2006: Jon Stewart brings the Daily Show to Columbus
Jon Stewart hosts his final Daily Show tonight. The comedian is leaving the show after an incredibly successful and highly-influential 16-year run.
The stand-up comic and occasional actor had been in the hosting arena prior to his time at Comedy Central, having hosted a late night show on MTV and in syndication in the early 90s and a later short-lived pop culture / current events show for the BBC. But when he got the Daily Show in 1999, taking the desk formerly helmed by Craig Kilborn, most had no real idea of who Jon Stewart was. They would soon find out.
In the years gone by, Stewart and company have done their best in examining politics, news and especially the media…skewering perceived hypocrisy at every turn. As his audience, we looked forward to his impressions of George W. Bush, his mockery of FOX News hosts like Glenn Beck and Sean Hannity, his back-and-forths with Bill O’Reilly, his D.C. Rally to Restore Sanity and / or Fear (with Stephen Colbert) and so much more.
And we appreciated Stewart’s moments of seriousness…like after the September 11th attack when in his first show back on-the-air, he tearfully described the view from his apartment:
The view. . . from my apartment. . . was the World Trade Center. . .Now it’s gone. They attacked it. This symbol of. . . of American ingenuity and strength. . . and labor and imagination and commerce and it’s gone. But you know what the view is now? The Statue of Liberty. . . the view from the south of Manhattan is the Statue of Liberty. . .You can’t beat that. . .
– Jon Stewart, Daily Show – September 20th, 2001
In October of 2006, local Daily Show fans will remember that Stewart brought the program to Columbus for a week’s worth of shows produced at OSU. Check out Jon’s explanation for bringing the Daily Show’s ‘Midwest Midterm Midtacular’ to the Buckeye state.
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