The Daily Show with Jon Stewart Presents America (The Audiobook)

A Citizen's Guide to Democracy Inaction

By: The Writers of The Daily Show, Jon Stewart

Narrated by: Jon Stewart

Length: 3 hrs and 46 mins

Publisher's summary

Jon Stewart, host of the Emmy and Peabody Award-winning The Daily Show, and his coterie of patriots deliver a hilarious look at American government.

Termed a "political king-maker" by Newsweek, and "the Dan Rather of infotainment" by Vanity Fair, Jon Stewart, along with the writers of The Daily Show, combines his riotous wit and razor-sharp insight in this hilarious book.

American-style democracy is the world's most beloved form of government, which explains why so many other nations are eager for us to impose it on them. But what is American democracy?

In America (The Audiobook), Jon Stewart and The Daily Show writing staff offer their insights into our unique system of government, dissecting its institutions, explaining its history and processes, and exploring the reasons why concepts like "one man, one vote", "government by the people", and "every vote counts" have become such popular urban myths.

Among the topics:

Ancient Rome: The First Republicans

The Founding Fathers: Young, Gifted, and White

The President: King of Democracy

The Supreme Court: 18 Legs, Four Tits, One Mission

Running for Office: What Are You Thinking?

The Media: Can It Be Stopped?

The Future of Democracy: The Constitutional Robocracy and You!

This program contains explicit language.

(P)2004 Time Warner Audiobooks

Critic reviews

• Audie Award Finalist, Humor, 2005
• Quill Award Winner, Audiobooks, 2005
• Grammy Award Winner, Best Comedy Album, 2005

"Cheeky, irreverent, and playfully ingenuous....This humorous sendup of American politics never fails to entertain, poke fun, and provoke thought." (Publishers Weekly)
"The devil's own comedic handiwork, a side-splitting guide to the abuses and absurdities built into our political processes and institutions....Sustained clever writing and a smart, durable premise....As with Mr. Stewart's priceless anchorman persona and his show's hawk-eyed editing for real news gaffes, there is enough truth here to make America almost as instructive as it is sly." (The New York Times)

Don't bother

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

We sought a listening experience on a three hour drive home from a holiday visit to Washington DC. Imagine two middle age parents and their three sons ages 18 -22 listening to this book as they cruised the interstate. We enjoy the wit and humor portrayed on the Daley Show, something we do not get at home because we have no cable. Our sons enjoy picking up a show or two when we get access to broadband.

Has The Daily Show with Jon Stewart Presents America (The Audiobook) turned you off from other books in this genre?

I wish I had previewed this book and will henceforth avoid performances of this sort like the plague.

What didn’t you like about Jon Stewart’s performance?

It was not funny. The writer - whoever it was- was crude and tasteless. The profanity was intended to shock and it did. Perhaps a drunken teenager would have enjoyed this book, but we were repulsed by it. Of course, we did not finish the book and happily deleted it from our device.

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from The Daily Show with Jon Stewart Presents America (The Audiobook)?

There is no improving this book. Just skip it.... unless you happen to have the subtle humor of a tasteless drunken teenager.

A Citizen's Guide to Democracy Inaction

I am a fan of Jon Stewart and the Daily Show and this book was a real let down. I didn't finish the last hour of the book. The laughs were few and far between. It was real difficult to tell what the authors were spoffing and what really happened in histically.

America (The Audiobook)

Do not read this book unless you think America is the most evil disfunctional country to soil the face of the earth. A disgrace of liberal profanity.

Boring

What disappointed you about The Daily Show with Jon Stewart Presents America (The Audiobook)?

This book gets extremely boring, I stopped listening half way through because it was just too bad. Terrible acting without anything to even make me smile. it is just not funny at all.

What could Jon Stewart, and The Writers of <I>The Daily Show</I> have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?

If they's skipped the profanity it might have beel usable as a light-hearted look at history, but as-is it is just tasteless.

How could the performance have been better?

The exagerated extra voices are just cringe-inducingly bad. They are trying to be funny but trying far too hard.

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from The Daily Show with Jon Stewart Presents America (The Audiobook)?

Without the profanity and overacting it could have been the basis for an irreverant look at history, as-is it is simply very boring and not funny.

Any additional comments?

Terrible value for money too.

Dreadful Performance therefor dreadful audiobook

What disappointed you about The Daily Show with Jon Stewart Presents America (The Audiobook)?

That this book is credited with audio awards is proof that those awards are decided on the text and the celebrity of the reader, not the audio elements. I don't know who directed this, but they somehow managed to get one of the most energetic, passionate comedians to sound about as bored with his own work. There are one or two points when Jon goes into full performance, otherwise his performance is clearly going for deadpan, but deadpan doesn't work on audio, and the director should have convinced Jon of that. It was probably interesting, even amusing to watch Jon record it, and I'm sure it was giddy to have him in the studio, but that doesn't just magically translate to audio.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

Flat, deadpan performance which did not, and does not ever work on audio. Unless Jon is a diva who refused to take direction, or had no director at all (self-direction is merely self-delusion in audio) then this is the director's fault, not Jon's.

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from The Daily Show with Jon Stewart Presents America (The Audiobook)?

The whole thing is the problem. If I'd been directing I'd have talked Jon out of the deadpan delivery - even if it was written that way, it shouldn't have been delivered to audio that way.

Any additional comments?

A great shame to make the audio book so much less than the printed version, when such performance talent was available. I mean, almost every author with no performance experience wants to read their own book, and most need to be talked out of it (delicately!) I know and love Jon's performance style enough to make reading the print book much more fun, if "Earth" sounds this flat in in the first few minutes, I'll get the print book so as not to be equally disappointed.

Lost in the Translation

Much of what made "America (The Textbook)" so funny is lost in the audiobook format (including the place on the inside cover where you put your name, the year, and condition of the book ). Sometimes there is no substitute for the real thing.

Boring

Agree with the others - Love Stewart on TV, but this book is Boring!

What happened??

This book wasn’t for you, but who do you think might enjoy it more?

No one.I am a die hard Stewart and Colbert fan, for some reason the audio version of this book just fell flat. Jon was reading with literally no emotion. The way he read it made it very difficult to get through the whole thing.

How would you have changed the story to make it more enjoyable?

Material was solid, not as good as the show, but good. Read with more enthusiasm. Were you forced to do the audio version of this book Jon?

How did the narrator detract from the book?

See above

What character would you cut from The Daily Show with Jon Stewart Presents America (The Audiobook)?

None

Any additional comments?

Nope

This is why we lost!

I'm a life long Democrat. Even so, I decided to buy and listen to "The Case for Democracy" by Natan Sharansky. Here is a serious book by a grown up. Sharansky has lived through horrors most of us could not imagine. He makes solid, thought provoking arguments even for those of us who cringe whenever we here 'w' speak. After finishing this book, I needed a laugh. I thought ok, let's take a listen to what our side has to say. I'm proud to say that I listened to the whole thing. But in doing so, I had to plow through 7th grade bathroom humor, vulgar profanity, gay bashing drivel, garbage ad nauseum. I can honestly say, I laughed once. Most of the time I was embarrassed. Is this the best we can do? Where is a grown up on our side who can make arguments as compelling as Sharansky? As long as we find books like this funny and not embarassing, we will keep on losing.

America invented democracy?

I'm sorry funny guy, but it was the Greeks who famously invented democracy, not the Americans.