After an hour of songs and jokes, Jon Stewart took the stage in a suit for "a moment of sincerity" and told the crowd that the media has made the country seem more polarized and hateful than it really is, and said that it's time to work together and to restore sanity.

"We live now in hard times, not end times," Stewart said, but added that outsiders wouldn't know that by watching the news.

The 24-hour punditry did not cause the problem, Stewart said, but it has made it worse by overblowing some of the issues.

"If we amplify everything, we hear nothing," he said.

The problem, Stewart said, is that the press no longer differentiates real extremism from regular events.

"Not being able to distinguish between real racists and tea partiers or real bigots and Juan Williams...is an insult, not only to those people, but to the racists themselves who have put in the exhausting efforts it takes to hurt," Stewart said. 

He added that not being able to distinguish a terrorist from a Muslim makes us less sane, not more.

"The press is our immune system, he said. "If it overreacts to everything we actually get sicker."

Stewart went on to say that the image of the country portrayed by the press is false. Most people are not extremists - they have their own views and opinions, but still manage to work together. The only place where extremism and partisanship dominate are on Capitol Hill and on cable television, Stewart said, but for most Americans, that is not an accurate reflection of life.

"We hear every damn day about how fragile our country is... but we work together to get things done every damn day," he said.

And working together, Stewart said, is crucial.