}} ''The Daily Show'' (called ''The Daily Show with Jon Stewart'' since 1999), is an American late night satirical television program airing each Monday through Thursday on Comedy Central. The half-hour long show premiered on July 21, 1996, and was hosted by Craig Kilborn until December 1998. Jon Stewart took over as host in January 1999, making the show more strongly focused on politics and the national media, in contrast with the pop culture focus during Kilborn's tenure. It is currently the longest running program on Comedy Central.

Describing itself as a fake news program, ''The Daily Show'' draws its comedy and satire from recent news stories, political figures, media organizations, and often, aspects of the show itself. The show typically opens with a long monologue from Jon Stewart relating to recent headlines and frequently features exchanges with one or more of several correspondents, who adopt absurd or humorously exaggerated takes on current events against Stewart's straight man persona. The final segment is devoted to a celebrity interview, with guests ranging from actors and musicians to nonfiction authors and political figures.

The program is popular among young audiences, with organizations such as the Pew Research Center showing that 80% of regular viewers are between 18–49, and that 10% of the audience watch the show for its news headlines, 2% for in-depth reporting, and 43% for entertainment, compared with 64% who watch CNN for the news headlines. Critics, including series co-creator Lizz Winstead (who has since changed her view), have chastised Stewart for not conducting sufficiently hard-hitting interviews with his political guests, some of whom he may have previously lampooned in other segments. Stewart and other ''Daily Show'' writers have responded to both criticisms by saying that they do not have any journalistic responsibility and that as comedians their only duty is to provide entertainment. Stewart's appearance on the CNN show ''Crossfire'' outlined this debate, where he chastised the CNN production and hosts for not conducting informative and current interviews on a news network.

In 2005, Comedy Central launched a spin-off show, ''The Colbert Report'', starring long-time ''Daily Show'' correspondent Stephen Colbert. The two shows run consecutively and continue to have regular interaction with one another, and Stewart will often "toss" (create a bridge between shows) to Colbert at the end of an episode. A weekly version called ''The Daily Show: Global Edition'' has been created for overseas markets and airs on foreign networks as well as CNN International.

Format

Monologue

Each episode begins with announcer Drew Birns announcing the date and the introduction, "From Comedy Central's World News Headquarters in New York, this is ''The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.''" Previously the introduction was "This is ''The Daily Show with Jon Stewart,'' the most important television program, ever." The host, Jon Stewart, then opens the show with a monologue drawing from current news stories and issues. Previously, the show had divided its news commentary into sections known as "Headlines", "Other News", and "This Just In"; these titles were dropped from regular use on October 28, 2002 and were last used on March 6, 2003.

Correspondent segments

The monologue segment is often followed by a segment featuring an exchange with a correspondent—typically introduced as the show's "senior" specialist in the subject at hand—either at the anchor desk with Stewart or reporting from a false location in front of a greenscreen showing stock footage. Their stated areas of expertise vary depending on the news story that is being discussed, and can range from relatively general (such as Senior Political Analyst) to absurdly specific (such as Senior Child Molestation Expert). The correspondents typically present absurd or humorously exaggerated takes on current events against Stewart's straight man. While correspondents stated to be reporting abroad are usually performing in-studio in front of a greenscreen background, on rare occasions cast members have recorded pieces on location. For instance, during the week of August 20, 2007, the show aired a series of segments called "Operation Silent Thunder: The Daily Show in Iraq" in which correspondent Rob Riggle reported from Iraq. In August 2008, Riggle traveled to China for a series of segments titled "Rob Riggle: Chasing the Dragon", which focused on the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Additionally, Jason Jones traveled to Iran in early June 2009 to report on the Iranian elections, and John Oliver traveled to South Africa for the series of segments "Into Africa" to report on the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

Correspondent segments feature a rotating supporting cast, and involve the show's members traveling to different locations to file comedic reports on current news stories and conduct interviews with people related to the featured issue. Topics have varied widely; during the early years of the show they tended toward character-driven human interest stories such as Bigfoot enthusiasts. Since Stewart began hosting in 1999, the focus of the show has become more political and the field pieces have come to more closely reflect current issues and debates. Under Kilborn and the early years of Stewart, most interviewees were not aware or entirely aware of the comedic nature of ''The Daily Show''. However, since the show began to gain popularity—particularly following its coverage of the 2000 and 2004 presidential elections—most of the subjects now interviewed are aware of the comedic element.

Recurring segments

Some segments recur periodically, such as "Back in Black" with Lewis Black, "This Week in God" and "Are You Prepared?!?" with Samantha Bee, "Trendspotting" with Demetri Martin, "Wilmore-Oliver Investigates" with John Oliver and Larry Wilmore, and more recently "You're Welcome" with John Hodgman. Since the early days of the 2003 invasion of Iraq, a common part of the show has been "Mess O' Potamia", focusing on the United States' policies in the Middle East, especially Iraq. Elections in the United States have been a prominent focus in the show's "Indecision" coverage throughout Stewart's time as host. During the 2000, 2004, and 2008 presidential elections, the show was taken on the road to record week-long specials from the cities hosting the Democratic and Republican National Conventions. For the 2006 U.S. midterm elections, a week of episodes was recorded in the contested state of Ohio. The "Indecision" coverage of the 2000, 2004, 2006, 2008, and 2010 elections all culminated in live Election Night specials. On March 1, 2011, Stewart aired the first installment of Indecision 2012.

Celebrity interviews

In the show's third act, the host conducts an interview with a celebrity guest. Guests come from a wide range of cultural sources, and include actors, musicians, authors, athletes, pundits and political figures. Since Stewart became host, the show's guest list has tended away from celebrities and more towards non-fiction authors and political pundits, as well as many prominent elected officials. While in the show's earlier years it struggled to book high-profile politicians—in 1999, for an ''Indecision 2000'' segment, Steve Carell struggled to talk his way off Republican candidate John McCain's press overflow bus and onto the Straight Talk Express—it has since risen in popularity, particularly following the show's coverage of the 2000 and 2004 elections. In 2006, ''Rolling Stone'' described ''The Daily Show'' under Stewart as "the hot destination for anyone who wants to sell books or seem hip, from presidential candidates to military dictators", while ''Newsweek'' calls it "the coolest pit stop on television". Prominent political guests have included U.S. President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, former Presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, former British Prime ministers Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, former Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Bolivian President Evo Morales, and former Mexican President Vicente Fox. The show has played host to former and current members of the Administration and Cabinet as well as members of Congress. Numerous presidential candidates have appeared on the show during their campaigns, including John McCain, John Kerry and Barack Obama. On September 13, 2006, a new portion of the interview segment began called "The Seat of Heat", wherein the host would ask a guest one challenging or bizarre question to be answered. The segment was short-lived, and by the end of 2006 it had been discontinued. Such sports stars as LeBron James and Lance Armstrong have also been featured on the show.

Closing segment

In a closing segment sometimes referred to as the toss, Stewart has a short exchange with "our good friend, Stephen Colbert at ''The Colbert Report''", which airs immediately after. This check-in first appeared following ''The Colbert Report'' premiere in October 2005 and was initially featured daily, but in 2007 was cut back to twice per week, and by 2009 was once a week. Currently, the segment airs once every few weeks. After this, there is a segue to the closing credits in the form of "Your Moment of Zen", a humorous piece of video footage without commentary that has been part of the show's wrap-up since the series began in 1996.

Studio

The program features Stewart sitting at his desk on the elevated island stage in the style of a traditional news show. The show relocated from its original New York studio in mid-1998 to NEP Studio 54 in New York City's Hell's Kitchen neighborhood, where it remained until 2005, when the studio was claimed by ''Daily Show'' spin-off series ''The Colbert Report''. On July 11, 2005, the show premiered in its new studio, NEP Studio 52, at 733 11th Avenue, between 51st and 52nd Streets, a few blocks west of its former location.

The set of the new studio was given a sleeker, more formal look, including a backdrop of three large projection screens. The traditional guests' couch, which had been a part of the set since the show's premiere, was done away with in favor of simple upright chairs. The change was initially not well-received, spawning a backlash among some fans and prompting a "Bring Back the Couch Campaign." The campaign was mentioned on subsequent shows by Stewart and supported by ''Daily Show'' contributor Bob Wiltfong. The couch was eventually made the prize in a ''Daily Show '' sweepstakes in which the winner received the couch, round trip tickets to New York, tickets to the show and a small sum of money. On April 9, 2007 the show debuted a new set. The projection screens were revamped (with one large screen behind Stewart, while the smaller one behind the interview subject remained the same), a large, global map directly behind Stewart, a more open studio floor, and a J-shaped desk supported at one end by a globe. The intro was also updated; the graphics, display names, dates, and logos were all streamlined.

Production

The show's writers begin each day with a morning meeting where they review material that researchers have gathered from major newspapers, the Associated Press, cable news television channels and websites, and discuss headline material for the lead news segment. Throughout the morning they work on writing deadline pieces inspired by recent news, as well as longer-term projects. By lunchtime, Stewart—who describes his role as that of a managing editor—has begun to review headline jokes. The script is submitted by 3 p.m., and at 4:15 there is a rehearsal. An hour is left for rewrites before a 6 p.m. taping in front of a live studio audience. While the studio capacity is limited, tickets to attend tapings are free and can be obtained if requested far enough in advance.

''The Daily Show'' typically tapes four new episodes a week, Monday through Thursday, forty-two weeks a year. The show is broadcast at 11 PM Eastern/10 PM Central, a time when local television stations show their real news reports and about half an hour before most other late-night comedy programs begin to go on the air. The program is rerun several times the next day, including a 7 PM Eastern/6 PM Central prime time broadcast.

History

With Craig Kilborn (1996–1998)

''The Daily Show'' was created by Lizz Winstead and Madeleine Smithberg and premiered on Comedy Central on July 22, 1996, having been marketed as a replacement for ''Politically Incorrect'' (a successful Comedy Central program that had moved to ABC earlier that year). Aiming to parody conventional newscasts, it featured a comedic monologue of the day's headlines from anchor Craig Kilborn (a well-known co-anchor of ESPN's ''SportsCenter''), as well as mockumentary style on-location reports, in-studio segments and debates from regular correspondents Winstead, Brian Unger, Beth Littleford, and A. Whitney Brown (known for his appearances on NBC's ''Saturday Night Live'').

Common segments

Common segments included "This Day in Hasselhoff History" and "Last Weekend's Top-Grossing Films, Converted into Lira", in parody of entertainment news shows as their tendency to lead out to commercials with trivia such as celebrity birthdays. In each show, Kilborn would conduct celebrity interviews, ending with a segment called "Five Questions" in which the guest was made to answer a series of questions that were typically a combination of obscure fact and subjective opinion. These are highlighted in a 1998 book titled ''The Daily Show: Five Questions'', which contains transcripts of Kilborn's best interviews. Each episode concluded with a segment called "Your Moment of Zen" that showed random video clips of humorous and sometimes morbid interest such as visitors at a Chinese zoo feeding baby chickens to the alligators. Originally the show was recorded without a studio audience, featuring only the laughter of its own off-camera staff members. A studio audience was incorporated into the show for its second season, and has remained since.

Craig Kilborn's ''Daily Show'' vs. Jon Stewart's ''Daily Show''

The show was much less politically focused than it later became under Jon Stewart, having what Stephen Colbert described as a local news feel and involving more character-driven humor as opposed to news-driven humor. Winstead recalls that when the show was first launched there was constant debate regarding what the show's focus should be. While she wanted a more news-driven focus, the network was concerned that this would not appeal to viewers and pushed for "a little more of a hybrid of entertainment and politics". The show was slammed by some reviewers as being too mean-spirited, particularly towards the interview subjects of field pieces; a criticism acknowledged by some of the show's cast. Describing his time as a correspondent under Kilborn, Colbert says, "You wanted to take your soul off, put it on a wire hanger, and leave it in the closet before you got on the plane to do one of these pieces." One ''New York Times'' reviewer criticized the show for being too cruel and for lacking a central editorial vision or ideology, describing it as "bereft of an ideological or artistic center... precocious but empty."

