Angry Optimist: The Life and Times of Jon Stewart

by Lisa Rogak Narrated by Cassandra Campbell

Overview

Since his arrival at The Daily Show in 1999, Jon Stewart has become one of the major players in comedy as well as one of the most significant liberal voices in the media and on television today. In Angry Optimist, Lisa Rogak charts his unlikely rise to political stardom, from his early stand-up days to the short-lived but acclaimed Jon Stewart Show. Drawing on interviews with current and former colleagues, she reveals how things work behind the scenes at The Daily Show.



With speculation simmering about Stewart's possible retirement from The Daily Show and a contentious midterm election in 2014, this biography may come to serve as a capstone for a comedian who has wielded incredible power in American politics.

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly - Audio

11/24/2014
Cassandra Campbell brings a relaxed, casual tone to her narration of this unauthorized biography of political comedian Jon Stewart. It’s hard to imagine Jonathan Stuart Leibowitz, born into an ordinary middle-class household in New Jersey, would grow up to become the satirical voice of a generation. Rogak chronicles this trajectory from childhood soccer player, to stand-up comedian, to Daily Show anchor. Along the way listeners learn of Stewart’s love of rock legend Bruce Springsteen, his supposedly mercurial temperament, and bits from his personal life. Most of this content is taken from previously published interviews rather than original reporting. To reader Campbell’s credit, she narrates Rogak’s superficial bio with a smooth, professional delivery that keeps the book moving at an easy pace for listening. She avoids trying to imitate Stewart’s voice, but manages to slip in just the right amount of humor when quoting him. This is an entertaining overview of Stewart’s life read well by Campbell. One only wishes the material had more depth. A St. Martin’s/Thomas Dunne hardcover. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly

08/11/2014
In this pseudo-biography of Jon Stewart (né Jonathan Stuart Leibowitz), Rogak (Hillary Clinton in Her Own Words) packages a canned chronology of a figure's life and career. Starting from the very beginning, she tracks Stewart's childhood a short, Jewish kid in the WASPy neighborhood of Lawrenceville, N.J.; his adolescence as a class clown and talented soccer player; his first attempts at stand-up at the Bitter End and other New York haunts; his early stints on TV; his landing on The Daily Show in 1999; all 15 years of his tenure there up to the present; and all the various projects he has taken on in the meantime (including three books, several movies, award shows, and much more). While the thought-provoking questions surrounding Stewart's tenuous, and often contradictory, relationship to his work as both a fake-news-show host and an influential political pundit hang in the air, Rogak does little to shed new light on the topic. Instead, she borrows from other journalists to create an uninspired collection of repurposed quotes, which are interspersed with her own repetitive prose. (Sept.)

From the Publisher

Including both humorous and serious insights from colleagues, Rogak presents a detailed picture of the Comedy Central show, revealing exhausting writing schedules, dogs in the office, interns running around at top speed and people who aren't particularly enamored with the host. … An inside look at the man who changed the face of comedy talk shows.” —Shelf Awareness

“Lots of laughs as well as some surprising pieces of information.” —Examiner.com

“Sheds an expansive light on the vertically challenged, humorous young boy from not-so-humble New Jersey beginnings, and the strides and stumbles he weathered on his journey to becoming a multi-faceted man of media.” —Cleveland Plain Dealer

From the Publisher - AUDIO COMMENTARY

"Campbell conveys Stewart's wit, charm, and sensitivity." —AudioFile

SEPTEMBER 2014 - AudioFile

If you've ever wondered about what working at “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart” is like, wonder no more. With consummate skill, narrator Cassandra Campbell takes listeners from northern New Jersey to Manhattan, where Stewart went from stand-up comic to a new generation's Walter Cronkite. And Stewart would be the first one to say people relying on him for news is a little goofy, but some people do. Campbell conveys Stewart's wit, charm, and sensitivity. The best section describes how Stewart's love for dogs has translated into “The Daily Show’s” office being a home for hounds during the workday. As one staffer puts it, “I can't imagine working in an office without dogs around.” M.S. © AudioFile 2014, Portland, Maine

Kirkus Reviews

2014-07-16
A prolific biographer (Stephen King and Colbert are among her subjects) returns with a good-news/bad-news account of the career of the host of the Daily Show. Rogak's endnotes (One Big Happy Family: Heartwarming Stories of Animals Caring for One Another, 2013, etc.) indicate that virtually all of her many quotations come from previously published sources (she does mention a few phone interviews, though not with Stewart himself), so there's kind of a highly competent term-paper feel throughout her breezy narrative. She begins by calling Stewart (born Jonathan Stuart Leibowitz in 1962) "a bundle of walking contradictions"—the principal one being the contrast between his very popular public self and his intensely private life. Those who know Stewart only in his current capacity will be surprised to learn about his chops as a high school trumpet player and his talent in soccer (he played for the College of William and Mary). Readers won't be surprised to learn that he was a joker throughout his life; he was named the senior with the best sense of humor in his high school. Rogak follows his early struggles to become a professional comedian (his first appearance was less than auspicious) and his steady rise through the ranks of his competition (which included Ray Romano, Chris Rock and Louis C.K.), his early experiences on TV, his near misses for prestigious jobs, his arrival in 1999 at the Daily Show and its ensuing steady success. In the early chapters, the author is highly flattering; later, she quotes some tough things about Stewart from former employees who talk about the harsh work environment, Stewart's temper and his failures to include many women on the staff. She also rehashes his media battles with Crossfire and Mad Money and mentions those who have left his show to succeed elsewhere (Steve Carell, Stephen Colbert). Rogak unearths just a bit about his personal life—a quiet, happy marriage and fatherhood. In the forest of quotations, Stewart still often eludes his pursuer.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940170818662
Publisher:	Tantor Audio
Publication date:	09/09/2014
Edition description:	Unabridged

Videos