Jon Stewart to Perform Stand-Up Special on HBO
Plus, I can finally use up the last of the Saddam Hussein jokes left over from my first special.”
Mr. Stewart, the former host of “The Daily Show” on Comedy Central, will also host an HBO special
this fall, “Night of Too Many Stars.” He has over two years left on his production deal with HBO.
The announcement came two months after HBO and Mr. Stewart abandoned a highly anticipated animation project
that Mr. Stewart had worked on for the network for 18 months.
In the past year, the streaming service has signed up a large number of top comedians for specials — including Chris Rock, Dave Chappelle
and Amy Schumer — essentially taking over a genre that HBO once dominated.
The project was plagued by delays — the animation specials were initially supposed to be unveiled during last year’s presidential election —
and HBO ultimately blamed its cancellation on technical issues.
HBO announced on Wednesday that Jon Stewart would do a stand-up comedy special, his first since 1996, for the network.
Casey Bloys, HBO’s president of programming, said at a Television Critics Association event on Wednesday
that the economics of the specials did not make sense for the network.