Craig Kilborn's departure

There were reports of backstage friction between Kilborn and some of the female staff, particularly the show's co-creator Lizz Winstead. Winstead had not been involved in the hiring of Kilborn, and disagreed with him over what direction the show should take. "I spent eight months developing and staffing a show and seeking a tone with producers and writers. Somebody else put him in place. There were bound to be problems. I viewed the show as content-driven; he viewed it as host-driven," she said. Kilborn was nominated for a Cable Ace Award for "Outstanding Host In A Comedy Series" and later went on to host "The Late, Late Show" on CBS. In a 1997 ''Esquire'' magazine interview, Kilborn made a sexually explicit joke about Winstead. Comedy Central responded by suspending Kilborn without pay for one week, and Winstead quit soon after.

In 1998, Kilborn left ''The Daily Show'' in order to replace Tom Snyder on CBS's ''The Late Late Show''. He claimed the "Five Questions" interview segment as intellectual property, disallowing any future ''Daily Show'' hosts from using it in their interviews. Correspondents Brian Unger and A. Whitney Brown left the show shortly before him, but the majority of the show's crew and writing staff stayed on. Kilborn's last show as host aired on December 17, 1998. Reruns were shown until Jon Stewart's debut four weeks later.

With Jon Stewart (1999–present)

Shift in content

Comedian Jon Stewart took over as host of the show, which was retitled ''The Daily Show with Jon Stewart'', on January 11, 1999. Stewart had previously hosted ''Short Attention Span Theater'' on Comedy Central, two shows on MTV (''You Wrote It, You Watch It'' and an eponymous talk show), as well as a syndicated late-night talk show, and had been cast in films and television. In taking over hosting from Kilborn, Stewart retained much of the same staff and on-air talent, allowing many pieces to transition without much trouble, while other features like "God Stuff", with John Bloom presenting an assortment of actual clips from various televangelists, and "Backfire", an in-studio debate between Brian Unger and A. Whitney Brown, evolved into the similar pieces of "This Week in God" and Stephen Colbert and Steve Carell's "Even Stevphen". Since the change, a number of new features have been, and continue to be, developed. The ending segment "Your Moment of Zen", previously consisting of a random selection of humorous videos, was diversified to sometimes include recaps or extended versions of news clips shown earlier in the show. The show's theme music, "Dog on Fire" by Bob Mould, was re-recorded by They Might Be Giants shortly after Stewart joined the show. Stewart served not only as host but also as a writer and executive producer of the series. Instrumental in shaping the voice of the show under Stewart was former editor of ''The Onion'' Ben Karlin who, along with fellow ''Onion'' contributor David Javerbaum, joined the staff in 1999 as head writer and was later promoted to executive producer. Their experience in writing for the satirical newspaper, which uses fake stories to mock real print journalism and current events, would influence the comedic direction of the show; Stewart recalls the hiring of Karlin as the point at which things "[started] to take shape". Describing his approach to the show, Karlin said, "The main thing, for me, is seeing hypocrisy. People who know better saying things that you know they don't believe."

Under Stewart and Karlin ''The Daily Show'' developed a markedly different style, bringing a sharper political focus to the humor than the show previously exhibited. Then-correspondent Stephen Colbert recalls that Stewart specifically asked him to have a political viewpoint, and to allow his passion for issues to carry through into his comedy. Colbert says that whereas under Kilborn the focus was on "human interest-y" pieces, with Stewart as host the show's content became more "issues and news driven", particularly after the beginning of the 2000 election campaign with which the show dealt in its "Indecision 2000" coverage. Stewart himself describes the show's coverage of the 2000 election recount as the point at which the show found its editorial voice. "That's when I think we tapped into the emotional angle of the news for us and found our editorial footing," he says. Following the September 11th attacks, ''The Daily Show'' went off the air for nine days. Upon its return, Stewart opened the show with a somber monologue, that, according to Jeremy Gillick and Nonna Gorilovskaya, addressed both the absurdity and importance of his role as a comedian. Commented Stewart: "They said to get back to work, and there were no jobs available for a man in the fetal position...We sit in the back and we throw spitballs – never forgetting the fact that it is a luxury in this country that allows us to do that...The view from my apartment was the World Trade Center. Now it's gone. They attacked it. This symbol of American ingenuity and strength and labor and imagination and commerce and it is gone. But you know what the view is now? The Statue of Liberty. The view from the south of Manhattan is now the Statue of Liberty. You can't beat that." Gillick and Gorilovskaya point to the September 11th attacks and the beginning of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq as the point at which Jon Stewart emerged as a trusted national figure. Robert Thompson, the director of the Bleier Center for Television and Popular Culture at Syracuse University, recalled of this period, "When all the news guys were walking on eggshells, Jon was hammering those questions about WMDs."

Broadening the role of the correspondent

During Stewart's tenure, the role of the correspondent has broadened to encompass not only field segments but also frequent in-studio exchanges. Under Kilborn, Colbert says that his work as a correspondent initially involved "character driven [field] pieces—like, you know, guys who believe in Bigfoot." However, as the focus of the show has become more news-driven, correspondents have increasingly been used in studio pieces, either as experts discussing issues at the anchor desk or as field journalists reporting from false locations in front of a green screen. Colbert says that this change has allowed correspondents to be more involved with the show, as it has permitted them to work more closely with the host and writers.

Popularity and critical respect

The show's 2000 and 2004 election coverage, combined with a new satirical edge, helped to catapult Stewart and ''The Daily Show'' to new levels of popularity and critical respect. Since Stewart became host, the show has won thirteen Emmy Awards and two Peabody Awards, and its ratings have dramatically increased. In 2003, the show was averaging nearly a million viewers, an increase of nearly threefold since the show's inception as Comedy Central became available in more households. By September 2008, the show averaged nearly 2 million viewers per night. Barack Obama's interview on October 29, 2008 pulled in 3.6 million viewers, the show's highest to date.

In the political spectrum

The move towards greater involvement in political issues and the increasing popularity of the show in certain key demographics have led to examinations of where the views of the show fit in the political spectrum. Adam Clymer, among many others, has argued that ''The Daily Show'' is more critical of Republicans than Democrats. Stewart, who voted Democrat in the 2004 presidential election, says that the show does have a more liberal point of view, but that it is not "a liberal organization" with a political agenda and its duty first and foremost is to be funny. He acknowledges that the show is not necessarily an "equal opportunity offender", explaining that Republicans tended to provide more comedic fodder because "I think we consider those with power and influence targets and those without it, not." In an interview in 2005, when asked how he responded to critics claiming that ''The Daily Show'' is overly liberal, Stephen Colbert, also a self-proclaimed Democrat, said in an interview during the Bush Administration, when the Republicans held a majority in the House and Senate: "We are liberal, but Jon's very respectful of the Republican guests, and, listen, if liberals were in power it would be easier to attack them, but Republicans have the executive, legislative and judicial branches, so making fun of Democrats is like kicking a child, so it's just not worth it."

Stewart is critical of Democratic politicians for being weak, timid, or ineffective. He said in an interview with Larry King, prior to the 2006 elections, "I honestly don't feel that [the Democrats] make an impact. They have forty-nine percent of the vote and three percent of the power. At a certain point you go, 'Guys, pick up your game.'" He has targeted them for failing to effectively stand on some issues, such as the war in Iraq, describing them as "incompetent" and "unable... to locate their asses, even when presented with two hands and a special ass map."

Karlin, then the show's executive producer, said in a 2004 interview that while there is a collective sensibility among the staff which, "when filtered through Jon and the correspondents, feels uniform," the principal goal of the show is comedy. "If you have a legitimately funny joke in support of the notion that gay people are an affront to God, we'll put that motherfucker on!"

On November 17, 2009, Vice President Joe Biden appeared on the show, making him the first sitting vice president to do so. On October 27, 2010, President Barack Obama became the first sitting president to be interviewed on the show, wherein Obama commented he "loved" the show. Obama took issue with Stewart's suggestion that his health care program was "timid."

After the United States Senate failed to pass and the media failed to cover the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act, which would provide health monitoring and financial aid to sick first responders of the September 11 attacks, Stewart dedicated the entire December 16, 2010 broadcast to the issue. During the next week, a revived version of the bill gained new life, with the potential of being passed before the winter recess. Stewart was praised by both politicians and affected first responders for the bill's passage. According to Syracuse University professor of television, radio and film Robert J. Thompson, "Without him, it's unlikely it would've passed. I don't think Brian Williams, Katie Couric or Diane Sawyer would've been allowed to do this."

Writers' strike

Due to the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike, the show went on hiatus on November 5, 2007. Although the strike continued until February 2008, the show returned to air on January 7, 2008, without its staff of writers. In solidarity with the writers, the show was referred to as ''A Daily Show with Jon Stewart'' rather than ''The Daily Show with Jon Stewart,'' until the end of the strike. As a member of the Writers Guild of America, Stewart was barred from writing any material for the show himself which he or his writers would ordinarily write. As a result, Stewart and the correspondents largely ad-libbed the show around preplanned topics. In an effort to fill time while keeping to these restrictions, the show aired or re-aired some previously recorded segments, and Stewart engaged in a briefly recurring mock feud with fellow late-night hosts Stephen Colbert and Conan O'Brien. The strike officially ended on February 12, 2008, with the show's writers returning to work the following day, at which point the title of ''The Daily Show'' was restored.

Correspondents, contributors, and staff

The show's correspondents have two principal roles: experts with satirical senior titles that Stewart interviews about certain issues, or hosts of field reporting segments which often involve humorous commentary and interviews relating to a current issue. The current team of correspondents includes Samantha Bee, Jason Jones, John Oliver, Aasif Mandvi, Wyatt Cenac, Olivia Munn, and Al Madrigal. Contributors such as Lewis Black, John Hodgman, Kristen Schaal, Larry Wilmore appear on a less frequent basis, often with their own unique recurring segment. Ben Karlin says that the on-air talent contribute in many ways to the material they perform, playing an integral role in the creation of their field pieces as well as being involved with their scripted studio segments, either taking part early on in the writing process or adding improvised material during the rehearsal.

The show has featured a number of well-known comedians throughout its run and is notable for boosting the careers of several of these. Scott Dikkers, editor-in-chief of ''The Onion'', describes it as a key launching pad for comedic talent, saying that "I don't know if there's a better show you could put on your resume right now." Steve Carell, who was a correspondent between 1999 and 2005 before moving on to a movie career and starring television role in ''The Office'', credits Stewart and ''The Daily Show'' with his success. In 2005, the show's longest-serving correspondent, Stephen Colbert, became the host of the spin-off ''Colbert Report'', earning critical and popular acclaim. Ed Helms, a former correspondent from 2002 to 2006, also stars on NBC's ''The Office'' and was a main character in the 2009 hit ''The Hangover''.

Behind the scenes, Adam Chodikoff has been credited with finding key television footage of sound bites.

Reception

Television ratings from 2008 show that the program generally has 1.45 to 1.6 million viewers nightly, a high figure for cable television. In demographic terms, the viewership is skewed to a relatively young and well educated audience compared to traditional news shows. A 2004 Nielsen Media Research study commissioned by Comedy Central put the median age at 35. During the 2004 U.S. presidential election, the show received more male viewers in the 18–34 year old age demographic than ''Nightline'', ''Meet the Press'', ''Hannity & Colmes'' and all of the evening news broadcasts. Because of this, commentators such as Howard Dean and Ted Koppel posit that Stewart serves as a real source of news for young people, regardless of his intentions.

