Everything about Jon Stewart totally explained
Jon Stewart (born
Jonathan Stuart Leibowitz;
November 28,
1962) is an
American comedian,
satirist,
actor,
writer,
pundit, and
producer. He is best known as the host of
Comedy Central’s "
The Daily Show" and for his
political satire. Stewart started as a
stand-up comedian, but later branched out to television, hosting
Short Attention Span Theater for Comedy Central. He went on to host his own show on
MTV, called
The Jon Stewart Show, and then hosted another show on MTV called "
You Wrote It, You Watch It".
Stewart became the host of
The Daily Show on Comedy Central in early 1999. He is also a writer and co-producer of the show. After Stewart joined,
The Daily Show steadily gained popularity and critical acclaim leading to his first
Emmy Award in 2001. Stewart himself has also gained significant notoriety as a vocal, outspoken critic of the
Bush administration and of personality-driven media shows, in particular the coverage of the U.S. news media networks
CNN,
Fox News Channel and
MSNBC. Despite this and other criticisms,
The Daily Show has been nominated for a number of news and journalism
awards.
Stewart hosted the
78th Academy Awards and the
80th Academy Awards and is the co-author of
America (The Book), which was one of the top best-selling books in the U.S in 2004.
Personal background
Jon Stewart was born in
New York City to a
Jewish family and grew up in
Lawrence, New Jersey, where he attended
Lawrence High School. His mother, Marian, is an educational consultant and teacher, and his father, Donald Leibowitz, is a
physics professor at
The College of New Jersey, Stewart was a member of the school band as a
French horn player. Stewart has said that he was subjected to considerable harassment from some of his classmates as he was the only Jewish student.
He graduated from Lawrence High School third in his class and was voted "Best Sense of Humor".
Stewart attended the
College of William and Mary in
Williamsburg, Virginia, majoring in
psychology and playing on the men’s
soccer team.
An award titled the "Leibo" is now given out annually in honor of Stewart and is given to the member of the men’s soccer team who experiences the most personal growth and provides the most laughs for his teammates. Stewart was a member of the
Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity, but became inactive after six months.
He admits to having smoked heavy amounts of
marijuana in college and claims that he was "miserable" there. On the September 14, 2006 edition of
The Daily Show, he said that he started smoking cigarettes when he was age fifteen (he has since quit). He jokingly said, "If a camel can do it, who am I not to?"
After graduating from William and Mary in 1984, Stewart held numerous jobs, including: contingency planner for the New Jersey Department of Human Services, contract administrator for
City University of New York, puppeteer for children with disabilities, construction worker, caterer, busboy, shelf stocker at
Woolworth’s, and bartender at a local blue-collar bar, the Franklin Corner Tavern. During part of this time, Stewart roomed with future congressman
Anthony Weiner, who, to date, is the only politician to have received campaign donations from the
Daily Show host.
Stewart married long-time girlfriend Tracey McShane, a
veterinary technician, in July 2000. On the April 23, 2002 episode of
The Daily Show, Stewart stated that he'd been married "almost eighteen months". On
June 19,
2001, Stewart and his wife filed a joint name change application and legally changed both of their last names to "Stewart".
He proposed to her through a personalized crossword puzzle created with the help of
Will Shortz, the crossword editor at
The New York Times. The couple had their first child, Nathan Thomas Stewart (named after Stewart's grandfather) on
July 3,
2004. Their second child, a daughter, Maggie Rose Stewart, was born on
February 4,
2006.
They also have a cat named Stanley and two
bull terriers, Monkey and Shamsky (named after
Art Shamsky).
In 2004, Stewart spoke at the commencement ceremonies at his alma mater,
William and Mary, and was presented with an honorary
Doctor of Arts degree.
Stewart was also the Class Day keynote speaker at
Princeton University in 2004. In addition to his interest in soccer, Jon Stewart is also an avid baseball fan; his favorite team is the
New York Mets.
He describes his political affiliation as
independent".
