The film, which will make its theatrical and video-on-demand premiere on June 26, is evidence that being away from the grind of a daily TV show has expanded rather than shrunk Stewart’s satirical powers. Stewart, who is 57, has written and directed ‘‘Irresistible,’’ a political satire about a small Wisconsin town that becomes engulfed in a political spectacle when a Democratic strategist and his Republican counterpart become fixated on the larger symbolic value and bellwether potential of the local mayoral race. What has he been thinking about this country while he has been gone? Now he has returned with some answers. It has also made Stewart’s post-‘‘Daily Show’’ silence - apart from a few guest spots on his old friend and colleague Stephen Colbert’s show, he has been mostly out of the spotlight - more intriguing. You create urgency through conflict.’’ That pervasive sense of political and social conflict has only grown since Stewart left the air in 2015. So in the absence of urgency, they have to create it. There are very few events that would justify being covered 24 hours a day, seven days a week. ‘‘Twenty-four-hour news networks are built for one thing, and that’s 9/11. ‘‘Look, we certainly were part of that ecosystem, but I don’t think that news became entertainment because they thought our show was a success,’’ Stewart says. For all the value Jon Stewart delivered as a political satirist and voice of reason during his 16-year-run as the host of ‘‘The Daily Show,’’ it’s quite plausible to suggest that the political and media Bizarro World in which we live - where skepticism is the default, news is often indistinguishable from entertainment and entertainers have usurped public authority from the country’s political leaders - is one that he and his show helped to usher in.
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