Jon Stewart's Net Worth In 2024 and How Much He's Earned on 'The Daily Show'
Jon Stewart is back!
The beloved comedian is returning to The Daily Show on Mondays after passing the baton to Trevor Noah in 2015.
Stewart will be a part-time host and executive producer of The Daily Show through the November 2024 presidential election. He will begin his hosting gig in February.
His return follows his exit from The Problem With Jon Stewart in October 2023, and he likely will have more creative control on his weekly Daily Show appearances moving forward.
"It was thinking about the parts of working on The Daily Show that I found frustrating. We spent so much time trying to fend off the day-to-day that we didn't have that much of a chance to sit back and have a more considered analysis," he told The New York Times in 2021. "The Daily Show process was relatively eccentric. It's ephemeral and I love the forgiving nature of that: You go in on a Tuesday show and miss all your marks, but then there's always Wednesday and there's Thursday. [There are] other parts that can be less satisfying. It's all an equation—satisfaction over time and whether that diminishes or increases."
Stewart, known for his self-deprecation, has downplayed his impact on pop culture (as well as culture as a whole), but he's at least somewhat cognizant of how using his platform canbring positive change to the world, explaining that amplifying important voices is one goal of the show.
"That seems like a worthwhile use of the privilege of television. I've always viewed it as a uniquely, oddly arrogant privilege," he said. "You feel like, 'Well, if you’ve earned some capital in all of this, why not spend it on people better than you, who are doing remarkable things?' You can help frame their good work."
And of course, you can also get paid really well while doing so. Keep reading to find out Jon Stewart's net worth in 2024, how Stewart got famous, why he left The Daily Show and what Stewart is doing now.
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What is Jon Stewart's net worth in 2024?
Jon Stewart's net worth in 2024 is estimated at $120 million.
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How did Jon Stewart get famous?
Stewart rose to fame as a standup comedian. He began performing in New York City in 1987, and by 1989, had a writing gig for Caroline's Comedy Hour. A year later, Stewart and Patty Rosborough co-hosted the show Short Attention Span Theater for Comedy Central, making it his first gig with the network that would eventually launch him into superstardom.
In 1992, Stewart hosted his first show on MTV, You Wrote It, You Watch It, but it ended after a single short season. It wasn't until Stewart appeared on Late Night With David Letterman that he says his career took off. "When I walked onstage, I blanked," Stewart recalled to New York magazine in 1994. "The audience is dark, and there’s just a little red light. At that moment you'd realize, 'It'll be really quiet here if I don't talk.'"
You can watch his set below.
Following his set on David Letterman's show, Stewart went on to host his own eponymous MTV talk show, The Jon Stewart Show. "Other talk shows, their bits are like, 'All right, we’re going to fly [Bob] Costas in a helicopter; then he's going to parachute down and present me with the Soupy Sales figurine,'" he joked of the show's small budget. "We're like, 'Can we afford that picture of Hasselhoff?'" Letterman was the final guest on the show before its cancellation in 1995.
In 1996, Stewart hosted a panel talk show called Where's Elvis This Week? that aired in the U.K. A year later, he hosted George Carlin's HBO special, 40 Years Of Comedy, which featured him interviewing the legend. In 1998, he began hosting The Daily Show following Craig Kilborn's exit.
Stewart has also appeared in several high-profile films, including cult classic Half-Baked with Dave Chappelle, Death to Smoochy with Danny DeVito and Robin Williams, Playing By Heart with Angelina Jolie, Big Daddy with Adam Sandler and teen sci-fi horror The Faculty.
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How much does Jon Stewart make?
Stewart's income varies by project, but his biggest paydays came from The Daily Show. His current salary isn't publicly known.
What does Jon Stewart do now?
Stewart is made a TV comeback in 2021 with The Problem With Jon Stewart on Apple TV, though he left the show in late 2023. He also still produces and writes films, most recently Irresistible, starring Steve Carell and Rose Byrne. He has another project called The Donor in development.
Beginning in February 2024, Stewart will be a part-time host of The Daily Show again through the November 2024 presidential election.
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Is Jon Stewart on Apple TV?
The Problem With Jon Stewart aired on Apple TV. In a 2021 taping (per The New York Times), he told the audience, "You may walk out of here and be like, 'I loved that — it's sort of like The Daily Show but maybe a little deeper.' Or you may walk out and go, 'Those free tickets weren't worth it.'" He also explained of the project, "Trying to figure out how to diagnose what's really, actually going on here. Then it's up to the rest of us to not let it go."
Stewart reportedly parted ways with Apple TV in October 2023 after disagreeing with the company on his show's coverage of artificial intelligence, China and other topics.
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Will Jon Stewart come back to TV?
Stewart made his long-awaited comeback on Apple TV with The Problem With Jon Stewart on Sept. 30, 2021. In January 2024, it was revealed that he'd return to host The Daily Show on Mondays.
How much did Jon Stewart make on The Daily Show?
Stewart made an estimated $25 million to $30 million annually at the height of his tenure on The Daily Show from 2013 to 2015. In 2012, his salary for the show was reported to be $16 million. It's unclear what his salary was in his earlier seasons on the show, but it's safe to assume he got some hefty raises as his tenure went on.
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Why did Jon Stewart retire?
Stewart explained of his leaving The Daily Show in 2015, "It's not like I thought the show wasn't working anymore, or that I didn't know how to do it. It was more, 'Yup, it's working. But I'm not getting the same satisfaction.'" He added, "These things are cyclical. You have moments of dissatisfaction, and then you come out of it and it's OK. But the cycles become longer and maybe more entrenched, and that’s when you realize, 'OK, I'm on the backside of it now.'"
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What is Jon Stewart's salary?
In 2013, TV Guide reported that Stewart was the highest-paid TV host of that year, making between $25 million and $30 million each year for The Daily Show. At that time, his salary was higher than those of his network TV hosting contemporaries, including Jay Leno, David Letterman, and Jimmy Kimmel. His current salary isn't publicly known.
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Is Jon Stewart vegan?
Stewart has been on a plant-based diet for several years and went vegan in 2015 not long after leaving The Daily Show.
His wife Tracey McShane is also a vegan. They are animal rights activists and work with Farm Sanctuary, as well as hosting rescued farm animals on their own sanctuary, the Hockhockson Farm Foundation.
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How old is Jon Stewart?
Stewart was born on Nov. 28, 1962. At the time of this writing, he is 61 years old.
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Does Jon Stewart have a college degree?
Stewart graduated from the College of William and Mary in 1984 with a degree in psychology. He initially majored in chemistry before switching. He also played for the school's soccer team. He joked in an interview with Vulture, "My college career was waking up late, memorizing someone else's notes, doing bong hits and going to soccer practice."
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Why did Jon Stewart change his name?
Born Jonathan Stuart Leibowitz to mom Marian Leibowitz (née Laskin) and dad Donald Leibowitz, Stewart's parents divorced when he was 11 years old. He explained to The Guardian that began using his middle name as his surname as a means of distancing himself from his estranged father, despite some believing it was to mask his Jewish background.