Professional background
Early work
With a reputation for being a funny man even in school,
He began using the stage name "Jon Stewart" by dropping his last name and changing the spelling of his middle name "Stuart" to "Stewart". He often jokes this is because people had difficulty with the pronunciation of Leibowitz or it "sounded too Hollywood", (a reference to
Lenny Bruce’s joke on the same theme). Stewart became a regular at the
Comedy Cellar where he was the last performer every night. For two years, he'd perform at 2am while developing his comedic style.
In 1989, he landed his first television job as a writer for
Caroline’s Comedy Hour. In 1991, he began hosting Comedy Central’s
Short Attention Span Theater. In 1992, Stewart hosted the short-lived
You Wrote It, You Watch It on MTV, which invited viewers to send in their stories to be acted out by the comedy troupe
The State. In 1993, he was a finalist to replace
David Letterman who was leaving
NBC, but
Conan O’Brien was hired instead.
Later that year, Stewart developed his own
talk show at MTV. Despite the quick cancellation of his previous MTV show, the network was still eager to work with him.
The Jon Stewart Show was the first talk show on that network and was an instant hit, becoming the second highest-rated MTV show behind
Beavis and Butt-head.
In 1994,
Paramount pulled the plug on
The Arsenio Hall Show and, with new corporate sibling MTV (through MTV parent
Viacom’s acquisition of the studio), launched an hour-long
syndicated late-night version of
The Jon Stewart Show. Many local affiliates had moved Hall’s show to 2am during its decline and Stewart’s show inherited such early morning time slots in many cities. Ratings were dismal and the show was canceled in June 1995.
Amongst the fans of the show was David Letterman, who was the final guest of
The Jon Stewart Show. Letterman signed Stewart with his production company,
Worldwide Pants. Stewart then became a frequent guest host for
Tom Snyder on
The Late Late Show, which was produced by Letterman and aired after
Late Show on
CBS. This led to much speculation that Stewart would soon replace Snyder permanently, yet Stewart was instead offered the time slot after Snyder which he turned down.
The Daily Show
In 1999, Stewart began hosting
The Daily Show on Comedy Central when
Craig Kilborn left the show to replace
Tom Snyder on
The Late Late Show. The show, which has been hugely popular and widely successful in cable television since Stewart became the host, blends humor with the day's top news stories, usually in politics, while simultaneously poking fun at politicians and many newsmakers as well as the news media itself. In an interview on
The O'Reilly Factor, Stewart denies the show's having any intentional political agenda, saying the goal was "schnicks and giggles". "The same weakness that drove me into comedy also informs my show," meaning that he was uncomfortable talking without hearing the audience laugh.
Jon Stewart has since hosted almost all airings of the program, except for a few occasions when correspondents such as
Stephen Colbert,
Rob Corddry and for a whole week,
Steve Carell, have filled in at the anchor desk. Stewart has won a total of ten
Emmys for
The Daily Show as either a writer or producer. In 2005,
The Daily Show and Jon Stewart also received a
Best Comedy Album Grammy Award for the audio book edition of
America (The Book). In 2000 and 2004, the show won two
Peabody Awards for its coverage of the presidential elections relevant to those years, called "" and "", respectively.
One of the show's most enduring and serious moments, one that cemented his role in American culture, remains the
September 20,
2001 show—their first show after
attacks of September 11, 2001. The show began with no introduction. Prior to this date,
The Daily Show introduction included footage of a fly-in towards the
World Trade Center and New York City. The first nine minutes of the show included a tearful Stewart discussing his personal view on the event. His remarks ended as follows:
Another notable moment occurred on
April 4,
2006, when Stewart confronted his longtime friend,
US Senator John McCain, about his decision to appear at
Liberty University, an institution founded by
Jerry Falwell, a man who McCain had previously denounced as one of the "agents of intolerance".
In the interchange, Stewart asked McCain "You're not freaking out on us? Are you freaking out on us, because if you're freaking out and you're going into the crazy
base [politics] world— are you going into crazy base world?" McCain replied "I'm afraid so." The clip was played on CNN and created a surge of articles across the
blogosphere.
Most recently
The Daily Show was involved in former correspondent
Stephen Colbert's announcement that he'd run for president in 2008.
