I just rewatched tonight's Daily Show on which Jon Stewart…well, I started to type that he "spanked" Jim Cramer but that's not quite accurate. What he did was to give the financial news industry a civil and well-deserved scolding…and Cramer wound up agreeing with most of it.
It reminded me what I like so much about Stewart's interviews. I can't think of another person who just talks with his guests on such a one-on-one basis. I don't always agree with the guy but he seems sincere and thoughtful…and also uninterested in grandstanding. He talks to people — not at them, not down to them — and doesn't let his guests get away with pre-planned rote answers. Who else has ever had the kind of discussion that he had tonight with Jim Cramer?
A couple of e-mailers who watched the show told me they thought Cramer's career was over; that he'd committed professional suicide by grovelling before Stewart instead of getting into a slapfight with him. I think that's wrong. Cramer's not dumb enough to think that the old "act" is still viable and therefore worth defending. He and his peers have shilled too long for the CEOs and the lower-grade Bernie Madoffs. The jig on that is up and he oughta be glad that Jon Stewart has given him the chance to do a public mea culpa, pledge to reform and try to grab onto the new dynamic. I got the feeling the whole field of financial news reporting changed a little tonight…and for the better.
Some websites are reporting that the Stewart-Cramer interview had to be trimmed for time and that the full version, which is eight minutes longer, will be available on the web tomorrow. I'll embed it here when it is.