The show's writers reject the idea that ''The Daily Show'' has become a source of news for young people. Stewart argues that Americans are living in an "age of information osmosis" in which it is close to impossible to gain one's news from any single source, and says that his show succeeds comedically because the viewers already have some knowledge about current events. "Our show would not be valuable to people who didn't understand the news because it wouldn't make sense," he argues. "We make assumptions about your level of knowledge that... if we were your only source of news, you would just watch our show and think, 'I don't know what's happening.'"

A 2006 study published by Indiana University tried to compare the substantive amount of information of ''The Daily Show'' against prime time network news broadcasts, and concluded that when it comes to substance, there is little difference between ''The Daily Show'' and other news outlets. The study contended that, since both programs are more focused on the nature of "infotainment" and ratings than on the dissemination of information, both are broadly equal in terms of the amount of substantial news coverage they offer.

As the lines between comedy show and news show have blurred, Jon Stewart has come under pressure in some circles to engage in more serious journalism. Tucker Carlson and ''Daily Show'' co-creator Lizz Winstead have chastised Stewart for criticizing politicians and newspeople in his solo segments and then, in interviews with the same people, rarely taking them to task face-to-face. In 2004, Winstead expressed a desire for Stewart to ask harder satirical questions, saying, "When you are interviewing a Richard Perle or a Kissinger, if you give them a pass, then you become what you are satirizing. You have a war criminal sitting on your couch—to just let him be a war criminal sitting on your couch means you are having to respect some kind of boundary." She has argued that ''The Daily Show'' success and access to the youth vote should allow Stewart to press political guests harder without fearing that they will not return to the show. In 2010, Winstead had changed her views, commenting that since 2004, Stewart did some of the hardest-hitting interviews on TV. Stewart said in 2003 that he does not think of himself as a social or media critic and rejects the idea that he has any journalistic role as an interviewer.

During Stewart's appearance on CNN's ''Crossfire'', Stewart criticized that show and said that it was "hurting America" by sensationalizing debates and enabling political spin. When co-host Carlson argued that Stewart himself had not asked John Kerry substantial questions when Kerry appeared on ''The Daily Show'', Stewart countered that it was not his job to give hard-hitting interviews and that a "fake news" comedy program should not be held to the same standards as real journalism. "You're on CNN!" Stewart said, "The show that leads into me is puppets making crank phone calls! What is wrong with you?" Media critic Dan Kennedy says that Stewart came off as disingenuous in this exchange because "you can't interview Bill Clinton, Richard Clarke, Bill O'Reilly, Bob Dole, etc., etc., and still say you're just a comedian."

Another consequence of the show's increasing popularity and influence in certain demographics has been increased scrutiny of how the show affects the political beliefs and attitudes of its viewers. Michael Kalin has expressed concerns that Jon Stewart's comedy comes at the expense of idealism and encourages American college students to adopt a self-righteous attitude toward politics, rendering them complacent and apathetic, and deterring intelligent young people from considering political careers. "Stewart," Kalin argues, "leads to a 'holier than art [sic] thou' attitude [among students]...content to remain perched atop their Olympian ivory towers, these bright leaders head straight for the private sector."

A 2004 study into the effect of ''The Daily Show'' on viewers' attitudes found that participants had a more negative opinion of both President Bush and then Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry. Participants also expressed more cynical views of the electoral system and news media. Political scientists Jody Baumgartner and Jonathan Morris, who conducted the study, state that it is not clear how such cynicism would affect the political behavior of the show's viewers. While disillusionment and negative perceptions of the presidential candidates could discourage watchers from voting, Baumgartner and Morris say it is also possible that discontent could prompt greater involvement and that by following the show, viewers may potentially become more engaged and informed voters, with a broader political knowledge.

Rachel Larris, who has also conducted an academic study of ''The Daily Show'', disputes the findings of Baumgartner and Morris. Larris argues that the study measured cynicism in overly broad terms, and that it would be extremely hard to find a causal link between viewing ''The Daily Show'' and thinking or acting in a particular way. Bloggers such as Marty Kaplan of The Huffington Post argue that so long as Stewart's comedy is grounded in truth, responsibility for increased cynicism belongs to the political and media figures themselves, not the comedian who satirizes them.

Stewart himself says that he does not perceive his show as cynical. "It's so interesting to me that people talk about late-night comedy being cynical," he says. "What's more cynical than forming an ideological news network like Fox and calling it 'fair and balanced'? What we do, I almost think, is adorable in its idealism." Stewart has said that he does not take any joy in the failings of American government, despite the comedic fodder they provide. "We're not the guys at the craps table betting against the line," he said on ''Larry King Live''. "If government suddenly became inspiring... we would be the happiest people in the world to turn our attention to idiots like, you know, media people, no offense."

In July 2009, ''Time'' magazine held an online poll entitled "Now that Walter Cronkite has passed on, who is America's most trusted newscaster?" Jon Stewart won with 44% of the vote, 15% ahead of Brian Williams in second place with 29%. Stewart downplayed the results on the show stating "It was an Internet poll and I was the 'None of the above' option".

Demographics of viewership

In late 2004, the National Annenberg Election Survey at the University of Pennsylvania ran a study of American television viewers and found that fans of ''The Daily Show'' had a more accurate idea of the facts behind the 2004 presidential election than most others, including those who primarily got their news through the national network evening newscasts and through reading newspapers. However, in a 2004 campaign survey conducted by the Pew Research Center those who cited comedy shows such as ''The Daily Show'' as a source for news were among the least informed on campaign events and key aspects of the candidates' backgrounds while those who cited the Internet, National Public Radio, and news magazines were the most informed. Even when age and education were taken into account, the people who learned about the campaigns through the Internet were still found to be the most informed, while those who learned from comedy shows were the least informed.

A more recent survey, released by the Pew Research Center on April 15, 2007, indicates that regular viewers of ''The Daily Show'' tend to be more knowledgeable about news than audiences of other news sources. Approximately 54% of ''The Daily Show'' viewers scored in the high knowledge range, followed by Jim Lehrer's program at 53% and Bill O'Reilly's program at 51%, significantly higher than the 34% of network morning show viewers. The survey shows that changing news formats have not made much difference on how much the public knows about national and international affairs, but adds that there is no clear connection between news formats and what audiences know. The Project for Excellence in Journalism released a content analysis report suggesting that ''The Daily Show'' comes close to providing the complete daily news.

Olivia Munn

In June 2010, actress-comedian Olivia Munn began a tryout period on the show as a correspondent. Her credentials were questioned by Irin Carmon of the website Jezebel, who suggested that Munn was better known as a sex symbol than as a comedian. Carmon also quoted former ''Daily Show'' staff members who felt female writers were historically marginalized and alienated in the male-dominated ''Daily Show'' office. Carmon's column was denounced by the ''Daily Show'' female writers, producers, and correspondents, 32 of whom posted a rebuttal on the show's website in which they asserted that the description of the ''Daily Show'' office given by the Jezebel piece was not accurate. The women added that, as an indispensable 40% of the staff, they were responsible for a significant portion of its creative content. They also praised Stewart and their other male colleagues for creating a positive atmosphere in ''The Daily Show'' office, and characterized the quotes in the Jezebel column as "the bitter rantings of ex-employees". Munn herself criticized the Jezebel column for quoting only former employees who were never regulars, adding that Jezebel was not serving the cause of feminism by "bashing" her or implying that the other women on the show are unattractive. Jezebel rejected Munn's characterizations of their original piece, saying that the critique applied to lack of female writers and on air talent, and responded to the female staffers' charges that Carmon did not work on the show by pointing out that the production staff declined to speak to them after requests for interviews were made.

Wisconsin camel

On February 23, 2011 ''The Daily Show'' planned a segment in Madison, Wisconsin about the protests in Wisconsin that included a live camel. During the staging of the segment on an icy street, the camel's leg became caught on an iron fence. While handlers were freeing the camels leg, one of the handlers pulled the camel down to the ground. A viral video captured the incident which included Daily Show correspondent John Oliver urging the cameraman to stop recording. ''The Daily Show'' issued a statement saying that the camel was not injured, and that they would not be continuing with the segment. The incident drew criticism from PETA and Alliance for Animals.

Maziar Bahari

In June 2009, ''The Daily Show'' sent Jason Jones to Iran to cover the controversial 2009 presidential election. Jones' reports in Iran included an interview with Newsweek journalist Maziar Bahari, who was arrested after the disputed June 2009 presidential elections. During his time in prison, Bahari's interrogators charged him with espionage and used Jones' interview as an evidence against Bahari. In June 2011, Jon Stewart announced that he was working on a film with Bahari based on his family memoir, ''Then They Came for Me''.

Episodes and guests

Awards

Under host Jon Stewart, ''The Daily Show'' has risen to critical acclaim. It has received two Peabody Awards, for its coverage of the 2000 and 2004 presidential elections. Between 2001 and 2010, it has been awarded fourteen Emmy Awards in the categories of Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy Series and Outstanding Writing for a Variety, Music or Comedy Program, and a further seven nominations. The show has also been honored by GLAAD, the Television Critics Association and the Satellite Awards. ''America (The Book)'', the 2004 bestseller written by Stewart and the writing staff of ''The Daily Show'', was recognized by Publishers Weekly as its "Book of the Year", and its abridged audiobook edition received the 2005 Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album. In September 2010 ''Time'' magazine selected the series as one of "The 100 Best TV Shows of All-TIME".

Editions for various markets

''The Daily Show'' airs on various networks worldwide; in addition, an edited version of the show called ''The Daily Show: Global Edition'' is produced specifically for overseas audiences. It has been airing outside of the U.S. on CNN International and other overseas networks since September 2002. This edition runs for half an hour and contains a selection of segments including one guest interview from the preceding week's shows, usually from the Monday and Tuesday episodes. Stewart provides an exclusive introductory monologue in front of an audience, usually about the week's prevalent international news story, and closing comments without an audience present. When aired on CNN International, the broadcast is prefaced by a written disclaimer: "The show you are about to watch is a news parody. Its stories are not fact checked. Its reporters are not journalists. And its opinions are not fully thought through."

Between 2001 and 2006, Westwood One broadcast small, ninety-second portions of the show to various radio stations across America.

In Canada, ''The Daily Show'' is aired on The Comedy Network (a cable channel similar to Comedy Central), as well as on the CTV broadcast network at 12:05am, following late local newscasts. On both channels, ''The Colbert Report'' airs immediately afterwards.

In the United Kingdom, the digital television channel More4 used to broadcast episodes of ''The Daily Show'' Tuesday through Friday evenings with the ''Global Edition'' airing on Mondays; regular episodes air the evening following their U.S. airing. More4 was the first international broadcaster to syndicate entire ''Daily Show'' episodes, though they made edits to the program due to content, language, length or commercial references. The program was also available to watch via the internet video on demand service 4oD. However, the 'toss' to ''The Colbert Report'' was usually included even though it was aired on FX (UK), another channel. In addition, the placement of commercial breaks followed the UK format, with one break midway through the show rather than several short breaks at various points. When ''The Daily Show'' was on hiatus, either reruns or alternative content were aired. Since January 2011, only the Global Edition is broadcast.

The Global Edition of the week of July 20, 2011 was not aired in the UK as it included a segment mocking Rupert Murdoch's appearance before the House of Commons Culture, Media and Sport Committee in relation to the News International phone hacking scandal. Parliamentary rules ban parliamentary proceedings from being broadcast in a satirical context. Stewart dedicated a segment of the show on August 2, 2011 to lampooning the censorship of the episode in Britain. In May that year, ''The Daily Show'' mocked the ban on using footage of the Royal Wedding in a satirical context with an animated video that showed Paddington Bear, Gollum and Adolf Hitler as guests at the wedding, and depicted its attendants engaging in various forms of violent and sexual behavior. Stewart later discussed the ban with guest Keira Knightley.