On
October 18,
2007, Stewart renewed his contract with Comedy Central and will continue to host
The Daily Show through 2010.
Stewart is paid a reported $1.5 million for one season of
The Daily Show.
Replacing Letterman on The Late Show
In the middle of 2002, amid rumors that David Letterman was going to make a switch from CBS to ABC when his contract ran out with the former, Stewart was rumored to be the person who would take over Letterman’s show on CBS. But ultimately, Letterman renewed his contract with CBS. On the
March 9,
2002 episode of
Saturday Night Live (hosted by Stewart), a "
Weekend Update" sketch poked fun at the situation. In the middle of the sketch, host
Jimmy Fallon said that he couldn’t continue doing the broadcast and he brought Stewart in to replace him. Stewart glowed with excitement and chattered to himself about this chance to prove himself on network television. His pep talk went on too long, however, and before Stewart could deliver any headlines, Fallon returned and said he'd be able to finish out the broadcast himself.
Later that year, ABC offered Stewart his own talk show to air after
Nightline. Stewart’s contract with
The Daily Show was near expiring and he expressed strong interest. But ABC decided to give another Comedy Central figure,
Jimmy Kimmel, the post-
Nightline slot.
Crossfire appearance
In a televised exchange with former CNN personality
Tucker Carlson on
Crossfire on
October 15,
2004. Stewart criticized the state of television journalism and pleaded with the show’s hosts to "stop hurting America", and referred to both Carlson and co-host
Paul Begala as "
partisan hacks". This exchange became one of the most widely viewed Internet videos to date,
and a topic of much media discussion.
Despite being on the program to comment on current events, Stewart immediately shifted the discussion toward the show itself, asserting that
Crossfire had failed in its responsibility to inform and educate viewers about politics as a serious topic. Stewart complained that the show engaged in partisan hackery instead of honest debate, and said that the hosts’ assertion that
Crossfire is a debate show is like "saying
pro wrestling is a show about athletic competition". Carlson responded by saying that Stewart criticizes news organizations for not holding public officials accountable, but when he interviewed
John Kerry, Stewart asked a series of softball questions. Stewart responded that the media is in dismal shape if "[itis looking] to Comedy Central for [its] cues on integrity". When Carlson continued to press Stewart on the Kerry issue, Stewart said, "You’re on CNN! The show that leads into me is
puppets making crank phone calls! What is wrong with you?" When Carlson told Stewart he wasn't as funny in person as he was on his show, Stewart retorted, "You’re as big a dick on your show as you're on any show."
In response to further prods from Carlson to "be funny", Stewart said, "No, I’m not going to be your monkey."
The day after the incident occurred, on
The Daily Show, Stewart said,
In January 2005, CNN announced that it was canceling
Crossfire. When asked about the cancellations, CNN/US' incoming President,
Jonathan Klein, said about Stewart’s appearance on the show, "I think he made a good point about the noise level of these types of shows, which does nothing to illuminate the issues of the day." Soon after Stewart quipped on
The Daily Show that "
I fought the law, and the law lost!"
When he was asked about his relationship with
Tucker Carlson on
CNN’s
Larry King Live in February of 2008, Jon Stewart said: “It became this idea that it was personal between the two of us, and it wasn't. […] If there’s one thing I regret about that thing, it was probably the idea that it was personal, that there was something I was saying about Tucker to Tucker, [butactually] it was about the show.”
Books
In 1998, Stewart released his first book
Naked Pictures of Famous People, a collection of humorous short stories and essays. The book reached
The New York Times Best Seller List.
In 2004, Stewart and
The Daily Show writing staff released, a mock
high school history textbook offering insights into the unique American system of government, dissecting its institutions, explaining its history and processes, and satirizing such popular American political precepts as "
one man, one vote", "government by the people", and "every vote counts". The book sold millions of copies upon its 2004 release and ended the year as a top fifteen best-seller. He played romantic leads in the films
Playing by Heart and
Wishful Thinking. He also had supporting roles in the romantic comedy
Since You’ve Been Gone and in the horror film
The Faculty. Other films were planned for Stewart to write and star in but they were never produced. Stewart has since maintained a relationship with
Bob and
Harvey Weinstein and continues to appear in films they've produced including
Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back,
Doogal and the documentary
Wordplay.
