RSS

Happy 54th Birthday to Jon Stewart, nee Jonathan Stuart Leibowitz

Capture“It’s a boy”

from Haaretz with insertions and deletions.

Marian and Donald Leibowitz likely screamed in joy on November 28, 1962, when blue-eyed baby Jonathan Stuart Leibowitz arrived in the world at a New York City maternity ward.

Marian, daughter of a Jewish fur-making immigrant from China, was a teacher and educational consultant. Donald, son of a religious Orthodox cab driver, was a physics professor with a lab at Princeton.

In 1993 he launched The Jon Stewart Show, before landing the gig that would become his magnum opus in 1999. The rest is taboo-busting history: Comedy Central’s late-night Daily Show with Jon Stewart – the self-described “most trusted name in fake news” – is now in its 20th season and averages 1.5 million viewers an episode.

 

What kind of Jew are you?

But what type of Jew is the comedian formerly known as Leibowitz ? Stewart’s not observant, and when it comes to his personal religious beliefs, he’s circumspect (though presumably circumcised).

His wife Tracey McShane is a goy, a Catholic “My wife is Catholic. I’m Jewish. It’s very interesting; we’re raising the children to be sad.”  “I celebrated Thanksgiving in an old-fashioned way. I invited everyone in my neighborhood to my house, we had an enormous feast, and then I killed them and took their land.”

 


Comments are closed.