''The Daily Show'' is aired on Australian Pay TV channel, The Comedy Channel, weeknights at 6:30pm. Free-to-air digital channel ABC2 began broadcasting the show without commercial breaks in March 2010, but discontinued in January 2011 when The Comedy Channel obtained exclusive rights; episodes were also available on the network's online service ABC iView shortly after airing. The Comedy Channel (as well as ABC2 during 2010) air the show together with ''The Colbert Report'', and both air the ''Global Edition'' on Mondays and the regular edition Tuesday through Friday. The ''Global Edition'' was previously shown weekend late nights on SBS before moving to Network TEN.

In Portugal it airs with no commercial breaks. The Danish national public service network "DR2" airs both the regular and ''Global Edition'' of the show with no commercial breaks.

Episodes of the U.S. version are also available online the next day at Comedy Central's official ''Daily Show'' website.

Spin-offs

''The Colbert Report''

A spin-off, ''The Colbert Report'', was announced in early May 2005. The show stars former correspondent Stephen Colbert, and serves as Comedy Central's answer to the programs of media pundits such as Bill O'Reilly. Colbert, Stewart, and Ben Karlin developed the idea for the show based on a series of faux-television commercials that had been created for an earlier ''Daily Show'' segment. They pitched the concept to Comedy Central chief Doug Herzog, who agreed to run the show for eight weeks without first creating a pilot. ''The Colbert Report'' first aired on October 17, 2005, and takes up the 11:30PM ET/PT slot following ''The Daily Show''. Initial ratings satisfied Comedy Central and less than three weeks after its debut the show was renewed for a year. ''The Colbert Report'' is produced by Jon Stewart's production company, Busboy Productions.

''The Daily Show: Nederlandse Editie''

A local spin-off of the show called '''' (''The Daily Show: Dutch Edition'') premiered on the Dutch Comedy Central on January 31, 2011. The program is similar to the original, except with Dutch news and a Dutch view on international news. The show is hosted by comedian Jan-Jaap van der Wal, who was a team captain on the Dutch ''Have I Got News For You''. The first episode featured a guest appearance by Jon Stewart (recorded at the New York studio), who gave his official blessing for the show. This is also the first and still only franchise of The Daily Show.

Books

''America (The Book): A Citizen's Guide to Democracy Inaction'', published in 2004, is a book written by Jon Stewart and other writers of ''The Daily Show'' that parodies and satirizes American politics and worldview. Earth (The Book) was published in 2010, written by Jon Stewart and other writers of ''The Daily Show'' and is similar in style to ''America (The Book)'' but focuses on the planet and human culture instead of the history of America.

See also

Jon Stewart's 2009 criticism of CNBC

Les Guignols de l'info

List of late-night American network TV programs

Newstopia

Rick Mercer Report

This Hour Has 22 Minutes

References

Further reading

Baym, Geoffrey. The Daily Show and the reinvention of political journalism. Paper presented at the annual Pre-APSA Conference on Political Communication, Chicago, September 1, 2004.

Holt, Jason. (ed.). ''The Daily Show and Philosophy: Moments of Zen in the Art of Fake News''. (Wiley-Blackwell, 2007) ISBN 978-1-4051-6314-9

Goodnow, Trischa. (ed.). "The Daily Show and Rhetoric: Arguments, Issues, and Strategies". (Lexington Books, 2011) ISBN 978-0739150030

Jones, Jeffrey P. ''Entertaining Politics: New Political Television and Civic Culture.'' Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2005.

Rocca, Mo. Report From Philly: What's Wrong With Rabble Rousing? A Correspondent For "The Daily Show With Jon Stewart" Tried His Best To Ruffle Feathers At The Convention. A Web Exclusive By Mo Rocca. Newsweek.com. Aug 14, 2000.

External links

''The Daily Show with Jon Stewart'' official website

2004 interview with Daily Show executive producer Stewart Bailey

''The Daily Show with Jon Stewart'' Canadian website

Category:1996 American television series debuts Category:1990s American television series Category:2000s American television series Category:2010s American television series Category:American news television series Category:American television talk shows Category:Comedy Central shows Category:Criticism of journalism Category:English-language television series Category:Parodies Category:Satirical television programmes Category:The Daily Show

da:The Daily Show de:The Daily Show et:The Daily Show es:The Daily Show eo:The Daily Show fa:نمایش روزانه fo:The Daily Show fr:The Daily Show gl:The Daily Show it:The Daily Show he:הדיילי שואו nl:The Daily Show (Verenigde Staten) ja:ザ・デイリー・ショー no:The Daily Show pl:The Daily Show pt:The Daily Show ru:The Daily Show simple:The Daily Show fi:The Daily Show sv:The Daily Show

Name	Jon Stewart
Alma mater	The College of William & Mary
Birth name	Jonathan Stuart Leibowitz
Birth date	November 28, 1962
Birth place	New York City, New York, U.S.
Medium	Stand-up, television, film, books
Nationality	American
Active	1987–present
Genre	Satire/political satire/news satire, observational comedy
Subject	Mass media/news media/media criticism, American politics, current events, religion, Jewish culture, race relations, human sexuality, self-deprecation
Influences	George Carlin, Woody Allen, Lenny Bruce, David Letterman, Steve Martin, Richard Pryor
Influenced	Stephen Colbert, Steve Carell, Ed Helms, Rob Corddry
Spouse	Tracey Stewart (née McShane; 2000— ; 2 children)
Children	Nathan Stewart, Maggie Stewart
Notable work	Host of ''The Daily Show''Host of ''The Jon Stewart Show''''America (The Book): A Citizen's Guide to Democracy Inaction''''Earth (The Book): A Visitor's Guide to the Human Race''
Child	yes
Emmyawards	Outstanding Writing for a Variety, Music or Comedy Program 2001, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2009 ''The Daily Show'' Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy Series2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 ''The Daily Show''
Grammyawards	Best Comedy Album 2005 ''America (The Audiobook): A Citizen's Guide to Democracy Inaction Best Spoken Word Album 2011 ''Earth (The Audiobook): A Visitor's Guide to the Human Race }}

}} Jon Stewart (born Jonathan Stuart Leibowitz; November 28, 1962) is an American political satirist, writer, television host, actor, media critic and stand-up comedian. He is widely known as host of ''The Daily Show'', a satirical news program that airs on Comedy Central.

Stewart started as a stand-up comedian, but branched into television as host of ''Short Attention Span Theater'' for Comedy Central. He went on to host his own show on MTV, called ''The Jon Stewart Show'', and then hosted another show on MTV called ''You Wrote It, You Watch It''. He has also had several film roles as an actor. Stewart became the host of ''The Daily Show'' on Comedy Central in early 1999. He is also a writer and co-executive-producer of the show. After Stewart joined, ''The Daily Show'' steadily gained popularity and critical acclaim, resulting in his fourteen Emmy Awards.

Stewart has gained acclaim as an acerbic, satirical critic of personality-driven media shows, in particular those of the US media networks such as CNN, Fox News Channel, and MSNBC. Critics say Stewart benefits from a double standard: he critiques other news shows from the safe, removed position of his "fake news" desk. Stewart agrees, saying that neither his show nor his channel purports to be anything other than satire and comedy. In spite of its self-professed entertainment mandate, ''The Daily Show'' has been nominated for news and journalism awards. Stewart hosted the 78th and 80th Academy Awards. He is the co-author of ''America (The Book): A Citizen's Guide to Democracy Inaction'', which was one of the best-selling books in the U.S. in 2004 and ''Earth (The Book): A Visitor's Guide to the Human Race'' released in 2010.

Early life

Stewart was born into a Jewish family in New York City. He and his older brother, Larry Leibowitz (currently Chief Operating Officer of the New York Stock Exchange), grew up in Lawrenceville, New Jersey, where they attended Lawrence High School. Jon's mother, Marian, is an educational consultant and teacher. His father, Donald Leibowitz, was a professor of physics at The College of New Jersey from 2001 through 2008; he now teaches an online course at Thomas Edison State College. Jon's parents were divorced when Stewart was eleven years old, and Stewart no longer has any contact with his father.

Stewart has said that he was subjected to anti-Semitic bullying as a child. He describes himself in high school as "very into Eugene Debs and a bit of a leftist."

Stewart graduated in 1984 from the College of William & Mary in Virginia, where he majored in psychology and played on the soccer team. While at W&M;, Stewart became a brother of the Pi Kappa Alpha Fraternity. After college, Stewart held numerous jobs. He was a contingency planner for the New Jersey Department of Human Services, a contract administrator for the City University of New York, a puppeteer for children with disabilities, a caterer, a busboy, a shelf stocker at Woolworth's, and a bartender at the Franklin Corner Tavern, a local blue-collar bar. In college, Stewart was friends with future Congressman Anthony Weiner, who is the only politician to have received campaign donations from Stewart.

Career

Early work

With a reputation for being a funny man in school, Jon Stewart moved to New York City in 1986 to try his hand at the comedy club circuit, but he could not muster the courage to get on stage until the following year. He made his stand-up debut at The Bitter End, the same place where his comedic idol, Woody Allen, began. He began using the stage name "Jon Stewart" by dropping his last name and changing the spelling of his middle name "Stuart" to "Stewart." He often jokes this is because people had difficulty with the pronunciation of Leibowitz or it "sounded too Hollywood" (a reference to Lenny Bruce's joke on the same theme). He has implied that the name change was actually due to a strained relationship with his father with whom Stewart no longer has any contact.

Stewart became a regular at the Comedy Cellar, where he was the last performer every night. For two years, he would perform at 2 a.m. while developing his comedic style. In 1989, he landed his first television job as a writer for ''Caroline's Comedy Hour''. In 1991, he began co-hosting Comedy Central's ''Short Attention Span Theater'' along with Patty Rosborough. In 1992, Stewart hosted the short-lived ''You Wrote It, You Watch It'' on MTV, which invited viewers to send in their stories to be acted out by the comedy troupe, The State. When David Letterman left NBC in 1993, Stewart was a finalist to replace him, but Conan O'Brien was hired instead.

''The Jon Stewart Show''

Later in 1993, Stewart developed ''The Jon Stewart Show'', a talk show on MTV. Despite the quick cancellation of his previous MTV show, the network was still eager to work with him. ''The Jon Stewart Show'' was the first talk show on that network and was an instant hit, becoming the second-highest rated MTV show behind ''Beavis and Butt-head''. In 1994, Paramount pulled the plug on ''The Arsenio Hall Show'' and, with new corporate sibling MTV (through MTV parent Viacom's acquisition of the studio), launched an hour-long syndicated late-night version of ''The Jon Stewart Show''. Many local affiliates had moved Hall's show to 2 a.m. during its decline and Stewart's show inherited such early morning time slots in many cities. Ratings were dismal and the show was canceled in June 1995.

Amongst the fans of the show was David Letterman, who was the final guest of ''The Jon Stewart Show''. Letterman signed Stewart with his production company, Worldwide Pants. Stewart then became a frequent guest host for Tom Snyder on ''The Late Late Show'', which was produced by Letterman and aired after ''Late Show'' on CBS. This led to much speculation that Stewart would soon replace Snyder permanently, but Stewart was instead offered the time slot after Snyder, which he turned down.

''The Daily Show''

In 1999, Stewart began hosting ''The Daily Show'' on Comedy Central when Craig Kilborn left the show to replace Tom Snyder on ''The Late Late Show''. The show, which has been popular and successful in cable television since Stewart became the host, blends humor with the day's top news stories, usually in politics, while simultaneously poking fun at politicians and many newsmakers as well as the news media itself. In an interview on ''The O'Reilly Factor'', Stewart denies the show has any intentional political agenda, saying the goal was "schnicks and giggles." "The same weakness that drove me into comedy also informs my show," meaning that he was uncomfortable talking without hearing the audience laugh.

