CHAPTER ONE — JUST ANOTHER JERSEY SMART-ASS

It was time for the comedian to get serious.

On a sunny October afternoon, three days before the 2010 mid-term elections, the National Mall in Washington, D.C., overflowed with ordinary Americans. Fathers in baseball caps bounced children on their shoulders. Mothers pushed strollers. College students danced to music floating above the crowd or posted photos on Facebook – “Me at The Rally!” Behind the swarming crowds stood the Washington Monument and the brick castle of the Smithsonian Institution. Before them loomed the off-white dome of the United States Capitol. And standing on a stage cluttered with waving flags, speakers, and a Jumbotron, a small, unimposing man was left alone to sum up the day.

It had been a good week for Jon Stewart. Taping shows in the nation’s capital, Stewart had welcomed President Barack Obama to “The Daily Show.” Participants in an online survey at Askmen.com had named him – the comedian, not the president – the most influential man in America. Stewart’s latest book, Earth: A Visitor’s Guide to the Human Race, topped bestseller lists across the country. And his “Rally to Restore Sanity,” expanded by his fellow satirist Stephen Colbert into the “Rally to Restore Sanity And/Or Fear” had captured the imagination of a populace sick of all the name calling and bickering. Hundreds of thousands of people had pledged to attend the rally, and now here they were.

Fueled by Facebook and The Daily Show Global Edition, Stewart’s rally had sparked interest around the world. More than five dozen copycat rallies were being held - everywhere from Tel Aviv to Melbourne to the base camp of Mount Everest. A columnist in Jerusalem wished the Middle East had “a Jon Stewart” to restore sanity or maybe “introduce sanity.” Then at almost 4:00 p.m. on October 30, after weeks of planning, media coverage, last minute scrambling, and two-hours of music and skits, Stewart stood alone before a horde of admirers.

On stage, he seemed so much slighter than he appears in more than a million living rooms each weeknight. Fans at the back of the throng, unable to see him, had to watch the nearest screen. He strode back and forth, clutching the microphone in his left hand, summoning the courage to get serious. He began by praising the musical acts and “what some would classify as comedy.” Then he asked for “a moment, however brief, for some sincerity, if that’s okay. I know there are some boundaries for a comedian pundit talker guy, and I’m sure I’ll find out tomorrow how I have violated them. But I’m really happy you guys are here, even if none of us are really quite sure why we are here. . .”

Across the mall, more than 200,000 faces looked up to him. Twenty-some years earlier, Jon Stewart had been just another Jersey smart-ass. A little-known comedian at the height of the stand-up boom, he was working nightclubs in Greenwich Village. Like the majority of America’s funnymen since the heyday of vaudeville, Stewart was short, Jewish, and charmingly insecure. In the Village, he had a basic stand-up routine similar to those of the witty crowd with whom he shared stages. Some would break out of the pack, becoming famous in their own right, yet none of his fellow comedians and few comics in history would match Stewart’s accolades, awards, and influence.

By the time he opened his “Rally to Restore Sanity,” Jon Stewart was no longer a mere comedian. In the dozen years since he had turned a modestly funny “Daily Show” into the acerbic and intelligent “Daily Show with Jon Stewart,” he had been labeled “a comic genius” (Montreal Gazette) “seriously funny,” (The Washington Post) and “a cultural force” (USA Today). “NBC Nightly News” anchor Brian Williams was even more effusive: “I consider him a branch of government.” From the small desk where he scribbles on papers at the beginning of every program, Stewart has guided “The Daily Show” to two Peabody Awards, sixteen Emmys, and a loyal following of millions who, night after night, thumb their noses at the mainstream media by getting most of their news from Jon Stewart.