"I can't tell you how many times we'll run into a journalist... (who says), 'I wish we could be saying that. That's exactly the way we see it and that's exactly the way we'd like to be saying that.' And I always think, 'Well, why don't you?'" ~ Jon Stewart
Happy birthday to Daily Show host Jon Stewart, born Jonathan Stuart Leibowitz (1962-) in New York City. Raised in New Jersey, he graduated from William & Mary College with a psychology degree.
"College is something you complete. Life is something you experience," he said. "Success is defined in myriad ways."
Stewart once joked that he changed his name because it "sounded too Hollywood," performed stand-up comedy, and appeared on the HBO sitcom The Larry Sanders Show (1992).
"How do you know what is the right path to choose to get the result that you desire? And the honest answer is this. You won’t. And accepting that greatly eases the anxiety of your life experience," the comedian said.
With a passion for the New York Times crossword, the Mets, and puppeteering, the self-deprecating Stewart lost the Late Night slot in 1993 to Conan O'Brien. In 1999, he took over The Daily Show, what Newsweek called “the coolest pit stop on television.”
Stewart said the "fake news" show "saves me from sitting at home in my underwear screaming at the television set" and is his way of "throwing spitballs" from the back of the room. With video montages, humor, and interviews, he has become THE guru in cutting-edge political satire.
"Every generation has their challenge. And things change rapidly, and life gets better in an instant," he said.
Speak Up.