He also appeared in
Half Baked as an “enhancement smoker”, in
Big Daddy as
Adam Sandler’s roommate, and in the documentary
The Aristocrats. Stewart often makes fun of his appearances in the high-profile
flop Death to Smoochy, in which he played a treacherous television executive, and the animated film
Doogal, where he played a blue
spring named Zeebad that shot a freeze ray from his mustache. In 2007, Stewart made a
cameo appearance as himself in
Evan Almighty which starred former
Daily Show correspondent
Steve Carell. In the movie, Stewart was seen on a television screen poking fun at Evan Baxter (Steve Carell) for building an ark. The show looked like the set of the Daily Show.
Stewart had a recurring role in
The Larry Sanders Show in which he played himself as an occasional substitute and possible successor to late-night talk show host
Larry Sanders (played by
Garry Shandling). In 1998, Stewart hosted the television special,
Elmopalooza, celebrating thirty years of
Sesame Street. He has guest-starred on other sitcoms such as
The Nanny,
Dr Katz, Professional Therapist,
Spin City,
NewsRadio,
American Dad, and
The Simpsons. He has also made guest-appearances on the
children's television series Between the Lions and
Jack's Big Music Show. A 2006 episode of
Family Guy features a brief segment of Stewart and Peter "donkey punching"
MC Hammer.
Producing
In the mid-1990s, Stewart launched his own
production company named
Busboy Productions. The name of the company is a reference to Stewart’s previous job as a
busboy. The company’s
vanity card features the sound of a glass being knocked over followed by a voice whispering "Oops. Sorry." Stewart also signed a deal with
Miramax to develop his own projects, but none of his ideas were ever produced. After Stewart’s success as host and producer of
The Daily Show, he revived Busboy Productions with
Daily Show producers
Ben Karlin and Rich Korson. In 2002, Busboy planned to produce a
sitcom for NBC starring Stephen Colbert but the show didn't come to fruition.
In 2005, Comedy Central reached an agreement with Busboy to finance the production company. Comedy Central has a first-look agreement on all projects, then Busboy is free to shop them to other networks.
The deal spawned the
Daily Show spin-off The Colbert Report. Other upcoming projects include the sitcom
Three Strikes, the
documentary Sportsfan, and the film
The Donor.
In October 2007, Comedy Central ordered at least 6 episodes of "Important things with
Demetri Martin". The show, featuring Demetri Martin, is being co-edited personally by Jon Stewart and is scheduled to run sometime mid-2008. Demetri Martin hosts a sometime-segment on
The Daily Show entitled "
Trendspotting".
WGA strike of 2007-2008
Stewart was an important factor in the unionization of the writers for Comedy Central.
The Daily Show writers were the first of the Comedy Central's writers to be able to join the guild, after which other shows followed.
He supported the
2007 Writers Guild of America strike, commenting on
The Daily Show episode just before the strike in a sarcastic manner about how Comedy Central had made available all of the episodes for free on their website, but without advertising, and said 'go support our advertisers'. The show went on hiatus when the strike began, like other late night talk shows. Upon Stewart's return to the show on
January 7,
2008, he refused to use the title
The Daily Show, stating that "The Daily Show" was the show made with all of the people responsible for the broadcast, including his writers. During the strike, he referred to his show as
A Daily Show with Jon Stewart. The strike ended on
February 13,
2008.
According to the Huffington Post, in response to the
WGA strike beginning
November 5,
2007, Stewart offered to pay the writing staff of both
The Daily Show and
The Colbert Report their salaries out of his own pocket in a show of solidarity. However, this was inaccurate; he actually paid the salaries of his show's production staff – people who didn't go on strike, but who were losing money due to the strike.
The Writers Guild Strike of 2007 was also responsible for a notable mock "feud" among Stewart,
Stephen Colbert, and
Conan O'Brien in early
2008. Without writers to fuel their witty banter, the three comedians concocted a
crossover/
rivalry in order to garner more viewers during the ratings slump.