Stewart has since hosted almost all airings of the program, except for a few occasions when correspondents such as Stephen Colbert, Rob Corddry, and Steve Carell subbed for him. Stewart has won a total of fourteen Emmys for ''The Daily Show'' as either a writer or producer. In 2005, ''The Daily Show'' and Jon Stewart also received a Best Comedy Album Grammy Award for the audio book edition of ''America (The Book)''. In 2000 and 2004, the show won two Peabody Awards for its coverage of the presidential elections relevant to those years, called "Indecision 2000" and "Indecision 2004", respectively.

The September 20, 2001, show, the first show after the attacks of September 11, 2001, began with no introduction. Before this, the introduction included footage of a fly-in towards the World Trade Center and New York City. The first nine minutes of the show included a tearful Stewart discussing his personal view on the event. His remarks ended as follows:

On April 4, 2006, Stewart confronted US Senator John McCain about his decision to appear at Liberty University, an institution founded by Jerry Falwell, whom McCain had previously denounced as one of the "agents of intolerance." In the interchange, Stewart asked McCain, "You're not freaking out on us? Are you freaking out on us, because if you're freaking out and you're going into the crazy base [politics] world—are you going into crazy base world?" McCain replied, "I'm afraid so." The clip was played on CNN and created a surge of articles across the blogosphere.

In 2007, ''The Daily Show'' was involved in former correspondent Stephen Colbert's announcement that he would run for president in 2008. In 2008, Stewart appeared on an episode of the show ''Democracy Now!'' A 2008 ''New York Times'' story questioned whether he was, in a phrase originally used to describe longtime network news anchor Walter Cronkite, "the most trusted man in America".

On April 28, 2009, during a discussion on torture with Clifford May, Stewart expressed his opinion that former President Harry S. Truman was a war criminal for his use of the atomic bomb on Japan during World War II. Moments later, Stewart defended his assertion:

On April 30, 2009, Stewart apologized on his program, and stated he did not believe Truman was a war criminal:

}}

In April 2010, Comedy Central renewed Stewart's contract to host ''The Daily Show'' into 2013. Stewart is paid a reported $1.5 million for one season of ''The Daily Show''. According to the Forbes list of Celebrities, he earns $14 million a year.

On September 16, 2010, Stewart along with Stephen Colbert announced a rally for October 30, known as the Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear. It took place on the National Mall in Washington D.C. and attracted an estimated 215,000 participants.

In December 2010 Stewart was credited by the White House and other media and political news outlets for bringing awareness of the Republican filibuster on the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act to the public, leading to the ultimate passing of the bill which provides health benefits to first responders whose health has been adversely affected by their work at Ground Zero.

The January 10, 2011 Stewart began the show with a personal monologue about the shootings in Tucson, AZ. During the monologue, Stewart described how he wished that the "ramblings of crazy people didn't in any way resemble how we actually talk to each other on television". Before commercial break, Stewart told viewers that the show would continue as usual the next night. After commercial break, the show featured a rerun of a field piece done by Jason Jones two years earlier.

As a result of such high-profile political stands, Stewart is being recognized as a political force rather than merely as a comedian. ''The New York Times'' suggested that he is "the modern-day equivalent of Edward R. Murrow" and the UK national newspaper ''The Independent'' called him the "satirist-in-chief".

In the middle of 2002, amid rumors that David Letterman was going to make a switch from CBS to ABC when his contract ran out, Stewart was rumored to be the person who would take over Letterman's show on CBS. Ultimately, Letterman renewed his contract with CBS. On the March 9, 2002, episode of ''Saturday Night Live'', hosted by Stewart, a "Weekend Update" sketch poked fun at the situation. In the middle of the sketch, "Weekend Update" anchor Jimmy Fallon said that he could not continue doing the broadcast and he brought Stewart in to replace him. Stewart glowed with excitement and chattered to himself about this chance to prove himself on network television. His pep talk went on too long, however, and before Stewart could deliver any headlines, Fallon returned and said he would be able to finish out the broadcast himself.

Later that year, ABC offered Stewart his own talk show to air after ''Nightline.'' Stewart's contract with ''The Daily Show'' was near expiring and he expressed strong interest. ABC, however, decided to give another Comedy Central figure, Jimmy Kimmel, the post-''Nightline'' slot.

Books

thumb|Stewart at the launch of his book, ''[[Earth (The Book)|Earth'', in New York, September 27, 2010.]]In 1998, Stewart released his first book, ''Naked Pictures of Famous People'', a collection of humorous short stories and essays. The book reached ''The New York Times'' Best Seller List.

In 2004, Stewart and ''The Daily Show'' writing staff released ''America (The Book): A Citizen's Guide to Democracy Inaction,'' a mock high school history textbook offering insights into the unique American system of government, dissecting its institutions, explaining its history and processes, and satirizing such popular American political precepts as "one man, one vote", "government by the people," and "every vote counts." The book sold millions of copies upon its 2004 release and ended the year as a top fifteen best-seller.

In 2005, Stewart provided the voice of President James A. Garfield for the audiobook version of Sarah Vowell's ''Assassination Vacation''.

In 2007, Stewart voiced a role on friend Stephen Colbert's audiobook version of ''I Am America (And So Can You!)''. He plays Mort Sinclaire, former TV comedy writer and Communist.

On September 21, 2010, ''Earth (The Book): A Visitor's Guide to the Human Race'' was released, also written by Stewart and other writers of ''The Daily Show''.

Acting

Although best known for his work on ''The Daily Show,'' Stewart has also had roles in several films and television series.

His first film role was a minor part in ''The First Wives Club'' but his scene was deleted. In 1995, Stewart signed a three-year deal with Miramax. He played romantic leads in the films ''Playing by Heart'' and ''Wishful Thinking''. He also had supporting roles in the romantic comedy ''Since You've Been Gone'' and in the horror film ''The Faculty''. Other films were planned for Stewart to write and star in, but they were never produced. Stewart has since maintained a relationship with Miramax founders Harvey and Bob Weinstein and continues to appear in films they have produced including ''Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back'', ''Doogal'' and the documentary ''Wordplay''.

He also appeared in ''Half Baked'' as an "enhancement smoker" and in ''Big Daddy'' as Adam Sandler's roommate; he has joked on the ''Daily Show'' and in the documentary ''The Aristocrats'' that to get the role he slept with Sandler. Stewart often makes fun of his appearances in the high-profile flop ''Death to Smoochy'', in which he played a treacherous television executive, and the animated film ''Doogal'', where he played a blue spring named Zeebad that shot a freeze ray from his mustache. In 2007, Stewart made a cameo appearance as himself in ''Evan Almighty'', which starred former ''Daily Show'' correspondent Steve Carell. In the movie, Stewart was seen on a television screen in a fictional ''Daily Show'' episode poking fun at Carell's character for building an ark.

Stewart had a recurring role in ''The Larry Sanders Show'' in which he played himself as an occasional substitute and possible successor to late-night talk show host Larry Sanders (played by Garry Shandling). In 1998, Stewart hosted the television special, ''Elmopalooza'', celebrating 30 years of ''Sesame Street''. He has guest-starred on other sitcoms such as ''The Nanny'', ''Dr Katz, Professional Therapist'', ''Spin City'', ''NewsRadio'', ''American Dad'', and ''The Simpsons''. He has also made guest-appearances on the children's television series ''Between the Lions'', ''Sesame Street'' and ''Jack's Big Music Show''.

Producing

In the mid-1990s, Stewart launched his own production company, Busboy Productions. The name of the company is a reference to Stewart's previous job as a busboy. The company's production logo features the sound of a glass being knocked over followed by a voice whispering "Oops. Sorry." Stewart signed a deal with Miramax to develop projects through his company, but none of his ideas were ever produced. After Stewart's success as host and producer of ''The Daily Show'', he revived Busboy Productions with ''Daily Show'' producers Ben Karlin and Rich Korson. In 2002, Busboy planned to produce a sitcom for NBC starring Stephen Colbert, but the show did not come to fruition.

In 2005, Comedy Central reached an agreement with Busboy to finance the production company. Comedy Central has a first-look agreement on all projects, then Busboy is free to shop them to other networks. The deal spawned the ''Daily Show'' spin-off ''The Colbert Report''. Other projects include the sitcom pilot ''Three Strikes'', the documentary ''Sportsfan'', the series ''Important Things with Demetri Martin'', and the film ''The Donor''.

In March 2010, Stewart announced that he had optioned rights to the story of journalist Maziar Bahari, who was imprisoned in Iran for 118 days. On June 6th's episode of The Daily Show the following year, Stewart again hosted Bahari and confirmed that the two would be collaborating on the project.

Awards show hosting

Stewart has hosted the Grammy Awards twice, in 2001 and in 2002. In the middle of the 2001 broadcast, after laying a number of comedic duds, Stewart did what he encourages most public officials to do: he recognized his lackluster performance, saying, "Ladies and gentlemen, I just want to say I feel your scorn and accept it." When Stewart returned to host the next year, his comedy was more successful. Joking about the performance of the song "Lady Marmalade", he said, "Our next performance is from the movie ''Moulin Rouge!'', a film about a time when the whorehouses were about the music!" When the award winners for Album of the Year walked up on stage, many in number, Stewart quipped, "I don't know what you may have heard, but you were only supposed to go on stage if you worked on the ''O Brother, Where Art Thou?'' soundtrack, not if you heard it."

On January 5, 2006, Stewart was officially announced as the host of the 78th Academy Awards, which were held March 5 at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood. Responding to press questions at the time of his selection, Stewart remarked: "As a performer, I'm truly honored to be hosting the show. Although, as an avid watcher of the Oscars, I can't help but be a little disappointed with the choice. It appears to be another sad attempt to smoke out Billy Crystal." (According to ''The New York Times'', Oscar producer Gil Cates knew Crystal was going to be performing ''700 Sundays'' during the time period and was not able to host.) On the Monday before the Oscars, Stewart told Larry King that he was more "excited" than nervous about the job and joked that if he turned out a failure, he could be "bumped down to public access". When asked what the opening would be, the comedian chastised himself by comparing a Stewart opening to a "Gene Rayburn homage". Instead, the opening segment, preceding Stewart's monologue, featured several recent hosts "declining" to host the show.

Critical response to Stewart's performance was mixed. Roger Ebert compared him favorably to legendary Oscar host Johnny Carson. Other reviewers were less positive; Tom Shales of ''The Washington Post'' said that Stewart hosted with “smug humorlessness.” James Poniewozik of ''Time'' said that Stewart was a bad host, but a great “anti-host” in that he poked fun at parts of the broadcast that deserved it, which lent him a degree of authenticity with the non-Hollywood audience. Stewart and correspondent John Oliver later poked fun at his lackluster reception on ''The Daily Show'''s coverage of the 79th Academy Awards by saying that the "demon of last year's Oscars had finally been exorcised."

Stewart also hosted the 80th Academy Awards on February 24, 2008. Reception this time, however, was far more positive.

Criticism of journalists

''Crossfire'' appearance

In a televised exchange with then-CNN personality Tucker Carlson on ''Crossfire'' on October 15, 2004, Stewart criticized the state of television journalism and pleaded with the show's hosts to "stop hurting America," and referred to both Carlson and co-host Paul Begala as "partisan hacks." When posted on the internet, this exchange became widely viewed and was a topic of much media discussion.

Despite being on the program to comment on current events, Stewart immediately shifted the discussion toward the show itself, asserting that ''Crossfire'' had failed in its responsibility to inform and educate viewers about politics as a serious topic. Stewart stated that the show engaged in partisan hackery instead of honest debate, and said that the hosts' assertion that ''Crossfire'' is a debate show is like "saying pro wrestling is a show about athletic competition." Carlson responded by saying that Stewart criticizes news organizations for not holding public officials accountable, but when he interviewed John Kerry, Stewart asked a series of "softball" questions (Stewart has acknowledged he voted for Kerry in the 2004 presidential election). Stewart responded that he didn't realize "the news organizations look to ''Comedy Central'' for their cues on integrity." When Carlson continued to press Stewart on the Kerry issue, Stewart said, "You're on CNN! The show that leads into me is puppets making crank phone calls! What is wrong with you?" In response to prods from Carlson, "Come on. Be funny," Stewart said, "No, I'm not going to be your monkey." Later in the show when Carlson jibed, "I do think you're more fun on your show," Stewart retorted, "You're as big a dick on your show as you are on any show." In response to Stewart's criticisms, Carlson said, "You need to teach at a journalism school," to which Stewart responded, "You need to go to one!"

