Jessica Williams Opens Up: Why ‘The Daily Show’ Suited Her Better Than ‘SNL’ Experience

Jessica Williams, one of the brightest personalities on Comedy Central The Daily Show, has shared her experience about pursuing a career in her field, and how she found the comedy news program to perfectly accommodate her style of humour as compared to another titan comedy programme, Saturday Night Live. Although people thought of her as an ideal candidate to SNL at a very young age, Williams found a much conducive environment in The Daily Show in terms of enjoyment and creativity.

She labeled herself as very tender and says that attribute suits her more in the character-driven, subtle comedy that she was able to do on the show. Having a collaboration with such a person as Jon Stewart with whom she described as being a revelation not only gave her a different environment where she felt nurtured and motivated to be who she is.

Thriving in creative comfort

Saturday Night Live is fast, pressurized, and prone to focusing on wider sketches and impersonations which usually require a different comedic style. To Williams, the more literary portions and satirical focus on The Daily Show permitted her to build her own particular voice in comedy. She would explore further into characters and issues and no longer just rely on the cheap joke to make her point, rather rent out a steadier performance.

This was an inventive comfort that contributed to her success and one of the primary reasons that led to her success in her tenure in the show. Factors that became major attractions were her potential to be less in your face in her sense of humor and that she could be more personal in her sense of humor.

A Mentor in Jon Stewart

The experience was considerably impactful for Williams after she worked with Jon Stewart. She complimented his form of leadership with the fact that he was a mentor who created a team of players and an encouraging environment. The political satire of Stewart kept his promise of journalistic integrity, and his sharp intelligence was a masterclass lesson in political satire. According to Williams, to learn under him was such a great experience.

The advice Stewart dispensed was an awakening, something very much against the competitiveness that can at times be the hallmark of comedy. His hand enabled her to not only emerge as a good comedian but as an insightful commentator and as such, her stint in The Daily Show took place as a pivotal point of her career.

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