Stephen Colbert made the claim that because of "the Colbert bump", he was responsible for
Mike Huckabee's success in the 2008 presidential race.
Conan O'Brien claimed that he was responsible for Colbert's success because he'd made mention of him on his show. In response, Stewart claimed that he was responsible for the success of
O'Brien, since Stewart had featured him on
his earlier comedy program, and in turn the success of
Huckabee. This resulted in a three-part comedic battle between the three pundits, with all three appearing on each other's shows. The feud ended on
Late Night with Conan O'Brien with an all-out brawl between the three talk-show hosts — but all in good fun.
Honors
Stewart and the rest of the members of
The Daily Show have received two
Peabody Awards: one, for a piece covering the
2000 Presidential Elections entitled, and the other for covering the
2004 Presidential Elections entitled . In the December, 2003
New Years edition of
Newsweek magazine, Stewart was named the "Who’s Next?" person for the coming year of 2004, with the magazine predicting he'd emerge as an absolute sensation in that year (the magazine said they were right in the "who’s next for 2005" issue). Stewart was also named one of the
2005 Time 100, an annual list of 100 of the most influential people of the year by
Time Magazine.
Entertainment Weekly named Stewart as its “Entertainer of the Year” for 2004. In addition, Stewart and
The Daily Show received the 2005
NCTE George Orwell Award for Distinguished Contribution to Honesty and Clarity in Public Language.
Asteroid 116939 Jonstewart is named in his honor.
Grammy Awards
Stewart has hosted the
Grammys twice, in 2001 and in 2002. In the middle of the 2001 broadcast, after laying a number of comedic duds, Stewart did what he encourages most public officials to do, and owned up to his bad hosting: he said, "Ladies and gentlemen, I just want to say I feel your scorn and accept it." When Stewart returned to host the next year, his comedy was more successful. Joking about the performance of the song "
Lady Marmalade", he said, "Our next performance is from the movie
Moulin Rouge!, a film about a time when the whorehouses were about the music!” When the award winners for
Album of the Year walked up on stage, many in number, Stewart quipped, "I don’t know what you may have heard, but you were only supposed to go on stage if you
worked on the
O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack, not if you
heard it."
Oscars
On
January 5,
2006, Stewart was officially announced as the host of the
78th Academy Awards (Oscars), which were held at the
Kodak Theatre in
Hollywood on
March 5. Responding to press questions at the time of his selection, Stewart remarked: "As a performer, I’m truly honored to be hosting the show. Although, as an avid watcher of the Oscars, I can’t help but be a little disappointed with the choice. It appears to be another sad attempt to smoke out
Billy Crystal." (According to
The New York Times, Oscar producer
Gil Cates knew Crystal was going to be performing
700 Sundays during the time period and wasn't able to host.) On the Monday before the Oscars, Stewart told
Larry King that he was more "excited" than nervous about the job and joked that if he turns out a failure, he could be "bumped down to public access". When asked what the opening would be, the comedian chastised himself by comparing a Stewart opening to a "
Gene Rayburn homage". Instead, the opening segment, preceding Stewart’s monologue, featured several recent hosts "declining" to host the show.
Critical response to Stewart’s performance was mixed. Various celebrities and other film personalities were generally positive.
Roger Ebert compared him favorably to legendary Oscar host
Johnny Carson. Other reviewers were less positive;
Tom Shales of
The Washington Post said that Stewart hosted with “smug humorlessness.” James Poniewozik of
Time said that Stewart was a bad host, but a great “anti-host” in that he poked fun at parts of the broadcast that deserved it, which lent him a degree of authenticity with the non-Hollywood audience. Stewart and correspondent
John Oliver later poked fun at his lackluster reception on
The Daily Show’s coverage of the
79th Academy Awards by saying that the "demon of last year’s Oscars had finally been exorcised."
Stewart also hosted the
80th Academy Awards on
February 24,
2008. Reception this time, however, was far more positive, with Stewart's performance commended by critics and viewers, despite the show being criticized as boring and ranking as the lowest rating Oscar broadcast ever.
Filmography
Further Information
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