“Daily Show” anchor Jon Stewart has in many ways revitalized television news, despite the fact that his spin on tele-journalism involves more jokes than hard coverage. His scathing critiques of the established news media and the program’s often powerful insights into American society have made him enormously influential in American culture, and many believe that his zany news coverage is having a positive effect on the increasingly fractured, partisan news media.
Born Jonathan Stuart Leibowitz on November 28, 1962 in New York City, Stewart was raised in Lawrence Township, New Jersey before moving on to the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. After graduating with a degree in psychology in 1984, Stewart returned to the New York area, working for the New Jersey Department of Human Services, the City University of New York, and as a bartender. Known as an everyday comedian all his life, he tried his hand at a comedy career in the late 80s, first entering the club circuit and eventually becoming the host of Comedy Central’s “Short Attention Span Theatre”. In 1993 he began hosting “The Jon Stewart Show” on late-night MTV, and for most of the decade he jumped from show to show on the network with varying degrees of success.
After Craig Kilborn left Comedy Central’s “Daily Show” in 1999 to host the “Late Late Show” on CBS, Stewart took over at the anchor desk where he has remained for seven years and counting. With Stewart’s incisive, sarcastic political comedy, the show has become one of the network’s most popular programs, making Stewart a national icon and giving significant career boosts to correspondents Stephen Colbert, Rob Corddry, and rising comic superstar Steve Carell. The show’s popularity has earned him credit as a major political commentator, and his October 2004 appearance on “Crossfire” is largely credited with the CNN debate show’s cancellation. Stewart refused to play the comedian, telling Tucker Carlson that he was “as big a dick on your show as you are on any show”, and calling Carlson and co-host Paul Begala “partisan hacks” that need to “stop hurting America”.
“The Daily Show” won two Emmys in 2005, and his coverage of the 2000 and 2004 presidential elections won him two Peabody Awards for excellence in broadcast journalism. Additionally, “The Daily Show” helped him earn Entertainment Weekly’s Entertainer of the Year Award in 2004, and in 2005 he made the prestigious “Time 100” list. The audio version of his best-selling book, “America (The Book)”, won a 2005 Grammy for Best Comedy Album. He also remains a prominent showbiz figure, twice hosting the Grammy Awards, hosting the Oscars in 2006, and occasionally appearing in films like the Adam Sandler comedy “Big Daddy” and the teen horror flick “The Faculty”. Stewart is widely rumored to be the top candidate for David Letterman’s successor on “The Late Show”, though when asked he frequently claims to be uninterested in the job.