Comedian Jon Stewart feted for humor, advocacy with Mark Twain Prize

WASHINGTON, April 24 (Reuters) – Comic Jon Stewart turned the twenty third recipient of the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor on the Kennedy Heart on Sunday, with tributes from late night time tv hosts Stephen Colbert and Jimmy Kimmel plus music from singer Bruce Springsteen.

Stewart, who captured the American zeitgeist whereas zinging politicians and the media as host of the “The Each day Present” on Comedy Central for 16 years, joked in regards to the big-name stars celebrating him whose careers he helped advance.

“It reminds of … simply how many individuals I carried,” he quipped.

Comedians from Colbert, who appeared by video hyperlink as a result of he has COVID-19, to Samantha Bee, Steve Carell, and Dave Chappelle famous the affect Stewart had on their lives and comedic paths.

“He actually is the form of man that wishes to see his pals and other people round him succeed,” Kimmel advised reporters earlier than the present.

Springsteen, who like Stewart hails from New Jersey, carried out his music, “Born to Run.”

Stewart left “The Each day Present,” which is now hosted by Trevor Noah, earlier than President Donald Trump’s time within the White Home.

“We missed you very a lot,” mentioned Chappelle, a earlier recipient of the Mark Twain Prize.

“The Each day Present” received 20 Emmy Awards throughout Stewart’s tenure and boosted the careers of its so-called correspondents, together with Bee, Colbert, and John Oliver.

“Jon Stewart modified my life,” mentioned actress Olivia Munn, a former correspondent on Stewart’s present. She then mocked Stewart for holding his Emmys in a cardboard field. “As a result of that is who he’s: lazy and vaguely disrespectful.”

Colbert recalled telling Stewart that his job on “The Each day Present” was the perfect job on tv.

“I do know now that what I used to be actually saying to you was the perfect job on tv was working for you,” Colbert mentioned. “I meant that once I mentioned it in 2000. And 22 years later, I now not imply that,” he mentioned, drawing laughter from the viewers. Colbert is now host of the “The Late Present” on CBS.

Stewart returned to a tv internet hosting gig final 12 months with a brand new present, “The Downside With Jon Stewart,” on the Apple TV+ streaming platform.

An advocate for U.S. navy veterans and first responders from the Sept. 11, 2001 assaults, Stewart acquired the award from two males representing these teams: John Feal, a 9/11 first-responder and Israel del Toro, a veteran.

In his acceptance speech, Stewart took a severe flip when speaking about the way forward for comedy, making a reference to actor Will Smith’s onstage slap of comic Chris Rock on the Oscars.

“Comedy survives each second,” he mentioned. “It is not the fragility of audiences. It is the fragility of leaders.”

Stewart mentioned the Mark Twain Prize was a reminder that “what we’ve got is fragile and valuable” and mentioned comedy is a bellwether for what is occurring in society.

“We are the banana peel within the coal mine,” he mentioned. “When society is underneath menace, comedians are those who get despatched away first. It is only a reminder to people who democracy is underneath menace. Authoritarians are the menace to comedy, to artwork, to music, to thought, to poetry.”

The Mark Twain prize is known as after novelist and essayist Samuel Langhorne Clemens, higher identified by his pen identify, Mark Twain. This system will air on PBS stations on June 21.

Reporting by Jeff Mason. Enhancing by Gerry Doyle

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