If you’re unfamiliar with Jon Stewart, well, you definitely need to watch a little more TV and not just Comedy Central or Apple TV, but your national news network of choice. While the host of the Daily Show from 1999 to 2015, Stewart made such an impact by intersecting comedy with politics and social issues that the show was nominated for a record 22 Primetime Emmy Awards and even two Grammy Awards as well as a number of news and journalism accolades. A vocal Democrat with liberal leanings, Stewart also made waves while hosting the Daily Show because he wasn’t afraid to debate right-wing pundits such as Tucker Carlson and Bill O’Reilly directly and on the air.Â
Why They Made the Worthy 100: Sticking to your political guns in the age of cancel culture is difficult enough, but Stewart’s ceaseless efforts on behalf of 9/11 First Responders set him even further apart. In 2019, he helped win a very tough fight against conservative opposition to continued funding of the 9/11 Victims Compensation Fund. And shortly after debuting his new show on Apple TV, The Problem with Jon Stewart, he became an advocate for the bill, Honoring our Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics Act of 2021. He was a vocal proponent of the bill through 2021 and 2022 and finally, in August of 2022, the bill passed with a bipartisan vote of 84 to 11.
