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Jon Stewart

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This article is about the comedian and author. See also John Stewart or John Stuart.
File:John stewart.jpg
Jon Stewart

Jon Stewart (born Jonathan Stuart Leibowitz, November 28, 1962) is an American comedian, actor, author, and producer, best known as host of The Daily Show. The popularity of this late-night show has earned Stewart renown as "the most trusted name in fake news", and he has been called a "Walter Cronkite" for a younger generation. [1] He has also gained attention as an outspoken critic of established news media sources.

Personal background

Jon Stewart was born in New York City. He attended Lawrence High School, and is pictured on the Hall of Honors there. While growing up in Lawrence Township, New Jersey, he unofficially dropped his last name, Leibowitz, and altered the spelling of his middle name from "Stuart" to "Stewart." He often jokes this is because people had difficulty with the pronunciation of Leibowitz or it "sounded too Hollywood" [1], Stewart has implied that the name change was actually due to a strained relationship with his father, a physicist named Ares, who left the family in 1971 and with whom Stewart no longer has any contact [2]. He was a member of the school's band as a French horn player, and has said he was subjected to considerable harassment from some of his classmates as he was the only Jewish student. He describes his high school self as "very into Eugene Debs and a bit of a leftist."

Stewart attended the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, majoring in psychology, and played on the men's soccer team, scoring 10 goals and notching 12 assists. An award titled the "Leibo" is now given out annually in honor of Stewart; it 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. He was a member of the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity but left after six months.[3]

While at William and Mary, he helped coach soccer at Gloucester High School in Gloucester, Virginia. In 2006, he received an honorary All-America award from the National Soccer Coaches Association of America.

After graduating from William & 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, and bartender at a local blue-collar bar, the Franklin Corner Tavern.

Stewart married long-time girlfriend Tracey McShane, a veterinary technician, in May 2000, at which time they both legally changed their last names to "Stewart." The couple had their first child, Nathan Thomas Stewart (named after Stewart's grandfather) on July 3, 2004. The couple had their second child, a daughter, Maggie Rose Stewart, on February 4, 2006. [4]

In 2004, Stewart spoke at the commencement ceremonies at his alma mater college, William and Mary, and was presented with an honorary Doctor of Arts degree [5]. Stewart was also the Class Day keynote speaker at Princeton University in 2004.

Professional background

File:Jon Stewart in 2000 and 2005.jpg
Stewart on The Daily Show, in bewilderment at the difference between himself in 2000 and in 2005

With a reputation for being a funnyman even in school, Jon Stewart moved to New York City in 1986 to try his hand at the comedy club circuit. In 1989, he began hosting Comedy Central's Short Attention Span Theater, and in 1993, due in large part to the support of his friend David Letterman, Stewart started hosting The Jon Stewart Show on MTV, the first talk show on that network. Also in 1993, he was a finalist to replace David Letterman on Late Night, but the position ultimately went to Conan O'Brien.

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. The show, broadcast in 2:00 or 3:00 AM timeslots by some local stations, featured skits such as "Talk Show Jon," "The Moron Walk," and "Raymond and Ass," but was a ratings flop, and it was cancelled in June 1995.

Stewart had also previously hosted the unsuccessful You Wrote It, You Watch It on MTV, which invited viewers to send in their stories to be acted out. Stewart was a frequent substitute for Tom Snyder on The Late Late Show, which aired after Letterman's Late Show on CBS.

Although best known for his work on The Daily Show, Stewart has also had roles in several television series and movies. He often makes fun of his film appearances, as they have largely been in movies considered to be flops. He usually singles out the high-profile bomb Death to Smoochy, in which he played a treacherous television executive. He also appeared in the cult favorite Half Baked, and he played a romantic lead in the film Playing by Heart. Other movie appearances include Big Daddy as Adam Sandler's best friend and The Faculty, and a small part as a news correspondent in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back. In 1998 Stewart appeared as a celebrity guest star in Elmopalooza, a show celebrating 30 years of Sesame Street. 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).

He has guest-starred on such television shows as The Nanny, Spin City, and NewsRadio, in addition to the Saturday Night Live episode he hosted in March 2002. He recently voiced the character Zeebad in the US version of the film Doogal, a critical and financial failure. He also appears in the 2006 documentary Wordplay, discussing and solving the New York Times crossword puzzle.

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. Since that time, he has hosted all airings of the program, save for a scant handful where correspondents such as Stephen Colbert and Rob Corddry have filled in at the anchor desk. In 2005, The Daily Show and Jon Stewart received two Emmy Awards and a Best Comedy Album Grammy Award for the audio book edition of America (The Book).

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Jon Stewart reacting to a Bush clip in his late night television show The Daily Show

The Grammys

Stewart also hosted the Grammys twice, in 2001 and 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 O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack won Album of the Year and an immense number of people walked up on stage, 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."

