- Born
- Birth nameJonathan Stuart Leibowitz
- Nicknames
- Lefty
- Soupy
- Poochy
- Susceptible Boy
- Stew Beef
- Height1.70 m
- Jon Stewart was born Jonathan Stuart Leibowitz in New York City, New York, to Marian (Laskin), a teacher, and Donald Leibowitz, a physics professor. His family is Ashkenazi Jewish (from Austria, Ukraine, Poland, and Belarus). Stewart moved to Lawrenceville, New Jersey during his childhood. He graduated from the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, in 1984. He made his breakthrough on The Larry Sanders Show (1992), where he had a role playing himself, the oft-timed "Guest Host" of "The Larry Sanders Show". He became as much a part of the show's fabric as some of the regular performers.
In the 2000s, Stewart emerged as a bona fide television personality with his ascension to host of The Daily Show (1996)/Comedy Central, taking over for Craig Kilborn in 1999. Audiences have embraced his sarcastic, sardonic and incisive sense of humor, covering politics and other news stories.
Stewart and his wife, Tracey, have two children.- IMDb Mini Biography By: schuchat and Jeanette P.
- SpouseTracy McShane(May 2000 - present) (2 children)
- ChildrenNathan Thomas StewartMaggie Rose Stewart
- ParentsJerome Donald LeibowitzMarian D. Laskin
- Pioneered the "news satire" approach to comedy that parodies media pundits and political figures
- Grey Hair
- Wacky Humour with a strong Political Edge
- Sarcastic Disposition
- Always taps pen and scribbles on paper in the beginning of every episode of The Daily Show
- Filed petition to make his name change official from Leibowitz to Stewart. When 60 Minutes (1968) asked him why he dropped Leibowitz, Stewart explained, "Sounded too Hollywood".
- New York, NY, USA: Announced he would step down from hosting his show for 12 weeks, beginning in June, to direct a serious dramatic film which he wrote, called Rosewater. Stewart's screenplay is an adaptation of a book by Canadian-Iranian journalist Maziar Bahari who was jailed for months in Tehran in 2009 after being accused of plotting a revolution, only because he had appeared on Stewart's Daily Show with correspondent Jason Jones, who was pretending to be a spy.
- Does the New York Times crossword every night with his wife.
- Original major in college was chemistry.
- Was on a celebrity episode of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire (1999) and won $125,000 for Alzheimer's disease research.
- [January 2003, on why he loves The Daily Show (1996)] It saves me from sitting at home in my underwear screaming at the television set. If I didn't do this show I'd be the crazy guy at the bar sitting at the corner screaming "He doesn't know shit about what he's talking about!" That's the reason I do it.
- [in January 2003] I think people are used to people in show business having a lot of hubris. I think I have a normal amount of self-loathing but because I'm in show business it's considered self-deprecation. In normal life I would just be considered your average neurotic.
- [on the role of The Daily Show (1996)] When we spot silliness, we say so out loud. We're not really Democrat or Republican. We're out to stop that political trend of repeating things again and again until people are forced to believe them.
- [in March 2003] I see myself as a driving force for global peace. Since we [The Daily Show (1996)] have been on CNNI [CNN International], the border between India and Pakistan has been stood down from red alert. Coincidence? We're bringing healing to the international community.
- [March 2003, on his role in The Daily Show (1996)] Liberal and conservative have lost their meaning in America. I represent the distracted center.
- The Daily Show (1996) - $1,500,000 (2000 season)
- The Daily Show (1996) - $14,000,000 /year (2009-10)
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