TV Update

For those interested, I stopped by the studio today to talk about being the sidekick on a new show starting up at college. I talked about my improv experience at Bradley University, the fact that I am an aspiring actor-comedian and I also do political comedy.

One of my friends mentioned I'll be the next Jon Stewart so I decided to do some homework and see what his background looks like. Jon Stewart on The Daily Show:"That's the beauty of our show. Comedy or politics. We're sort of a mix. A space age polymer of both. A synthetic comedy-like material."

Some tidbits as I look through his IMDB page:
Jon Leibowitz was born in New York, though soon after moved to Lawrenceville, New Jersey. He graduated from the College Of William And Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. He made his breakthrough on "The Larry Sanders Show" (1992), before moving on to other roles.
Also, he played soccer at college.
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". [June 2001]

From JonStewart.net (too lengthy to blockquote):
COMEDY: THE EARLY YEARS

Jon Stewart moved to New York City in order to do standup comedy in 1986, but didn't actually get on stage until April 1987. His first gig was at The Bitter End in New York. He had four minutes prepared, but got through only two minutes of it. After what he described as "the humiliation" of his first performance, it was another four months before he took the stage again. Even though he bombed on his first attempt, he said it was clear from then on what he wanted to do with his life.

His first regular gig was at the Comedy Cellar, where he was the last performer of the night on Sundays through Thursdays. He went on around 1:45 a.m. to a crowd that sometimes included only the club staff. It was great training, but he has said he almost quit every night for the first two years he performed.

Eventually, Jon was doing more high-profile gigs like opening for singer Sheena Easton in Las Vegas, and he became rather well known in the comedy circuit.

JON HITS THE SMALL SCREEN

Jon continued to do standup and later did some non-credited writing for television. He wrote sketches for Caroline's Comedy Hour and some children's shows [The Onion AV Club by Stephen Thompson]. He was eventually selected as the host for the Comedy Channel's (now called Comedy Central) Short Attention Span Theatre.

After Short Attention Span Theatre was canceled, Jon continued doing standup. Eventually, he moved to MTV and hosted You Wrote It, You Watch It. He wrote his own segments for that show, which lasted only 13 weeks. After it was canceled, he pitched the idea of a talk show to MTV, which became The Jon Stewart Show.

The Jon Stewart Show was a 30-minute talk show, MTV style, which first aired on October 25, 1993. It was critically acclaimed, but didn't do well in the ratings. In September 1994, the show was bought by Paramount and went into syndication. There were some changes in the show, the most obvious of which was that it moved from 30 minutes to 60 minutes. The show lasted about nine months in syndication until it was canceled on June 23, 1995.

JON HITS THE LARGE SCREEN

After the cancellation of The Jon Stewart Show, Jon signed a three-year, six-movie deal with Miramax. He was to star in two movies per year and write and produce some of them. Some of the films included:

Almost Romantic
First Wives Club
Playing by Heart
Wavelength
Wishful Thinking

Although some of the films did not get made, the deal was considered fulfilled. (See filmography for more details.) This same year, Jon signed a deal with David Letterman's production company Worldwide Pants. It doesn't appear that anything ever came of that deal.

ALWAYS A GUEST HOST, NEVER A HOST

Jon Stewart was a frequent guest host for Tom Snyder on The Late, Late Show with Tom Snyder -- so frequently that it was rumored that he would get Snyder's spot on CBS after Snyder's retirement. It didn't happen. Instead, Jon went on to play himself playing Larry Sander's permanent guest host on The Larry Sanders Show. When Gary Shandling, who played Larry Sanders, was set to leave the show, it was hotly rumored that Jon would take over the show for real. Jon insists that was never a real possibility, though. "That was a little something called fiction." [Entertainment Weekly, 1/8/99, "Jonny on the Spot," by A.J. Jacobs].

Jon was also a finalist to replace David Letterman when Letterman left NBC for CBS. Instead, the slot went to Conan O'Brien.

FINALLY, A PLACE FOR JON

On January 4, 1999, Jon Stewart moved into his office at The Daily Show, where he had just seven days to prepare for his first show as host and co-executive producer of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.

As a self-professed news junkie, the show seems a perfect match for Jon's talents. When he had been with The Daily Show for two and a half years, he said it was the longest he'd ever held a job. He has a four-year contract that will expire in January 2003.

Recently, it has been rumored that various networks are interested in signing him as a talk show host. Although the $1.5 million he allegedly earns annually is much less than he might earn at one of the major networks, there are certain advantages he has working at Comedy Central. He works four days per week with one week off per month. He also has more creative freedom than he might at a major network, which is something he has previously cited as being very important to him. Whatever he chooses to do when his contract is up, he is clearly in demand.