Sanity Sells

The Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear, held on the Washington Mall Oct. 30, was a wee bit more successful than what the naysayers predicted.

Comedy Central satirists Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert first teased, then fully promoted, the event for two months on their respective shows, “The Daily Show” and “The Colbert Report.” But there were allegedly two unknowns.

One was the focus of the event and, by extension, its lineup. The other was its success factor considering, as noted by The Wrap, people tend to be more selective of their outdoor events in the fall, especially when they don’t know what they’re getting for their efforts.

The latter was not an issue: the sunny day brought a reported 215,000 to the rally, eclipsing “Rally to Restore Honor,” the Glenn Beck-organized event it was partially inspired by.

A “longtime entertainment industry PR exec” who writes for the Wrap under the pseudonym Frankie Black predicted a disaster.

“People aren’t eager to hand over a chunk of their weekend to an event that’s undefined, particularly one that requires some degree of advance planning on their parts,” Black predicted Oct. 25. “But the biggest issue is that by creating an information vacuum around the event, Comedy Central has ceded ownership of it.”

But the Stewart/Colbert crowd likely understood and trusted the event organizers. They arrived in droves, many carrying comically nonpartisan signs like “Hitler is Hitler,” “I Support The Sign I’m Holding” and “I Don’t Have Time For This.”

As for an event without definition, Stewart spent 12 minutes closing the show explaining the rally’s purpose – not to the attendees, but to the CNN and Fox News cameras.

“It doesn’t matter what we say or do here today,” he said. “It matters what is reported about what we said or did here today.”

It was well played: television reporters had been clearly frustrated by the event’s lack of a polarizing message. Many reporters appeared to be oblivious that the event was actually about them.

“The image of Americans that is reflected back to us by our political and media process is false,” Stewart said. “It is us through a fun house mirror.”

The remarks gave the event perspective: all things in moderation. Father Guido Sarducci gave a religiously ambivalent benediction. Stewart called in a couple of favors and brought out Yusuf (aka Cat Stevens) to perform “Peace Train” only to be derailed by the cacophonous sounds of Ozzy Osbourne doing “Crazy Train.” The divergent music makers were ushered off stage so that The O’Jays could build a bridge with “Love Train.”

Other artists included Kid Rock, Sheryl Crow, Jeff Tweedy and Mavis Staples.

Approximately 3 million people watched the rally on television or online. Washington Transit officials said metro ridership broke a 19-year-old record for a Saturday.