Leak: Daily Show Showdown Is Brutal
It sounds like Jon Stewart will be giving Daily Show guest Jim Cramer the Tucker Carlson treatment: The Daily Show's Thursday taping ran way over schedule as Stewart "repeatedly chastised" Cramer, AP reports.
The CNBC host has been engaged in a heated back and forth with Stewart this past week over whether he's done too much Wall Street cheerleading on his Mad Money show.
The spat followed a broader attack Stewart launched against CNBC after the financial network's Rick Santelli backed out of a scheduled appearance, reportedly because he's a big chicken.
Cramer's relative bravery didn't buy him softer treatment from Stewart, judging by what AP is reporting:
"I understand that you want to make finance entertaining, but it's not a f—king game," Stewart told Cramer... He alleged CNBC was ultimately in bed with the businesses it covered - that regular people's stocks and 401Ks were "capitalizing on your adventure."
Cramer's recent line of attack was that Stewart, a comedian, lacks the sophisticated understanding of financial markets Cramer employs when telling callers to "buy buy buy," blowing a clown whistle or giving a grossly misleading softball interview to his old boss.
Cramer backed off from the tough talk on Martha Stewart's show today. And it looks he's in full retreat mode tonight, based on the Associated Press' unattributed report (which probably came either via an audience member or Comedy Central briefing). AP:
[Stewart] accused the financial news network of willfully ignoring corporate dishonesty.
For his part, Cramer disagreed with Stewart on a few points, but mostly agreed that he could have done a better job foreseeing the economic collapse. Cramer called himself a "fan of the show" and said his network was "fair game" to Stewart's criticism.
Which is why Cramer won't end up basically ruined like Carlson: Carlson fought Stewart hard at every turn. Cramer's been very, very wrong often enough that he can do the contrition bit quite convincingly.
(Pic: Associated Press)
(UPDATE: Added additional info from a longer AP article.)