Here’s good news for Jon Stewart fans — and who’s not a Jon Stewart fan?
The multiple Emmy Award-winning comedian has signed a multi-year partnership with AppleTV+ to return to television with a current affairs series.
The 57-year-old New Yorker hosted The Daily Show on Comedy Central from 1999 to 2015. This new project is described as a one-hour, single issue series that will, according to a release, “explore topics that are currently part of the national conversation and his advocacy work.”
The new series sounds more like John Oliver’s Last Week Tonight on HBO than a rehash of The Daily Show. The release gave no indication as to when the series might premiere but probably in 2021. It will be hosted and executive produced by Stewart through his company, Busboy Productions, with former HBO head Richard Plepler also on board as an executive producer.
Stewart has not done a regular TV series since walking away from The Daily Show in 2015. His most recent project was writing and directing “Irresistible,” starring Steve Carell and Rose Byrne, a feature film which, due to COVID, saw limited release in June. He’s also an executive producer on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.
He’s also been busy with his advocacy work on behalf of firemen and other first responders whose health was compromised during the 2001 World Trade Center attacks. His efforts have played an integral role in the passing of legislation such as the 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund Bill, which benefitted thousands of first responders and their families.
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That story is being told in the upcoming documentary “No Responders Left Behind.” The film, directed by Rob Lindsay (Royal Canadian AIr Farce, “Go Boy! Memories of a Life Behind Bars”), features Stewart and 9/11 social advocate John Feal. The pair took on the U.S. federal government and won compensation for thousands of ailing 9/11 First Responders, many sick and dying from toxins released at Ground Zero.
According to Lindsay, the film also chronicles the friendship that the comedian and the construction worker forged together, “all in the name of fighting for those heroes who worked tirelessly for months after September 11th in the rescue and recovery operations.” Stewart and Feal extended their crusade to lobby for US military personel sick and dying from toxins found in war torn areas.
Last year, video of Stewart’s impassioned plea before a House sub-committee went viral in what played like a Jimmy Stewart moment right out of “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.”
Last month, Blue Ant Media announced that they will distribute “No Responder Left Behind” internationally. Variety singled it out as one to watch for at MipCom.