Stewart discussed the incident on ''The Daily Show'' the following Monday: }}

In January 2005, CNN announced that it was canceling ''Crossfire''. When asked about the cancellations, CNN/US' incoming president, Jonathan Klein, referenced Stewart's appearance on the show: "I think he made a good point about the noise level of these types of shows, which does nothing to illuminate the issues of the day." Soon after, Stewart quipped on ''The Daily Show'' that "I fought the law, and the law lost!"

When asked about his relationship with Tucker Carlson on CNN's ''Larry King Live'' in February 2008, Stewart said: "It became this idea that it was personal between the two of us, and it wasn't… If there's one thing I regret about that thing, it was probably the idea that it was personal, that there was something I was saying about Tucker to Tucker, but actually it was about the show."

On March 18, 2009, Carlson wrote a blog entry for ''The Daily Beast'' criticizing Stewart for his handling of the CNBC controversy (see below). In this article, Carlson discusses the CNN incident and claims Stewart remained backstage for at least "an hour" and "continued to lecture our staff", something Carlson described as "one of the weirdest things I have ever seen."

Criticism of CNBC

Stewart again became a viral internet phenomenon following a March 4, 2009, ''The Daily Show'' sequence. CNBC cancelled Rick Santelli's scheduled appearance but Stewart still ran a short segment showing CNBC giving bad investment advice.

Subsequent media coverage of exchanges between Jim Cramer, who had been featured heavily in the original segment, and Stewart, led to a highly anticipated face-to-face confrontation on ''The Daily Show''. The episode received a large amount of media hype and became the second most-viewed episode of ''The Daily Show'', trailing only the 2009 Inauguration Day episode. It had 2.3 million total viewers, and the next day, the show's website saw its highest day of traffic in 2009. Although Cramer acknowledged on the show that some of Stewart's criticisms of CNBC were valid and that the network could "do better," he later said on ''The Today Show'' that Stewart's criticism of the media was "naïve and misleading."

Criticism of Fox News

For years, Stewart has regularly accused Fox News of distorting the news to fit a conservative agenda, at one point ridiculing the network as "the meanest sorority in the world." In November 2009, Stewart called out Fox News for using some footage from a previous Tea Party rally during its report of a more recent one, making the later rally appear larger than it was. The show's anchor, Sean Hannity, apologized the following night. A month later, Stewart criticized ''Fox & Friends'' cohost Gretchen Carlson – a former Miss America and Stanford graduate – for claiming that she googled words such as "ignoramus" and "czar." Stewart said that Carlson was dumbing herself down for "an audience who sees intellect as an elitist flaw."

Stewart stepped up his criticism of Fox News in 2010; as of April 24, ''The Daily Show'' had 24 segments criticizing Fox News' coverage. Bill O'Reilly, host of ''The O'Reilly Factor'', countered that ''The Daily Show'' was a "key component of left-wing television" and that Stewart was a fan of Fox News because the network was so interesting to watch.

WGA strike of 2007–2008

Stewart was an important factor in the unionization of the writers for Comedy Central. ''The Daily Show'' writers were the first of Comedy Central's writers to be able to join the guild, after which other shows followed.

He supported the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike, commenting on ''The Daily Show'' episode just before the strike in a sarcastic manner about how Comedy Central had made available all of the episodes for free on their website, but without advertising, and said 'go support our advertisers'. The show went on hiatus when the strike began, as did other late night talk shows. Upon Stewart's return to the show on January 7, 2008, he refused to use the title ''The Daily Show'', stating that "The Daily Show" was the show made with all of the people responsible for the broadcast, including his writers. During the strike, he referred to his show as ''A Daily Show with Jon Stewart'' until the strike ended on February 13, 2008. Stewart, as well as several other late night talk shows, returned to TV early in January even though the strike was not over, because their stage crews and production teams were suffering much more than the writers from the financial crunch, and by that point had been out of work for two months.

The Writers Guild Strike of 2007–2008 was also responsible for a notable mock feud between Stewart, Stephen Colbert, and Conan O'Brien in early 2008. Without writers to help fuel their banter, the three comedians concocted a crossover/rivalry in order to garner more viewers during the ratings slump. Colbert made the claim that because of "the Colbert bump", he was responsible for Mike Huckabee's success in the 2008 presidential race. O'Brien claimed that he was responsible for Huckabee's success because not only had he made mention of him on his show, but also that he was responsible for Chuck Norris' success (Norris backed Huckabee). In response, Stewart claimed that he was responsible for the success of O'Brien, since Stewart had featured him on ''The Jon Stewart Show'', and in turn the success of Huckabee. This resulted in a three-part comedic battle between the three pundits, with all three appearing on each other's shows. The feud ended on ''Late Night with Conan O'Brien'' with a mock brawl involving the three hosts.

Honors and awards

Stewart and the rest of the members of ''The Daily Show'' have received two Peabody Awards for "Indecision 2000" and "Indecision 2004", covering the 2000 presidential election and the 2004 presidential election, respectively.

Stewart's ''The Daily Show'' has received Outstanding Writing for a Variety, Music or Comedy Program Emmy Awards in 2001, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2009. The show has also received the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy Series in 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010.

Stewart won a Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album in 2005 for his recording, ''America (The Audiobook): A Citizen's Guide to Democracy Inaction''.

In the December 2003 New Years edition of ''Newsweek'', Stewart was named the "Who's Next?" person for the coming year of 2004, with the magazine predicting he would emerge as an absolute sensation in that year. (The magazine said they were right at the end of that year.)

''Entertainment Weekly'' named Stewart as its "Entertainer of the Year" for 2004.

In 2004, Stewart spoke at the commencement ceremonies at his alma mater, William and Mary, and received an honorary Doctor of Arts degree. Stewart was also the Class Day keynote speaker at Princeton University in 2004, and the 2008 Sacerdote Great Names speaker at Hamilton College.

Stewart was also named one of the ''2005 Time 100'', an annual list of 100 of the most influential people of the year by ''Time'' magazine.

In addition, Stewart and ''The Daily Show'' received the 2005 National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) George Orwell Award for Distinguished Contribution to Honesty and Clarity in Public Language.

Stewart was presented an Honorary All-America Award by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) in 2006.

Asteroid 116939 Jonstewart, discovered April 15, 2004, is named in his honor.

On April 21, 2009, President of Liberia Ellen Johnson Sirleaf made Stewart a chief.

On October 26, 2010, Stewart was named the Most Influential Man of 2010 by AskMen.com.

Personal life

In 2000, Stewart married Tracey McShane, his girlfriend of four years. The couple met on a blind date set up by a production assistant on Stewart's film, ''Wishful Thinking''. On June 19, 2001, Stewart and his wife filed a joint name change application and legally changed both of their surnames to "Stewart." He proposed to his future wife through a personalized crossword puzzle created with the help of Will Shortz, the crossword editor at ''The New York Times''. The couple had their first child, Nathan Thomas Stewart (named after Stewart's grandfather), in July 2004. Their second child, a daughter, Maggie Rose Stewart, was born in February 2006. They also have a cat named Stanley and two pit bull terriers, Monkey and Shamsky (named after former Major League Baseball player Art Shamsky).

In 2000, when he was labeled a Democrat, Stewart generally agreed but described his political affiliation as "more socialist or independent" than Democratic. While interviewing David Barton in 2011, he said to be a secular humanist.

Stewart is an avid fan of both the New York Giants and the New York Mets and occasionally brings this up on his show. He gave an impassioned rant to open his show on February 4, 2008, immediately after the Giants had defeated the Patriots in the Super Bowl, about the Giants victory, noting his satisfaction in having bragging rights over Patriot and Red Sox sports fans who worked with him and had tormented him for years. Additionally he has mentioned his fandom on his show during interviews with Tiki Barber and David Wright.

Filmography

! Year!!Title!!Role!!Notes
1994	''Mixed Nuts''	Rollerblader
1996	''The First Wives Club''	Elise's lover	Scenes deleted
	''Wishful Thinking''	Henry
''The Nanny''	Bob
''NewsRadio''	Andrew	Episode 18
Space Ghost Coast to Coast	Himself	Guest
	''Half Baked''	Enhancement Smoker
	Todd Zalinsky	TV film
''The Faculty''	Prof Edward Furlong
''Playing by Heart''	Trent
1999		Kevin Gerrity
	''The Office Party''	Pizza Guy	Short film
	Party Guest
2001	''Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back''	Reg Hartner
	''Death to Smoochy''	Marion Frank Stokes
''The Adventures of Tom Thumb and Thumbelina''	Godfrey	Voice
		Zeebad	Voice
	Himself
''American Dad''	Himself
2007	''Evan Almighty''	Himself
	''The Simpsons''	Himself
''The Great Buck Howard''	Himself
2011	''The Adjustment Bureau''	Himself

Bibliography

''Naked Pictures of Famous People'' (Rob Weisbach Books, 1998) ISBN 0-688-17162-1

''America (The Book): A Citizen's Guide to Democracy Inaction'' (Warner Books, September 2004) ISBN 0-446-53268-1

''Earth (The Book): A Visitor's Guide to the Human Race'' (Grand Central Publishing, 2010) ISBN 978-0-446-57922-3

References

External links

in 2010 in 2005 in 2004

Jon Stewart at WN

Collected news and commentary at ''The New York Times''

Category:1962 births Category:21st-century actors Category:Actors from New Jersey Category:Actors from New York City Category:American film actors Category:American Jews Category:American media critics Category:American television talk show hosts Category:American political pundits Category:American satirists Category:American stand-up comedians Category:Criticism of journalism Category:Emmy Award winners Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Jewish actors Category:Jewish comedians Category:Living people Category:Male comedians Category:Peabody Award winners Category:People from Lawrence Township, Mercer County, New Jersey Category:New York Democrats Category:William & Mary Tribe men's soccer players

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name	Steven May
birth date	January 10, 1992
originalteam	Melbourne Grammar School
heightweight	190 cm / 93 kg
debutdate	01 May 2011
debutteam	Gold Coast
debutopponent	Essendon
debutstadium	Docklands Stadium
playingteams	Gold Coast (2011–) 1 game
statsend	R7, 2011
careerhighlights	}}

Steven May is an Australian rules footballer who was pick up by Gold Coast as a zone selection. He made his debut against Essendon in round 6 of the 2011 season.

Although recruited from Melbourne Grammar School, he is from the Northern Territory.

References

External links

Category:1992 births Category:Living people Category:Gold Coast Football Club players Category:Australian rules footballers from the Northern Territory

Name	Robert Baden-Powell, 1st Baron Baden-Powell
Birth place	Paddington, London, England
Death place	Nyeri, Kenya
Nickname	B-P
Branch	British Army
Serviceyears	1876–1910
Rank	Lieutenant-General
Commands	Chief of Staff, Second Matabele War (1896–1897)5th Dragoon Guards in India (1897)Inspector General of Cavalry, England (1903)
Battles	Anglo-Ashanti Wars, Second Matabele War, Siege of Mafeking, Second Boer War
Awards	Ashanti Star (1895),Matabele Campaign, British South Africa Company Medal (1896),Queen's South Africa Medal (1899), King's South Africa Medal ( 1902),Boy Scouts Silver WolfBoy Scouts Silver Buffalo Award (1926),World Scout Committee Bronze Wolf (1935),Großes Dankabzeichen des ÖPB (1927)Großes Ehrenzeichen der Republik am Bande (1931)Goldene Gemse (1931) Grand-Cross in the Order of Orange-Nassau (1932),Order of Merit (1937),Wateler Peace Prize (1937)Order of St Michael and St George,Royal Victorian Order,Order of the Bath
Laterwork	Founder of the international Scouting Movement; writer; artist
Signature	Baden-Powell_signature.svg }}

Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell, 1st Baron Baden-Powell, OM, GCMG, GCVO, KCB (; 22 February 1857 – 8 January 1941), also known as B-P or Lord Baden-Powell, was a lieutenant-general in the British Army, writer, and founder of the Scout Movement.

