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Best Political Satire

Jon Stewart

This year the jury has chosen Jon Stewart and the Daily Show for an award for Best Political Satire. This show has consistently combined satirical humour with trenchant coverage of such topical developments as the 2008 Presidential election campaigns and the emerging financial crisis. Segments of the Show from "Indecision 2000" to Mess O’Potamia have framed important policy issues in a significant way. American and international politicians (including Barack Obama while running for President) have been queuing up to appear on the show. No wonder the New York Times asked ‘Is Jon Stewart the Most Trusted Man in America?’

Born Jonathan Stuart Leibowitz in 1961, Jon Stewart was brought up New Jersey. He studied psychology at William and Mary College in Williamsburg, Virginia, where he also played on the soccer eam. After graduating in 1984 he had a string of jobs, among them barman and puppeteer. He was fired from one job, stocking shelves at Woolworths, by his brother Larry, the store manager, for larking around. A talent for comedy emerged while Stewart was at high school, where he was once voted the student with the best sense of humour, and he chose to make this his career in 1986. His first comedy