NEW YORK — You didn't think Jon Stewart was going to get political on Election Day Eve?

At the Stand Up for Heroes benefit show Tuesday night, headliners Bruce Springsteen, Seth Meyers and Jim Gaffigan sidestepped politics in their music and comedy sets, opting for lighter, often-ribald humor that appeased the crowd of veterans who filled Madison Square Garden's Hulu Theater.

But with Americans set to the head to the polls less than 12 hours later, Stewart went right for the hot-button issues that he tackled as former host of "The Daily Show," namely: gun control.

"I don't know what we're going to do, man," Stewart said. "Remember after the shooting? You know, not the one two weeks ago or the one two weeks before that. And not the one three days ago. Anyway, we're not going to (expletive) do anything. I don't understand why we're not doing anything.

"If other people kill us, we will make (soldiers) go to their place forever. That's basically how Americans learn geography now," he continued. "But if we kill each other, we do nothing."

Stewart then launched into a hypothetical story about how difficult it was for him to purchase an AR-15 rifle.

After filling out a thorough application and waiting two weeks, "they called to schedule a home visit to make sure the environment was going to be appropriate," Stewart joked. "You know what? Never mind, sorry. I tried to adopt a cat. I got an AR-15 in three minutes online. It's harder to adopt a (expletive) cat than to get an AR-15. What is wrong with us?"

Throughout his 11-minute set, Stewart also lamented how much he's aged during Donald Trump's presidency ("Look at the way I look ... Jews age like avocados.") and criticized men who complain about the #MeToo movement ("Literally a guy said to me, 'I can't even smile at a woman anymore.' I think you can, but let me ask you: Where is your (penis) when you're smiling?").

But he ended his set with a message of unity, saying that while his comedy hasn't "lost anything" by being more politically correct, we should also be more understanding of others' ignorance, as long as they're willing to change.

"We have to give people the space to (expletive) up and learn," Stewart said. "I don't care how woke you think you are: Everybody sleeps sometime. I think there's gotta be a way to redeem people."

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