Over the past 16 years on The Daily Show, Jon Stewart has given the world reasons to laugh at the country around us, reasons to reflect in horror on society, and reasons to criticize the fast food chain Arby’s. I guess that last part ties into reflecting in horror. Still, Arby’s has no bad blood (outside of their sandwiches) and it paid respect to the vacating talk show host with a pair of ads on Stewart’s penultimate Daily Show episode last night. Check it out.
Since Stewart’s frequent evisceration of the chain’s edible offerings probably didn’t do too much damage to the company’s earnings over the years, Arby’s probably hasn’t worried about the taunting too much, and it gives me a surprisingly warm feeling in my heart to hear Ving Rhames singing the Golden Girls theme “Thank You for Being a Friend” as Stewart pretends to vomit in his mouth. Wait, maybe that warm feeling was a side effect of the Loaded Italian. Why did I do that to myself?
I wonder if there’s someone at the company who’s been keeping tabs on all the jabs – or “jarbys” as I like to call them – that Stewart has taken at the restaurant over the years, just waiting for the day when they could use it all against The Daily Show in some behind-the-scenes legal battle, only to end up utilizing it as a tribute to the retiring left wing mad genius. (Incidentally, Arby’s uses both wings of the chicken…when making their ham.) However it was originally conceived, the ad a nice gloves-on reaction to years of verbal abuse.
In fact, this isn’t even the only way that Arby’s is bidding Stewart farewell. Enter The Daily Deli, a sandwich inspired by and paying respects to the show and its leader in a way that doesn’t shy from Jewishness. Check out their ad for it below.
Arby’s actually offered Stewart a job through social media whenever he announced he was leaving The Daily Show, a proposition he was very quick to shoot down. Perhaps if the McDonald’s biopic is a hit, someone will make an Arby’s version, and then Stewart can turn down offers of playing one of the Raffel brothers that founded the business.
Tune in tonight for Stewart’s final episode behind the Daily Show desk. Trevor Noah will take the mantle next month, but we don’t want to think about rebound hosts just yet. We’re still mourning…the fact that Arby’s exists.
