without ads).”
That’s a bit inaccurate. CC is undoubtedly pitching its shows to the advertisers on the basis of reaching that particular demographic, backed up by Nielsen data. But, it’s not as though the 18-24 demographic is any more coveted than any other demographic. Whether you covet a demographic merely depends on the product you’re selling. The GGW folks obviously covet 18-24; the Geritol folks don’t :-).
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@the.truth,
Thanks for your comment. I sometimes forget that there are under 18 year old fans just like there are fans much older than 24.
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@AmandaIvy:
If you watch TDS and Colbert during the day you get non-stop ads for birth control pills and “Happy Bob” and his enhanced manhood. I can’t believe my 11 yr old son gets exposed to this at 9.30 in the morning.
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Wow, there’s a lot more senior members of the Colbert Nation than I thought. And you can surf the tubes too? I wish my mom is just as much an it-getter as you guys!
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@zonkbert:
Your mom? We’re as old as your mom? *sigh*
(goes and gets a rinse for the grays and puts on my stories on the TV while sipping on some Sanka)
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I have to change the topic here for a second. I need some feedback on this. I did something in Photoshop that I really want Stephen and the rest of the Nation to see. I came up with this idea I can use as a portfolio piece too. Here is the link to it on Flickr. Let me know what you think.
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Can’t post websites I guess. Just go to Flickr and look for Hobogirl1. It’s the last picture I made.
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My Mom is officially an It-Getter and she just turned 60 last year. If anything, she may be a bigger It-Getter than I am (although, I’m not sure that’s possible), in that she could not breathe while she was watching the Philly field pieces while I had her on the phone. What’s more, she loves character breaks possibly more than I do…
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I mostly am a Colbert fan. I had vaguely negative feelings about Stewart starting in middle school because I didn’t like the types of kids who thought he was cool. Now I like Jon and Stephen both a whole lot! If I had time, I’d watch them both. Because of the way I prioritize my time, I have to choose, so I go with TCR. Anyway, if I watched TDS every day, I might spend the whole time hoping John Oliver would come on!
Regarding that poll, I think it’s interesting that I fit into every group that prefers Colbert to Stewart…
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@Lisa and AmandaIvy: That’s really odd. I haven’t noticed any Girls Gone Wild commercials during TDS or TCR. Do you think different commercials are shown in different regions? I’m in CA. Maybe it has to do with the time of day. I usually watch the shows beginning at 8 or 11 in the evening.
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@tiger: Many years ago, I used to be foolishly wary of watching Jon Stewart as well b/c I didn’t like a couple of people that incidentally watched his show. Now I love his show as well and wish John Oliver had more air time! Haha. Wish I had started watching Jon Stewart earlier on.
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@TruthPower: Love the photoshop image of Doritos in a field with the Peabody statement in the starry sky! Only suggestion is that you somehow include Stephen (maybe as a farmer?) in the image since he always likes to be the center of things.
Since the field is in PA, you could mockingly have Stephen holding a gun and some religious symbol, but I don’t know how far you want to go with it. You’re far more savvy with Photoshop than I…though I did once take a Photoshop class and loved it. Wish I had the software on my computer at home.
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My postings don’t seem to be showing up. Will this one work?
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Does this work?
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