Comedian Jon Stewart, host of The Problem With Jon Stewart on Apple TV+, won the Mark Twain Prize for humor for his long stint hosting The Daily Show and his activism on behalf of veterans and 9/11 responders.
Stewart received the award at a ceremony Sunday at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C.
Apple TV+ host Jon Stewart wins prestigious Mark Twain Prize for humor
Stewart received the Mark Twain Prize, one of comedy’s top honors, because of his long career of satirical political comedy and activism for veterans and 9/11 emergency workers.
Stewart, 59, is the first to receive the award since Dave Chappelle won it in 2019. (The awards weren’t held for two years because of the COVID-19 pandemic.) The award ceremony featured Stewart’s peers congratulating him and lightly roasting him, either onstage or by video call.
He is best-known for his political satire on Comedy Central’s The Daily Show. He hosted it from 1999 to 2015.
After leaving The Daily Show in 2015, Stewart continued his work as an activist for years before returning to the small screen for the topical Apple TV+ news series, The Problem With Jon Stewart.
Instead of looking at daily news, the show focuses on one major topic every episode, with interviews and panels discussions. In the debut episode, “The Problem With War,” Stewart continued his fight to get veterans the care they deserve.
Though the show has suffered some negative comparisons to Stewart’s huge success with the The Daily Show, he’s still excited about the newer show. He has noted Apple TV+ renewed it for season two and increased the number of episodes ordered.
Here’s his tweet about that:
Holy Shit!!! Just think how bad it'll get in Season Two!!! And they upped our episode order!! WTF!!!???#Nowaytorunabusiness #Getwokegobrokehttps://t.co/J4rCZwzaHo via @BreitbartNews
— Jon Stewart (@jonstewart) April 20, 2022
Apple doesn’t share information like subscriber numbers or program viewership totals, but after the first episode of The Problem With Jon Stewart it issued a report that suggested it outperformed Apple’s other unscripted show, The Oprah Conversation.
“Comedy doesn’t change the world, but it’s a bellwether,” Stewart said at the awards ceremony. “We’re the banana peel in the coal mine.”
You can watch the first season of The Problem With Jon Stewart on Apple TV+. A companion podcast takes a deeper dive into the show’s topics. It’s available on Apple Podcasts and other major podcasting platforms.
Apple TV+ is available by subscription for $4.99 a month with a seven-day free trial.
