Jon Sits Last

May 17, 2006 4:09 PM

Why does Jon Stewart insist that his guests sit down before he does? He will keep standing no matter what, even if it creates an uncomfortable situation. It's awkward and has always bugged me.
posted by parallax7d to media & arts (18 comments total)

He's being a proper host. I doubt if it's ever an uncomfortable situation for those involved, as they seem to get a kick out of it.

Alternately: it's a Jewish Comedy Conspiracy.
posted by beaucoupkevin at 4:11 PM on May 17, 2006

simple politeness. it may seem awkward because such politeness is so infrequently seen.
posted by luriete at 4:12 PM on May 17, 2006

beaucoupkevin has it: it is a showng of good manners.
posted by Loto at 4:12 PM on May 17, 2006

As everyone else has said, simple politeness. i'm pretty sure that TV's Craig Ferguson has this same habit.
posted by quin at 4:18 PM on May 17, 2006

It's like for a man to stand until all the women in his party sit down at a restaurant. Believe me, politeness and manners go a long way.
posted by rabbitsnake at 4:20 PM on May 17, 2006

It is ancient custom for television hosts to stand until their guest is seated. Watch Conan, Leno, all the way back to Carson and Steve Allen: they all do it.
posted by Mr. Six at 4:30 PM on May 17, 2006

I have a feeling its a running joke in the show, because Stephen Colbert (who used to be a part of The Daily Show) makes a big deal out of it for his guests. He makes them sit and then draws all the attention to himself while he makes his way over to the guest.
posted by yellowbkpk at 4:47 PM on May 17, 2006

Stephen Colbert's shtick has nothing to do with The Daily Show specifically. Every television talk show introduces guests by having them from walk across the stage to audience applause before sitting down, and Colbert just thought it would be funny to reverse that. It kinda was, at first.
posted by cribcage at 6:17 PM on May 17, 2006

It seemed to me that Colbert's schtick wasn't merely a simple reversal, but (like the rest of the show) a jab at the right-wing TV pundits' shows, where the shows are all about them and rarely about the guests they have on. Colbert just takes it a tiny bit further.

And for the original question... yeah, it's just politeness.
posted by ewagoner at 6:50 PM on May 17, 2006

The guests make him wait because they find it funny. Pay attention to those who make him do it, they're usually of the comedic persuasion and I think it might be a known quirk of Jons' in the industry and they're playing off of it.

I like it. I think it's polite and funny given some of the content of TDS.
posted by purephase at 6:58 PM on May 17, 2006

ALL talk show hosts do it. You can often catch Jay leno, David Letterman, even Conan does it (Yup, even Conan). I believe its merely good hosting manners, as people here have said.
posted by jak68 at 9:48 PM on May 17, 2006

I agree that Stewart and others are being polite, but it is also a way of asserting control over the situation. Were the host to sit first, the guest basically owns the stage. They could run around and do all of their stupid show biz antics to their heart's content with little pressure to take a seat and get on with it.
posted by hooves at 12:22 AM on May 18, 2006

I'd agree that there's an element of asserting control. High-ranking politicians do something similar when they need to pass through a doorway: it's an assertion of power to be the last man through and paternally guide the others through before you.

When you get several high-ranking politicians together it can get amusing, as they've all clearly been drilled from the same body-language hand-book. A year or so ago, after a press conference between Bush and another head of state (I forget which, might have been Israel's), the two men have to go into a building. Neither wants to be first through, so they end up in a little dance with each trying to guide the other. It goes on for an uncomfortably long time and ends with Bush all but shoving the guy through the door. Something similar happens every time two political big-hitters are in this situation in front of the cameras: if you watch closely, you can see the flash of discomfort on their faces when they realise that one of them is going to have to give way and be first through the door.
posted by boosh at 3:39 AM on May 18, 2006

Anyone remember that time at Reagan's funeral that George Bush had the same issue with Bill Clinton where he cut in front of him like a school child in a lunch line? I can't remember the exact circumstance but it really showed that Bush hasn't developed emotionally since childhood.
posted by any major dude at 6:44 AM on May 18, 2006

boosh, you may be thinking of when Ehud Barak and Yasser Arafat were meeting with Clinton at Camp David. There was a minor wrestling match before they managed to bundle through the door.
posted by NinjaTadpole at 7:11 AM on May 18, 2006

Photo of President Bush squeezing past former President Clinton through the glass doors of the Clinton Presidential Library, at the dedication of the library.
posted by kirkaracha at 10:05 AM on May 18, 2006

Wandering a bit -- I've wondered why Conan O'Brien's chair is so much higher than his guest's. He's already taller than most of them, so why add to the height difference? (I'm not saying this keeps me up nights, it's just something I've noticed.)
posted by The corpse in the library at 10:55 AM on May 18, 2006

I'd forgotten that one, NinjaTadpole. A true classic of the genre. I've definitely seen W do it too, though (amongst many other politicians in recent years).

And kirkaracha's photo suggests that the opposite is true when leaving a building. The top dog has to be last in and first out.

It's always entertaining seeing those in the public eye desperately trying to follow the rules they've had drummed into them by their party/corporation spin-doctors and body-language experts. Simon Hughes, a Liberal Democrat MP in the UK, used to be (IMO) a fairly natural and down-to-earth sort of politician until a few years ago. Then he ran for London mayor and clearly had a close encounter with the spin machine. You could see an immediate change: he started using different vocal patterns and those odd Tony Blair-style chopping hand gestures while speaking.
posted by boosh at 1:21 PM on May 18, 2006