Replacing Letterman on the Late Show

In the middle of 2002, amid rumors that David Letterman was going to make a jump from CBS to ABC when his contract ran out with CBS, Stewart was rumored to be the person who would take over Letterman's show on CBS. Ultimately, Letterman renewed his contract with CBS, and ABC gave another Comedy Central figure, Jimmy Kimmel, his own show following Nightline. In a 2002 episode of Saturday Night Live that Stewart was hosting, a "Weekend Update" sketch poked fun at the situation. In the middle of the sketch, "Weekend Update" 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 his 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 would be able to finish out the broadcast himself.

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Stewart interviewing Bill Clinton in June 2004 on The Daily Show.

Still, many people believe that when Letterman does retire, Stewart will replace him to continue the Late Show franchise and compete with The Tonight Show [citation needed]. At a London appearance on December 11, 2005, when asked if he would replace Letterman, Stewart said it would be unlikely, because on Comedy Central he has creative independence that CBS would probably not give him. In reference to Letterman's wealth, he stated, "Really, who needs all that money?"

Crossfire

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Jon Stewart's appearance on Crossfire.

Stewart attracted media attention as a result of a television exchange with former CNN personality Tucker Carlson on Crossfire in October 2004. Stewart described 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" (when asked about his own political affiliations, Stewart typically responds that he is a Whig). This exchange became one of the most widely viewed Internet videos to date[6][7][8], and a topic of much media discussion.

During the interview, Stewart asserted that Crossfire had failed in its responsibility to inform and educate viewers about politics as a serious topic. Carlson tried to retort that Stewart hosts a news program himself, and if CNN isn't doing things right, maybe Stewart should. Stewart pointed out that he's on a "fake news" show, and replied by saying, "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 was not as funny in person as he was on his show, Stewart retorted, "You're as big a dick on your show as you are on any show" (transcript). In response to prods from Carlson to "Be funny", he said, "No. I'm not going to be your monkey."

The day after the incident occurred, on the Daily Show Jon Stewart had this to say: "I went to this place, Crossfire, which is a nuanced public debate show named after the stray bullets that strike and kill innocent bystanders during a gang fight. So I go to Crossfire and, let's face it, I was dehydrated, it's the Martin Lawrence defense... and I had always in the past mentioned to friends and people I meet on the street that I think that show blows. So I thought it was only the right thing to do to go and say it to them personally on their program...but here's the thing about confronting someone with that on their show...they're there. Uncomfortable... And they were very mad, because apparently, when you invite someone on a show called "Crossfire" and you express an opinion, they...they don't care for that...I told them that I thought their show was hurting America and they came back at me pretty good, they said I wasn't being funny. I then said, 'I know that, but tomorrow I will go back to being funny, and your show will still blow.'" [9]

In January 2005, CNN announced that it was cancelling Crossfire. When asked about the cancellations, CNN/U.S.'s 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." [10] Soon after Stewart quipped on The Daily Show that "I fought the law, and the law lost!"

Honors

Stewart has received the prestigious Peabody Award twice for the coverage of the 2000 and 2004 U.S. presidential elections on The Daily Show. In December 2003, in the 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 would emerge as an absolute sensation in that year (the magazine was proved right and it acknowledged this fact in December 2004 in its "who's next for 2005" issue). He 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 [2]. Entertainment Weekly named Stewart as its "Entertainer of the Year" for 2004.

Oscars

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Stewart in his 20-minute opening routine as host of the 78th Academy Awards.

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." [11] (According to The New York Times, Oscar producer Gil Cates knew Crystal was going to be performing 700 Sundays during the time period and was not 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 might 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, including "Mr. Moviefone".

Some of Stewart's jokes during the telecast included:

"Good evening everybody. Ladies, gentlemen...uhh...Felicity..."
"For those keeping score: Three 6 Mafia: 1; Martin Scorsese: 0."
"Tonight we celebrate excellence in film...with me...the fourth male lead from Death to Smoochy. Rent it."
"Björk couldn't be here tonight. She was trying on her Oscar dress and Dick Cheney shot her."

Reactions to Stewart's performance as host were mixed. Various celebrities and other film personalities were generally positive. Roger Ebert described him as the best Oscar host since Johnny Carson. Other reviewers were less positive; Tom Shales of The Washington Post said that Stewart hosted with "smug humorlessness," and other reviewers stated that his comic style wasn't suitable for the Oscars. [12] Audience reactions were positive with an overwhelming majority of persons polled responding he had hosted well, in polls conducted by The Hollywood Reporter and MSNBC.

Bibliography

References

  1. ^ Jon Stewart: Our Generation's Walter Cronkite?
  2. ^ Jon Stewart Article (accessed March 4 2006)
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Preceded by
Craig Kilborn
1996-1998 		"The Daily Show" anchor
1999- 		Succeeded by
Current
Preceded by
Chris Rock
77th Academy Awards 		"Oscars" host
78th Academy Awards 		Succeeded by
To Be Announced
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