Jon Stewart riffs on World Cup final, Muppets and Trump cameo
The Daily Show host joked about Spain’s 1-0 win over Argentina, the tournament’s first halftime show and Donald Trump’s trophy-stage moment.
By Poppy Nakagawa · Culture Writer
2 min read
Jon Stewart found plenty to chew on after the World Cup final, from a 1-0 Spain win over Argentina to a halftime lineup that put Madonna, Justin Bieber and the Muppets in the middle of soccer’s biggest day.
On Monday night’s episode of Comedy Central’s The Daily Show, Stewart opened with the result of Sunday’s final, which Variety reported ended with Spain beating Argentina by a single goal.
Stewart framed the matchup as a kind of upside-down American football spectacle. “The Spain-Argentina final was like a reverse Super Bowl,” he said, adding that “the players spoke Spanish, and the halftime show was in English.”
The halftime show gave him even more material. Variety reported that the performance was the first halftime show in World Cup history and featured Madonna, Justin Bieber and the Muppets.
Stewart zeroed in on The Count from Sesame Street, who appeared alongside Kermit and Miss Piggy. His complaint was less about the puppet roster than the scheduling: The Count, a vampire, had been put to work in daylight.
He also joked that the scoreline did not give the counting-obsessed character much to do for much of the match, since the game sat at 0-0 for long stretches before Spain’s winning goal.
The monologue then turned from halftime spectacle to presidential optics. Variety reported that President Donald Trump attended the game, and Stewart criticized a moment in which Trump stayed onstage during the trophy celebration.
Stewart said that part of the ceremony is usually for the players, then asked why Trump was still there. He punctuated the bit with a jab at the president, calling him “Cankles Muldoon.”
The report did not include a response from Trump to Stewart’s comments.
The World Cup segment fit Stewart’s usual Monday-night rhythm on The Daily Show: grab the weekend’s biggest public event, sift it for strange details, then aim at the powerful person standing nearest the spotlight.
This time, the strange details were plentiful. A Spain-Argentina final, an English-language halftime show, The Count in the afternoon sun and a president hovering near the trophy lift all landed in Stewart’s post-game rundown.
Variety said the full monologue was posted with the report, though the embedded YouTube player displayed an unavailable-video message at the time shown on the page.
This story draws on original reporting from Variety.