"The Daily Show" has a history of rising to the occasion when tragedy strikes. Jon Stewart's epic monologue about Eric Garner after yet another death at the hands of police comes to mind. It included the line, "If comedy is tragedy plus time, I need more fucking time, but I would really settle for less fucking tragedy, to be honest with you."
Monday evening's "Daily Show" proved Noah was prepared to speak out on Paris with the same passion. Since the show doesn't air on Fridays, Noah said that he and the team had to find ways to "deal with" the news of the terrorist attacks.
"I guess everyone has to deal with it," Noah said. "It’s tough. Because I think our lives are defined by moments. Dinner with family, taking a nice drive together, friends gathering at somebody's house to watch Ronda get kicked in the neck," he continued, trying to force a joke about UFC fighter Ronda Rousey. "And I think the reason it’s so painful is because often terrorism seeks to replace these moments with death and fear."
"We all are afraid," he said acknowledging the new reality of global terrorism. "We replace that fear with anger a lot of the time, but I think what we should try to choose to do is not focus on the perpetrators, because every attack, whether Paris, Beirut, Kenya, seems less about a specific group and more about an attack on humanity itself."
But even amid the sadness and heartache, Noah said that there was one thing that made him smile. Parisians, who are not generally known for being the nicest people, worked to help each other on Friday night. Noah mentioned the hashtag that was trending following the attack, #PorteOuverte which means "open the door."
"To the people of France, we commend you," Noah said. "I will say you are ruining our cultural stereotypes, because the French are supposed to be cold and unwelcoming, and then you do these beautiful things, and who do we make jokes about now, Finland? Because we will, we will make jokes about Finland, if we have to."
“But our prayers will be with Paris. Our prayers are with the people," he resolved. "But let’s not forget, before we fight, to love.'
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