Jon Stewart may have left The Daily Show, but he hasn’t left the fight.
On Monday night, Stewart returned to the Comedy Central show, now as a guest of Trevor Noah, although Stewart took over the last half of the show — which went a few minutes long, actually — to plead his case for the 2010 James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act, whose extension is getting held up by the Republicans in Congress.
“It expired in September. Soon to be out of money, these first responders, many sick with cancers and pulmonary disease, had to travel at their expense to Washington, D.C., hundreds of times to plead for our government to do the right thing. Plead,” Stewart said. “The only conclusion I can draw is that the people of Congress are not as good a people as the people who are first responders.”
So he called on viewers to plead along with him. Call on Speaker of the House Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnel, using the hashtag #WorstResponders.
In the most poignant bit, Stewart reconvened a panel he moderated on The Daily Show some five-and-a-half years ago with 9/11 first responders. Except only one of the four guys from that panel is still standing today.
If anyone could use a moment of zen, it’s these heroes.
Roll the clips.