After having been educated at Charterhouse School, Baden-Powell served in the British Army from 1876 until 1910 in India and Africa. In 1899, during the Second Boer War in South Africa, Baden-Powell successfully defended the town in the Siege of Mafeking. Several of his military books, written for military reconnaissance and scout training in his African years, were also read by boys. Based on those earlier books, he wrote ''Scouting for Boys'', published in 1908 by Pearson, for youth readership. During writing, he tested his ideas through a camping trip on Brownsea Island with the local Boys' Brigade and sons of his friends that began on 1 August 1907, which is now seen as the beginning of Scouting.

After his marriage to Olave St Clair Soames, Baden-Powell, his sister Agnes Baden-Powell and notably his wife actively gave guidance to the Scouting Movement and the Girl Guides Movement. Baden-Powell lived his last years in Nyeri, Kenya, where he died and was buried in 1941.

Early life

Baden-Powell was born as Robert Stephenson Smyth Powell, or more familiarly as Stephe Powell, at 6 Stanhope Street (now 11 Stanhope Terrace), Paddington in London, on 22 February 1857. He was named for his godfather, Robert Stephenson, the railway and civil engineer; his third name was his mother's maiden name. His father Reverend Baden Powell, a Savilian Professor of Geometry at Oxford University, already had four teenage children from the second of his two previous marriages. On 10 March 1846 at St Luke's Church, Chelsea, Reverend Powell married Henrietta Grace Smyth (3 September 1824 – 13 October 1914), eldest daughter of Admiral William Henry Smyth and 28 years his junior. Quickly they had Warington (early 1847), George (late 1847), Augustus (1849) and Francis (1850). After three further children who died when very young, they had Stephe, Agnes (1858) and Baden (1860). The three youngest children and the often ill Augustus were close friends. Reverend Powell died when Stephe was three, and as tribute to his father and to set her own children apart from their half-siblings and cousins, the mother changed the family name to ''Baden-Powell''. Subsequently, Stephe was raised by his mother, a strong woman who was determined that her children would succeed. Baden-Powell would say of her in 1933 "The whole secret of my getting on, lay with my mother."

After attending Rose Hill School, Tunbridge Wells, during which his favourite brother Augustus died, Stephe Baden-Powell was awarded a scholarship to Charterhouse, a prestigious public school. His first introduction to Scouting skills was through stalking and cooking game while avoiding teachers in the nearby woods, which were strictly out-of-bounds. He also played the piano and violin, was an ambidextrous artist, and enjoyed acting. Holidays were spent on yachting or canoeing expeditions with his brothers.

Military career

In 1876, R.S.S. Baden-Powell, as he styled himself then, joined the 13th Hussars in India with the rank of lieutenant. He enhanced and honed his military scouting skills amidst the Zulu in the early 1880s in the Natal province of South Africa, where his regiment had been posted, and where he was Mentioned in Despatches. During one of his travels, he came across a large string of wooden beads, worn by the Zulu king Dinizulu, which was later incorporated into the Wood Badge training programme he started after he founded the Scouting Movement. Baden-Powell's skills impressed his superiors and he was Brevetted Major as Military Secretary and senior Aide-de-camp of the Commander-in-Chief and Governor of Malta, his uncle General Sir Henry Augustus Smyth. He was posted in Malta for three years, also working as intelligence officer for the Mediterranean for the Director of Military Intelligence. He frequently travelled disguised as a butterfly collector, incorporating plans of military installations into his drawings of butterfly wings.

Baden-Powell returned to Africa in 1896 to aid the British South Africa Company colonials under siege in Bulawayo during the Second Matabele War. This was a formative experience for him not only because he had the time of his life commanding reconnaissance missions into enemy territory in Matobo Hills, but because many of his later Boy Scout ideas took hold here. It was during this campaign that he first met and befriended the American scout Frederick Russell Burnham, who introduced Baden-Powell to the American Old West and ''woodcraft'' (i.e., scoutcraft), and here that he wore his signature Stetson campaign hat and kerchief for the first time. After Rhodesia, Baden-Powell took part in a successful British invasion of Ashanti, West Africa in the Fourth Ashanti War, and at the age of 40 was promoted to lead the 5th Dragoon Guards in 1897 in India. A few years later he wrote a small manual, entitled ''Aids to Scouting,'' a summary of lectures he had given on the subject of military scouting, to help train recruits. Using this and other methods he was able to train them to think independently, use their initiative, and survive in the wilderness.

Baden-Powell was accused of illegally executing a prisoner of war, Matabele chief Uwini, in 1896, who had been promised his life would be spared if he surrendered. Uwini was shot by firing squad under Baden-Powell's instructions. Baden-Powell was cleared by an inquiry, and later claimed he was "released without a stain on my character".

Baden-Powell returned to South Africa prior to the Second Boer War and was engaged in further military actions against the Zulus. By this time, he had been promoted to be the youngest colonel in the British Army. He was responsible for the organisation of a force of Legion of Frontiersmen to assist the regular army. While arranging this, he was trapped in the Siege of Mafeking, and surrounded by a Boer army, at times in excess of 8,000 men. Although wholly outnumbered, the garrison withstood the siege for 217 days. Much of this is attributable to cunning military deceptions instituted at Baden-Powell's behest as commander of the garrison. Fake minefields were planted and his soldiers were ordered to simulate avoiding non-existent barbed wire while moving between trenches. Baden-Powell did most of the reconnaissance work himself. In one instance noting that the Boers had not removed the rail line, Baden-Powell loaded an armoured locomotive with sharpshooters and successfully sent it down the rails into the heart of the Boer encampment and back again in a strategic attempt to decapitate the Boer leadership.

Contrary views of Baden-Powell's actions during the Siege of Mafeking pointed out that his success in resisting the Boers was secured at the expense of the lives of the native African soldiers and civilians, including members of his own African garrison. Pakenham stated that Baden-Powell drastically reduced the rations to the natives' garrison. However, in 2001, after subsequent research, Pakenham decidedly retreated from this position.

During the siege, a cadet corps, consisting of white boys below fighting age, was used to stand guard, carry messages, assist in hospitals and so on, freeing the men for military service. Although Baden-Powell did not form this cadet corps himself, and there is no evidence that he took much notice of them during the Siege, he was sufficiently impressed with both their courage and the equanimity with which they performed their tasks to use them later as an object lesson in the first chapter of ''Scouting for Boys''. The siege was lifted in the Relief of Mafeking on 16 May 1900. Promoted to major-general, Baden-Powell became a national hero. After organising the South African Constabulary, the national police force, he returned to England to take up a post as Inspector General of Cavalry in 1903. In 1907 he was appointed to command a division in the newly-formed Territorial Force.

In 1910 Lieutenant-General Baden-Powell decided to retire from the Army reputedly on the advice of King Edward VII, who suggested that he could better serve his country by promoting Scouting.

On the outbreak of World War I in 1914, Baden-Powell put himself at the disposal of the War Office. No command was given him, for, as Lord Kitchener said: "he could lay his hand on several competent divisional generals but could find no one who could carry on the invaluable work of the Boy Scouts." It was widely rumoured that Baden-Powell was engaged in spying, and intelligence officers took great care to inculcate the myth.

Scouting movement

On his return from Africa in 1903, Baden-Powell found that his military training manual, ''Aids to Scouting'', had become a best-seller, and was being used by teachers and youth organisations. Following his involvement in the Boys' Brigade as Brigade Secretary and Officer in charge of its scouting section, with encouragement from his friend, William Alexander Smith, Baden-Powell decided to re-write ''Aids to Scouting'' to suit a youth readership. In August 1907 he held a camp on Brownsea Island for twenty-two boys from local Boys Brigade companies and sons of friends of Baden-Powell's from public schools Eton and Harrow to test out the applicability of his ideas. Baden-Powell was also influenced by Ernest Thompson Seton, who founded the Woodcraft Indians. Seton gave Baden-Powell a copy of his book ''The Birch Bark Roll of the Woodcraft Indians'' and they met in 1906. The first book on the Scout Movement, Baden-Powell's ''Scouting for Boys'' was published in six instalments in 1908, and has sold approximately 150 million copies as the fourth best-selling book of the 20th century.

Boys and girls spontaneously formed Scout troops and the Scouting Movement had inadvertently started, first as a national, and soon an international obsession. The Scouting Movement was to grow up in friendly parallel relations with the Boys' Brigade. A rally for all Scouts was held at Crystal Palace in London in 1909, at which Baden-Powell discovered the first Girl Scouts. The Girl Guide Movement was subsequently founded in 1910 under the auspices of Baden-Powell's sister, Agnes Baden-Powell. Baden-Powell's friend, Juliette Gordon Low, was encouraged by him to bring the Movement to America, where she founded the Girl Scouts of the USA.

In 1920, the 1st World Scout Jamboree took place in Olympia, and Baden-Powell was acclaimed Chief Scout of the World. Baden-Powell was created a Baronet in the 1921 New Year Honours and Baron Baden-Powell, of Gilwell, in the County of Essex, on 17 September 1929, Gilwell Park being the International Scout Leader training centre. After receiving this honour, Baden-Powell mostly styled himself "Baden-Powell of Gilwell".

In 1929, during the 3rd World Scout Jamboree, he received as a present a new 20 horse power Rolls-Royce car (chassis number GVO-40, registration OU 2938) and an Eccles Caravan. This combination well served the Baden-Powells in their further travels around Europe. The caravan was nicknamed Eccles and is now on display at Gilwell Park. The car, nicknamed Jam Roll, was sold after his death by Olave Baden-Powell in 1945. Jam Roll and Eccles were reunited at Gilwell for the 21st World Scout Jamboree in 2007. Recently it has been purchased on behalf of Scouting and is owned by a charity, B-P Jam Roll Ltd. Funds are being raised to repay the loan that was used to purchase the car. Baden-Powell also had a positive impact on improvements in youth education. Under his dedicated command the world Scouting Movement grew. By 1922 there were more than a million Scouts in 32 countries; by 1939 the number of Scouts was in excess of 3.3 million.

At the 5th World Scout Jamboree in 1937, Baden-Powell gave his farewell to Scouting, and retired from public Scouting life. 22 February, the joint birthday of Robert and Olave Baden-Powell, continues to be marked as Founder's Day by Scouts and Thinking Day by Guides to remember and celebrate the work of the Chief Scout and Chief Guide of the World.

In his final letter to the Scouts, Baden-Powell wrote:

...I have had a most happy life and I want each one of you to have a happy life too. I believe that God put us in this jolly world to be happy and enjoy life. Happiness does not come from being rich, nor merely being successful in your career, nor by self-indulgence. One step towards happiness is to make yourself healthy and strong while you are a boy, so that you can be useful and so you can enjoy life when you are a man. Nature study will show you how full of beautiful and wonderful things God has made the world for you to enjoy. Be contented with what you have got and make the best of it. Look on the bright side of things instead of the gloomy one. But the real way to get happiness is by giving out happiness to other people. Try and leave this world a little better than you found it and when your turn comes to die, you can die happy in feeling that at any rate you have not wasted your time but have done your best. 'Be Prepared' in this way, to live happy and to die happy — stick to your Scout Promise always — even after you have ceased to be a boy — and God help you to do it.

