Jon Stewart's Arby's Drive-Thru 'Prank' Has Twitter Rolling
Comedian Jon Stewart has a longstanding feud with Arby's dating back to his time at "The Daily Show." The New York Post even once documented the 16 times that Stewart ruthlessly hammered Arby's on the program. It might appear adversarial to the uninitiated, but to the fast food chain's credit, they have always rolled with the punchlines and embraced the manufactured hate with good-humored grace, even sending 'thank you' notes and sandwiches to the staff whenever they received a mention.
Most of Stewart's jokes directed at Arby's have revolved around bathroom humor — as in that's where you'll end up after eating a Beef n' Cheddar. During one episode where he discussed the abundance of candidates vying for the 2016 presidency, Stewart quipped, "the 2016 race is filling up faster than the toilets at Arby's." There's even a full compilation of Stewart's segments on Arby's from "The Daily Show" posted online.
But as many viewers may have already surmised, as a satirical show, Stewart's running gag about Arby's is nothing more than fake news. Stewart has acknowledged in interviews that he has never actually eaten at Arby's and that the attacks were all contrived. Yet that hasn't stopped him from continuing his faux assault, as evidenced by his Arby's drive-thru 'prank' shared on Twitter.
'Never eating here'
Stewart's latest comedic salvo fired in his ongoing war with Arby's was shared via his Twitter account as part of an advertisement to promote season 2 of "The Problem with Jon Stewart," which streams on Apple TV+. It depicts Stewart driving in his car and introducing the upcoming season. Toward the end of the video, Stewart pulls into an Arby's drive-thru, repeatedly screaming into the intercom that he is "never (expletive) eating here!" He then coyly glances into the camera and in a nod and a wink to his past with Arby's, remarks calmly, "it's important to keep relationships going."
In true form, Arby's immediately responded with yawning and upward glance emojis as if to imply that they've seen this all before and are unimpressed. Some Twitter users appreciated the revival of the old spat though, with one person saying, "I've had a rough couple of days and I needed the laughter your relationship with Arby's provides."
Others came to the defense of Arby's, wondering why Stewart has singled out this particular fast food franchise. One user said they can enjoy the Arby's jokes and still eat there too. "Your slander of Arby's is hilarious. But I can get Buffalo chicken fingers and Curly Fries from them. I love them." While Jon Stewart's beef with Arby's has so far endured, he did hint back in August that a new pizza bowl product from Papa John's had at least temporarily drawn his ire away from the old reliable.