Editing Jon Stewart (section)

=== 1986–1992: Standup and early career ===
With a reputation for being a funny man in school,<ref name=moment/><ref name="mtv" /> Stewart returned to New York City in 1986 to try his hand at the [[comedy club]] circuit, but could not muster the courage to get on stage until the following year.<ref>{{Cite news |last=McLellan |first=Dennis |date=May 27, 1993 |title=He Has Faith in His Jokes |work=[[Los Angeles Times]] |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1993-05-27-ol-40130-story.html |access-date=June 3, 2008 |archive-date=March 8, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140308071451/http://articles.latimes.com/1993-05-27/news/ol-40130_1_jon-stewart |url-status=live}}</ref> He made his stand-up debut at [[The Bitter End]], where one of his comedic idols, [[Woody Allen]], also began.<ref name="cool">{{Cite magazine |last=Speidel |first=Maria |date=April 4, 1994 |title=Prince of Cool Air |url=https://people.com/archive/prince-of-cool-air-vol-41-no-12/ |url-status=dead |magazine=[[People (magazine)|People]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140304171657/http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20107783,00.html |archive-date=March 4, 2014 |access-date=February 12, 2019}}</ref> He began using the stage name Jon Stewart by dropping his last name and changing the spelling of his middle name, Stuart, to Stewart. He often jokes that it was because people had trouble pronouncing Leibowitz, or it "sounded too Hollywood" (a reference to [[Lenny Bruce]]'s joke on the same theme).<ref>{{cite web |last1=Davies |first1=Dave |title=Jon Stewart, Faking it and Making it: NPR |url=https://www.npr.org/2015/07/31/427733076/jon-stewart-faking-it-and-making-it |website=National Public Radio |access-date=April 27, 2024}}</ref> He has implied that the name change was due to a strained relationship with his father, with whom Stewart no longer had any contact.<ref name="oscar">{{Cite news |last=Harris |first=Paul |date=February 26, 2006 |title=The Oscar for best satirist goes to ... |work=The Observer |location=London |url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2006/feb/26/broadcasting.oscars2006 |access-date=October 21, 2008 |archive-date=January 27, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140127040944/http://www.theguardian.com/media/2006/feb/26/broadcasting.oscars2006 |url-status=live}}</ref>

Stewart became a regular at the [[Comedy Cellar]], where he was the last performer every night. For two years, he performed at 2 a.m. while developing his comedy style.<ref>{{Cite episode |title=Jon Stewart |episode-link=Sit Down Comedy with David Steinberg |series=Sit Down Comedy with David Steinberg |series-link=Sit Down Comedy with David Steinberg |network=[[TV Land]] |season=2 |number=4 |airdate=March 14, 2007}}</ref> In 1989, he landed his first television job as a writer for ''[[Caroline's Comedy Hour]]''. In 1990, he began co-hosting [[Comedy Central]]'s ''[[Short Attention Span Theater]]'' with [[Patty Rosborough]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Weiner |first=Jonah |date=June 21, 2015 |title=Comedy Central in the Post-TV Era |work=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://mobile.nytimes.com/slideshow/100000003747353/2015/06/21/magazine/comedy-central-in-the-post-tv-era/s/21mag-comedycentral-ss-slide-KWZZ.html |url-status=dead |access-date=November 6, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171107030309/https://mobile.nytimes.com/slideshow/100000003747353/2015/06/21/magazine/comedy-central-in-the-post-tv-era/s/21mag-comedycentral-ss-slide-KWZZ.html |archive-date=November 7, 2017}}</ref> In 1992, he hosted the short-lived ''[[You Wrote It, You Watch It]]'' on MTV, which invited viewers to send in their stories to be acted out by the comedy troupe, [[The State (1993 TV series)|The State]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Gerston |first=Jill |date=March 13, 1994 |title=TELEVISION; MTV Has a Hit With Words By Jon Stewart |work=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1994/03/13/arts/television-mtv-has-a-hit-with-words-by-jon-stewart.html |access-date=November 6, 2017 |archive-date=July 9, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170709082028/http://www.nytimes.com/1994/03/13/arts/television-mtv-has-a-hit-with-words-by-jon-stewart.html |url-status=live}}</ref>

Stewart said that his career did not take off until his March 6, 1992, appearance on [[NBC]]'s ''[[Late Night with David Letterman]]''.<ref name="ny1994" /><ref>Archived at [https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/wxUBJYzJrYg Ghostarchive]{{cbignore}} and the [https://web.archive.org/web/20200428123320/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxUBJYzJrYg&gl=US&hl=en Wayback Machine]{{cbignore}}: {{Cite web |title=Jon Stewart on Letterman, March 6, 1992 |website = [[YouTube]]| date=April 4, 2017 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxUBJYzJrYg |access-date=January 13, 2020 |language=en}}{{cbignore}}</ref> He was considered to take over the show when Letterman left it, but it was given to relatively unknown [[Conan O'Brien]].<ref>{{cite web |last1=Brownfield |first1=Paul |title=From the Archives: Our take on Jon Stewart in 1998: 'He's practically made a career out of almost hosting other people's talk shows' |url=https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/tv/showtracker/la-et-st-jon-stewart-the-daily-show-december-25-1998-20150804-story.html |website=Los Angeles Times |date=December 25, 1998 |access-date=April 27, 2024 |quote="Stewart was in the running for the "Late Night" spot on NBC that went to Conan O'Brien"}}</ref> He co-hosted ''[[MTV Spring Break]] '93 Blind Date'' from [[Daytona Beach]] with [[Melissa Rivers]].<ref>Archived at [https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/-TVbZwRmrwQ Ghostarchive]{{cbignore}} and the [https://web.archive.org/web/20200122051541/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-TVbZwRmrwQ Wayback Machine]{{cbignore}}: {{Cite web |title=93 MTV Spring Break Special Beauty and the Beach Contest + Totally Pauly ft. RuPaul (w/ commercials) | date=October 31, 2019 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-TVbZwRmrwQ |via=www.youtube.com}}{{cbignore}}</ref>