Thirteen Random Things I Learned About Jon Stewart from the Book ‘Angry Optimist: The Life and Times of Jon Stewart’

Jon Stewart will soon be retiring from a long stint at The Daily Show

Jon Stewart’s first crush was on Eve Plumb who played Jan Brady on The Brady Bunch.

His father had an affair with his secretary and left the family when Stewart was 10.

He wanted to become a professional soccer player.

He has described his college career as “waking up late, memorizing someone else’s notes, doing bong hits, and going to soccer practice.”

One of his first post-college jobs was testing mosquitoes for encephalitis in the New Jersey Pine Barrens.

During a bartending gig, he invented a drink called “A Whack in the Head,” which combined a Long Island Iced Tea with a Alabama Slammer.

He proposed to his wife, with the help of pal Will Shortz, via clues incorporated in a New York Times crossword puzzle.

He was a heavy smoker until wife Tracey convinced him to quit.

In a Daily Show segment Ed Helms once jokingly described Jon Stewart as “Willy Wonka mixed with Hitler.”

Daily Show employees are allowed to bring their dogs to work. The workplace has been described as “a giant dog playground.”

One rule the network imposed on the Daily Show was that “dildo” couldn’t be mentioned in a show four times; but three was okay.

His family enjoys watching the Food Network, but his wife doesn’t like to cook.

In 2008, his annual income was estimated by Forbes Magazine to be $14 million.

(Roz Warren is the author of Our Bodies, Our Shelves: A Collection Of Library Humor.)

Roz Warren
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