Jon Stewart's Words of Wisdom to Audience Members - After the Cut | The Daily Show

[Music] I mean the world for young people right now is no you're good and so how old are you I'm PR2 oh you'll be you got so many we're gonna this we're going to ruin this so much you have no idea what we've got planned you are walking into Thunderdome uh no you're honestly like we do this all the time every generation like even the greatest Generation like I mean they dropped atomic bombs on people like don't don't let the persp we always think that the world is at its worst in the moment that we're in it but like you have to remain optimistic because the images that they present to us are to heighten your fear that's how they make their oh you're going to love the show tonight I think you're going to love the show uh but but so what do you what are you what are you thinking question is I think a lot of young people are a little bit not happy with the candidates I guess we feel like our vote our voice doesn't matter oh it so matters yeah you in fact your voice is can I tell you something about advertisers do you know that advertisers they look at different demographics but the largest demographic that they look at is 18 to 24 that's the one that means everything to them use that power the power of the person I'm 61 I'm not even listed anymore like there literally companies should be like what about people over 55 and they're like I think they might be dead like don't discount the power that you guys have you have a tremendous amount how do I tell other young people I would think on Instagram I would tell them on Instagram I don't know this is the fight man no no generation ever feels empowered or seen or any of those things but what I would suggest is trust your discomfort because you clearly feel it but discomfort is a wonderful motivator it's sort of the difference between Stress and Anxiety like action is the antidote to anxiety and if you feel anxiety it will lessen as you take action small actions like a little bit every day uh you know I have young people that live in my house uh and I I usually see them after 3 when they've woken up and generally they just want me to make them a bagel so it's different but honestly like that discomfort will spur you on I'm sure of it and your generation and then uh you'll be in a position to save us but you won't want to what's a book do you think everyone should have on their shelf wow that's a great question and I really thought you were going to end it with what's a book um because you get that a lot from the kids now sir I have a question what's a book and I was going to say it's like a movie you flip uh I would say so this may sound uh Antiquated I was I feel like I was raised on Kurt vonet and so any Kurt vonet I had the whole from player piano to breakfast at Champions to slaughterhouse 5 to you know mother all of them and he was my favorite author by far and I felt like he educated me in in the genre of optimistic cynical humanism like the thing that you're talking about how do you maintain so he's a guy who was an author who came of age he fought in World War II he saw Dresden that's what slaughterhouse 5 was about it was about his experiences seeing the worst that people could do and people always mistook his cynicism as or his I guess I should say his dryness as cynicism but it was really idealism he believed so uh much in people that he couldn't help but be somewhat disappointed that we were blowing it in the way that we were blowing it but I would say line your your desk with Kurt vonet and and you cannot go wrong and I was uh lucky enough to get to interview him uh when he was you know hadn't passed away yet no but he came on and when he passed away his son sent me a uh he was also a really wonderful caricaturist sent me a doodle of his that he had inscribed to me before he passed so it's one of my most cherished uh but but I would say Kurt vonet uh you can't go wrong uh I'm like Playboy the best piece of advice wow that is such an end of life question that really is that nobody ever comes to like a 22 year on like best advice they're like well beer on liquor never been scker all right uh the best advice I'm trying to think of uh good advice I don't really I don't seek counsel in that way do you like a mentor I didn't have a mentor this is back in like late 70s early 80s so there were no mentors I was raised feral so I don't have uh a ton of uh a ton of advice oh here's one this is a good one so I used used to host a show on MTV it was a talk show and then it got bought by Paramount to replace arino so I was the natural replacement for arenia because I think a lot of people are like hey the hip African-American guy let's stick a maybe small Jew in his place and see what happens uh and so uh the show was on for like nine months and it got cancelled and uh we were all very sad and when your name is on it and they tell you to get out of the building like it's it's very hurtful David Letterman came on the final show and on the final show he said to me don't confuse cancellation with failure and I thought that was really interesting and then in the commercial break he said although this is also a [Applause] failure he just he just didn't want me to confuse it question about college campuses you had a question about college campuses okay so the cafeteria if you want to go by the quad you're going to look for the quad usually the food is near the quad I just wanted to ask about your advice about navigating State especially during election season in college campuses and engage conversations with listen I the the beautiful thing about college is that it's built for that it's built for you to push the limits of who you think you are and who you think you want to be and it's a wonderful experience uh the thing that I would say to you is have the courage in the internal barometer that you've developed over the years for yourself about right and wrong and don't necessarily just allow the conditions that you find yourself in to shape that you you're here for a reason and you're that way for a reason and be strong in that and learn be open to people but be convicted it's you know it's a I think it's a wonderful experience for kids and I don't worry you know J Z they're so shut the up you know it's every generation is like that generation sucks we were awesome and I'm like me I I know my generation like we were doing whippits in 11th grade like [Music]