If you live in America you will have no doubt heard of Jon Stewart by now. A comedian disguised as a fake news reporter, his show “The Daily Show” has grown from a nightly cable comedy show to one of the most trusted sources of news and political commentary. How did this happen?

Jon Stewart Interview Barack Obama

Because it was different. Because unlike everything else on American TV, Jon Stewart was honest, intelligent, unbiased and genuine. It is easy to forget that there is more than two types of people in America. Not everyone can be pigeon holed as either republican or democrats. Jon appealed to the normal people, the ones you don’t see on the news channels. A show that mostly talked about politics, watched by the people who don’t care about politics.

Over the years, Stewart has become more and more outspoken and more and more people have listened. He has forced politicians to up their game, by catching out and exposing many of their lies and corrupt doings. Meanwhile real news channels and political commentators have become more and more outspoken, yet more and more partisan and biased. Stewart virtually stands alone as one of the only neutral political commentators around. Both Republican and Democrats have felt the heat from Stewart and his team, including President Obama who appeared on his show last week to answer for his disappointing first 2 years in office.

A demonstration of Stewart’s political reach and influence and perhaps the peak of his “fake news” career was last weekends “Rally for Sanity”. Likely prompted by Glen Becks recent “Rally for honour”, Stewart hosted a rally on the mall in Washington. But what was it’s purpose? It was not really a publicity stunt for the show. They get enough of that from the news as it is. Thousands attended to show their dislike for current politics, but these were not people that have ever attended a political rally before. There was no one with signs attacking other people. There was no hysteria. Only the attendance of reason. This is what Stewart called for. He called these people together to show the people of America that their is a side to the people that we don’t see on the news networks and that are not represented on TV. These are the normal people of America and they are the majority. But most importantly, just because they may not want to vote Democrat or Republican, does not mean that they do not have a voice.

This is Stewart’s unique style. He is not calling for people to vote for a particular party. His is not calling for better healthcare, lower taxes, more action on climate change or better schooling. He is calling for you to think about what you want, decide for yourself and then stick up for what you want and believe in, because if you can do that, then you are sane and your opinion is important.

Here is Stewart’s speech.