Bob CollinsWe’ll have to live without Jon Stewart on the Daily Show for the rest of the summer and the reason why is not at all comedic.
Stewart is making a movie that is prompted — a little bit, anyway — by this comedy sketch from comedian Jason Jones in 2009.
Funny stuff, indeed, but then something unfunny happened, as Stewart recounted on his show last night, the last time he’ll appear on the show until after Labor Day. All the people in the piece were arrested.
So Stewart is making a movie based on the book, Then They Came for Me, by Maziar Bahari, who was the subject of the Daily Show’s interview in Iran.
Last month, Stewart was on a panel in New York with Bahari. If you can spare a few minutes to watch the hour-long discussion, it grippingly explains why the situation is worth walking away from a lucrative gig for a summer to make sure the story gets told.
From the archive: Roxana Saberi’s world