Personal life

In January 1912, Baden-Powell met Olave St Clair Soames, on the ocean liner, ''Arcadian'', heading for New York to start one of his Scouting World Tours. She was 23, while he was 55; they shared the same birthday, 22 February. They became engaged in September of the same year, causing a media sensation due to Baden-Powell's fame. To avoid press intrusion, they married in secret on 31 October 1912, at St Peter's Church in Parkstone. The Scouts of England each donated a penny to buy Baden-Powell a wedding gift, a car (note that this is not the Rolls-Royce they were presented with in 1929). There is a monument to their marriage inside St Mary's Church, Brownsea Island.

Baden-Powell and Olave lived in Pax Hill near Bentley, Hampshire from about 1919 until 1939. The Bentley house was a gift of her father. Directly after he had married, Baden-Powell began to suffer persistent headaches, which were considered by his doctor to be of psychosomatic origin and treated with dream analysis. The headaches disappeared upon his moving into a makeshift bedroom set up on his balcony. The Baden-Powells had three children, one son and two daughters, who all acquired the courtesy title of "The Honourable" in 1929 as children of a baron. The son succeeded his father in 1941 to the Baden-Powell barony and the title of Baron Baden-Powell.

Arthur Robert Peter (Peter), later 2nd Baron Baden-Powell (1913–1962). He married Carine Crause-Boardman in 1936, and had three children: Robert Crause, later 3rd Baron Baden-Powell; David Michael (Michael), current heir to the titles, and Wendy.

Heather (1915–1986), who married John King and had two children: Michael, who died in the sinking of SS Heraklion, and Timothy;

Betty (1917–2004), who married Gervas Charles Robert Clay in 1936 and had a daughter: Gillian, and three sons: Robin, Nigel and Crispin.

In addition, when Olave's sister Auriol Davidson née Soames died in 1919, Olave and Robert took her three nieces, Christian (1912–1975), Clare (1913–1980), and Yvonne, (1918–1995?), into their family and brought them up as their own children. In 1939, he and his wife moved to a cottage he had commissioned in Nyeri, Kenya, near Mount Kenya, where he had previously been to recuperate. The small one-room house, which he named ''Paxtu'', was located on the grounds of the Outspan Hotel, owned by Eric Sherbrooke Walker, Baden-Powell's first private secretary and one of the first Scout inspectors. Walker also owned the Treetops Hotel, approx 17 km out in the Aberdare Mountains, often visited by Baden-Powell and people of the Happy Valley set. The Paxtu cottage is integrated into the Outspan Hotel buildings and serves as a small Scouting museum.

Baden-Powell died on 8 January 1941 and is buried in Nyeri, in St. Peter's Cemetery His gravestone bears a circle with a dot in the centre, which is the trail sign for "Going home", or "I have gone home": When his wife Olave died, her ashes were sent to Kenya and interred beside her husband. Kenya has declared Baden-Powell's grave a national monument.

Personal beliefs

Tim Jeal, who wrote the biography ''Baden-Powell'', argues that Baden-Powell's distrust of communism led to his implicit support, through naïveté, of fascism. In 1939 Baden-Powell noted in his diary: "Lay up all day. Read ''Mein Kampf''. A wonderful book, with good ideas on education, health, propaganda, organisation etc. – and ideals which Hitler does not practise himself." Baden-Powell admired Benito Mussolini early in the Italian fascist leader's career.

Some very early Scouting "Thanks" badges had a swastika symbol on them. According to biographer Michael Rosenthal, Baden-Powell used the swastika because he was a Nazi sympathiser. Jeal, however, argues that Baden-Powell was naïve of the symbol's growing association with fascism and maintained that his use of the symbol related to its earlier, original meaning of "good luck" in Sanskrit, for which purpose the symbol had been used for centuries prior to the rise of fascism. In conflict with the idea that Powell was a Nazi supporter is the fact that Baden-Powell was a target of the Nazi regime in the Black Book, which listed individuals who were to be arrested during and after an invasion of Great Britain as part of Operation Sea Lion. Scouting was regarded as a dangerous spy organisation by the Nazis. Baden-Powell used the swastika as a "Thanks" badge for the Scout Movement well before Hitler used it, and when Hitler did start to use it, Baden-Powell ceased to use it. Previously, the swastika had been used by Rudyard Kipling as a logo on his books.

Artist and writer

Baden-Powell made paintings and drawings almost every day of his life. Most have a humorous or informative character. He published books and other texts during his years of military service both to finance his life and to educate his men.

Baden-Powell was regarded as an excellent storyteller. During his whole life he told 'ripping yarns' to audiences. After having published ''Scouting for Boys'', Baden-Powell kept on writing more handbooks and educative materials for all Scouts, as well as directives for Scout Leaders. In his later years, he also wrote about the Scout Movement and his ideas for its future. He spent the last decade of his life in Africa, and many of his later books had African themes. Currently, many pages of his field diary, complete with drawings, are on display at the National Scouting Museum in Irving, Texas.

Sexuality

Early discussion of Baden-Powell's sexuality focused on his relationship with his close friend Kenneth McLaren. Tim Jeal's later biography discusses the relationship and concludes that there is no conclusive evidence that this friendship was physical. Jeal then examines Baden-Powell's views on women, his appreciation of the male form, his military relationships and his marriage, indicating that Baden-Powell could be a repressed homosexual. Jeal's conclusion is shared by some biographers and disputed by others, but not yet examined in any detail by scholars.

Works

;Military books

1884: ''Reconnaissance and Scouting''

1885: ''Cavalry Instruction''

1889: ''Pigsticking or Hoghunting''

1896: ''The Downfall of Prempeh''

1897: ''The Matabele Campaign''

1899: ''Aids to Scouting for N.-C.Os and Men''

1900: ''Sport in War''

1901: ''Notes and Instructions for the South African Constabulary''

1914: ''Quick Training for War''

;Scouting books

1908: ''Scouting for Boys''

1909: ''Yarns for Boy Scouts''

1912: ''The Handbook for the Girl Guides or How Girls Can Help to Build Up the Empire'' (co-authored with Agnes Baden-Powell)

1913: ''Boy Scouts Beyond The Sea: My World Tour''

1916: ''The Wolf Cub's handbook''

1918: ''Girl Guiding''

1919: ''Aids To Scoutmastership''

1921: ''What Scouts Can Do: More Yarns''

1922: ''Rovering to Success''

1929: ''Scouting and Youth Movements''

est 1929: ''Last Message to Scouts''

1935: ''Scouting Round the World''

;Other books

1905: ''Ambidexterity'' (co-authored with John Jackson)

1915: ''Indian Memories''

1915: ''My Adventures as a Spy'' 1916: ''Young Knights of the Empire: Their Code, and Further Scout Yarns''

1921: ''An Old Wolf's Favourites''

1927: ''Life's Snags and How to Meet Them''

1933: ''Lessons From the Varsity of Life''

1934: ''Adventures and Accidents''

1936: ''Adventuring to Manhood''

1937: ''African Adventures''

1938: ''Birds and beasts of Africa''

1939: ''Paddle Your Own Canoe''

1940: ''More Sketches Of Kenya''

;Sculpture 1905 ''John Smith''

Awards

In 1937 Baden-Powell was appointed to the Order of Merit, one of the most exclusive awards in the British honours system, and he was also awarded 28 decorations by foreign states, including the Grand Officer of the Portuguese Order of Christ, the Grand Commander of the Greek Order of the Redeemer (1920), the Commander of the French Légion d'honneur (1925), the First Class of the Hungarian Order of Merit (1929), the Grand Cross of the Order of the Dannebrog of Denmark, the Grand Cross of the Order of the White Lion, the Grand Cross of the Order of the Phoenix, and the Order of Polonia Restituta.

The Silver Wolf Award worn by Robert Baden-Powell is handed down the line of his successors, with the current Chief Scout, Bear Grylls wearing this original award.

The Bronze Wolf Award, the only distinction of the World Organization of the Scout Movement, awarded by the World Scout Committee for exceptional services to world Scouting, was first awarded to Baden-Powell by a unanimous decision of the then ''International Committee'' on the day of the institution of the Bronze Wolf in Stockholm in 1935. He was also the first recipient of the Silver Buffalo Award in 1926, the highest award conferred by the Boy Scouts of America.

In 1927, at the Swedish National Jamboree he was awarded by the Österreichischer Pfadfinderbund with the "''Großes Dankabzeichen des ÖPB''.

In 1931 Baden-Powell received the highest award of the First Austrian Republic (''Großes Ehrenzeichen der Republik am Bande'') out of the hands of President Wilhelm Miklas. Baden-Powell was also one of the first and few recipients of the ''Goldene Gemse'', the highest award conferred by the Österreichischer Pfadfinderbund.

In 1931, Major Frederick Russell Burnham dedicated Mount Baden-Powell in California to his old Scouting friend from forty years before. Today their friendship is honoured in perpetuity with the dedication of the adjoining peak, Mount Burnham.

Baden-Powell was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize on numerous occasions, including 10 separate nominations in 1928.

As part of the Scouting 2007 Centenary, Nepal renamed Urkema Peak to Baden-Powell Peak.

Styles

:''The family name legally changed from Powell to Baden-Powell by Royal Licence on 30 April 1902.''

1857–1860: Robert Stephenson Smyth Powell

1860–1876: Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell

1876: Sub-Lieutenant Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell

1876–1884: Lieutenant Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell

1884–1892: Captain Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell

1892–1896: Major Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell

1896-25 April 1897: Major (Bvt. Lieutenant-Colonel) Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell

25 April – 7 May 1897: Lieutenant-Colonel Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell

7 May 1897–1901: Lieutenant-Colonel (Bvt. Colonel) Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell

1901–1902: Major-General Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell

1902–1907: Major-General Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell, CB

1907–12 October 1909: Lieutenant-General Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell, CB

12 October – 9 November 1909: Lieutenant-General Sir Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell, KCVO, CB

9 November 1909–1912: Lieutenant-General Sir Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell, KCB, KCVO

1912–1923: Lieutenant-General Sir Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell, KCB, KCVO, KStJ

1923–1927: Lieutenant-General Sir Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell, Bt, GCVO, KCB, KStJ

1927–1929: Lieutenant-General Sir Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell, Bt, GCMG, GCVO, KCB, KStJ

1929–1937: Lieutenant-General The Right Honourable The Lord Baden-Powell, Bt, GCMG, GCVO, KCB, KStJ

1937–1941: Lieutenant-General The Right Honourable The Lord Baden-Powell, Bt, OM, GCMG, GCVO, KCB, KStJ

See also

Baden-Powell House

Scouting memorials

Notes

Related readings: biographies

|location=London |publisher=Grant Richards |year=1900}}

External links

What would Baden-Powell do?

Category:Scouting pioneers Category:The Scout Association Category:Guiding Category:Recipients of the Bronze Wolf Award Category:British Army generals Category:13th Hussars officers Category:British spies Category:British military personnel of the Fourth Anglo-Ashanti War Category:British Army personnel of the Second Boer War Category:People of the Second Matabele War Category:Pre–World War I spies Category:People from Paddington Category:Old Carthusians Category:Outdoor educators Category:English Anglicans Category:Barons in the Peerage of the United Kingdom Category:Baronets in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom Category:Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath Category:Knights Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George Category:Knights Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order Category:Knights of Grace of the Order of St John Category:Members of the Order of Merit Category:Knights of Christ Category:Commandeurs of the Légion d'honneur Category:Grand Crosses of the Order of the Phoenix (Greece) Category:Commanders with Star of the Order of Polonia Restituta Category:Recipients of the Order of Merit (Hungary) Category:People of the Victorian era Category:People of the Edwardian era Category:5th Dragoon Guards officers Category:Grand Crosses of the Order of the Dannebrog Category:Grand Crosses of the Order of the White Lion Category:Grand Commanders of the Order of the Redeemer Category:Recipients of the Silver Wolf Award Category:1857 births Category:1941 deaths

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