Stewart, Colbert refuse to get political By: Katy Adams and Nikki Schwab Washington Examiner 10/31/10 9:00 PM EDT
More than 210,000 people attended Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert's Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear on the National Mall on Saturday afternoon according to Comedy Central, and while sanity and/or fear may not have been restored to rallygoers, Stewart and Colbert believe the purpose for their production -- to have fun -- was accomplished.
"We wanted to do a really good show for people who took the time to come out and see us, and I feel like we accomplished that," Stewart said.
With just a few days before the November elections, many believed the rally could have been the perfect platform for Stewart and Colbert to get political. But rather than taking partisan sides, the Comedy Central hosts used the opportunity to poke fun at the political insanity that surrounds us.
During Stewart's keynote address at the rally, (which he stayed up late the night before to finish) Stewart even encouraged people to work together to solve problems.
"I just wanted to speak a little bit from the heart," he said.
At a press conference at the National Press Club following the rally, Stewart and Colbert reluctantly accepted that some people will now perceive them as "players" in the political world, but when a reporter suggested they may even be considered leaders in civil society, Colbert disagreed and said, "I think we led this rally, that's for sure; what goes on beyond that, I don't know."
Stewart followed up by saying that is not a role he sees himself fit to play.
"We're on the metric system. I understand it's all about who's winning and who's losing and the strategy of this and the players on that, but our currency is not this town's currency," he said. "We are not running for anything. We do not have a constituency. We do television shows for people who like them and we just hope that people continue to like them so that Comedy Central can continue to sell beer to young people."