Jon Stewart Just Reignited His Hilarious Feud With Arby's
On January 28, Jon Stewart's Twitter account was activated. As of writing, it boasts about a million followers and follows only one single account. Naturally, that account belongs to Arby's.
Noticing this, Arby's welcomed Jon Stewart, saying "Hello old friend," to which he responded with, "Yes...I've come back up on you...much like one of your nasty nasty sandwiches...." Such is the relationship between the two (via Twitter).
Jon Stewart unilaterally declared a roasting war against Arby's in 2013, back when he was hosting The Daily Show. Executives at Arby's fretted, as The Washington Post reported. Being on the receiving end of insulting jokes — potentially every day — on an incredibly popular show like The Daily Show, could be bad for the brand. On the other hand, Christopher Fuller, Arby's vice president of brand and corporate communications, explained that the chain needed the publicity, regardless of the publicizer's intention: "This is a brand that in a lot of ways is a sleeping giant, and we haven't been in the conversation, so there's an opportunity here to really embrace it," he told The Washington Post. So, Fuller sent the team behind The Daily Show sandwiches and a letter from Arby's chief executive with "fun, playful language about the banter that Jon had put out there," courtesy of Arby's.
Arby's played along with Jon Stewart
Arby's play into the joking mostly consisted of catering The Daily Show whenever Jon Stewart teased the brand, as CNBC reports. Stewart's response was to create an alternative tagline for "Arby's: We have the meat," by saying "Arby's: proof Jon Stewart cannot destroy a brand by telling people what's in it." This continued until, as The International Business Times noted, people began to suspect that the jokes were actually a form of paid advertisement.
While the collaboration was neither confirmed nor directly denied, Arby's still gave their best spokesperson a special send-off when Stewart retired from The Daily Show in 2015. When he announced his retirement, Arby's could not resist offering Stewart a job after all his years of hard work for them (via Twitter). "I do not accept your peace offer," Jon Stewart declared in a segment later noted by Rolling Stone, "We shall always be enemies! For while you are a worthy adversary, you will be vanquished."
However, the chain, as Time covered at the time, still bought an advertising slot during his final episode to air a supercut of Stewart roasting their products with the Golden Girls' theme song "Thank You For Being a Friend" as a backing track.
Obviously, the touching moment cannot stop Jon Stewart's roasts at Arby's expense almost six years later.