Jon Stewart dishes on that 'secret' meeting with Obama

(Image credit: TheDailyShow.com/Screenshot)

published 30 July 2015

The media made quite a fuss this week about revelations that President Obama had secretly summoned Jon Stewart to the White House twice. So on his show Wednesday, Stewart revealed exactly what President Obama wanted to ask the comedian: "Jon, why are you such an a--hole?"

Somewhat more seriously, as Stewart sought to explain the meeting that got the media all in a tizzy, he explained that the underlying reason for pretty much every high-profile meeting he's had — the Obama meeting included — was to discuss his cynicism. Really, he said, the meeting wasn't all that different than Obama's appearance on his show last week, except for one big thing: There was salmon.

Stewart also noted that the meetings were on the White House visitor logs all along. "Something is not secret just because you don't know about it," Stewart quipped, suggesting that the "media has got a serious case of the FOMO." The media made the meeting sound "so much more awesome than what happened," Stewart said. Because in reality, it was this simple: "The president of the United States called my office and asked me to meet with him. And I did."