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    Angry Optimist: The Life and Times of Jon Stewart
    Angry Optimist: The Life and Times of Jon Stewart
    Angry Optimist: The Life and Times of Jon Stewart
    Audiobook6 hours

    Angry Optimist: The Life and Times of Jon Stewart

    Written by Lisa Rogak

    Narrated by Cassandra Campbell

    3/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    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.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTantor Media, Inc
    Release dateSep 9, 2014
    ISBN9781494575557
    Angry Optimist: The Life and Times of Jon Stewart
    Author

    Lisa Rogak

    LISA ROGAK is the author of numerous books, including And Nothing But the Truthiness: The Rise (and Further Rise) of Stephen Colbert. She is the editor of the New York Times bestseller Barack Obama in His Own Words and author of the New York Times bestseller Angry Optimist: The Life and Times of Jon Stewart. Rogak lives in New Hampshire. Learn more on her website.

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    Reviews for Angry Optimist

    3/5

    44 ratings8 reviews

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    • 4/5
      Angry Optimist: The Life and Times of Jon Stewartby Lisa Rogak is an audible book I picked up from the library. I have always enjoyed Jon Stewart's comedy and wit especially when it came to politics. He spared no one! This book takes the reader on a journey through Jon's life from the very beginning. It is a personal look at the man, his education, studies, jobs, and his career path that lead him to the Daily Show. Very informative and interesting.
    • 5/5
      Fun read and nice insights into Stewart and how his show was made.
    • 4/5
      This is essentially an unauthorized biography of Jon Stewart, which includes a lot of background on The Daily Show. I learned quite a bit of trivia about both, but the story they tell together is quite an engrossing one. Jon Stewart and The Daily Show have certainly had an outsize impact on popular culture and the engagement of young people with politics, and that's a fascinating subject to delve into more deeply. This book does a good job of balancing the humorous with the serious.
      The only downside is that she clearly had a dearth of direct material from Mr. Stewart himself, so some of the quotations were repeated, and it occasionally felt like she was reaching a bit to fill in the blanks regarding what he thinks of where he is and has been.
      Definitely recommended for fans of both Jon and also of Stephen Colbert, as he gets a fair amount of page time too.
    • 2/5
      I was disappointed, as I was hoping for a more detailed and thorough look at Stewart's life. While this was well researched and competently (if more than a little ploddingly) written, it's all old news. If you don't know Stewart's show, or are a very casual fan who hasn't read at least a couple of articles about him or The Daily Show over the last decade, I can see where it has value.

      But if you have read more than a couple of such interviews, and if you are indeed one of the millions who have made Jon Stewart a daily (or even weekly) viewing habit for years, there is nothing new here. No original research, nothing at all we haven't heard before, elsewhere.

      There are also some strange omissions of fact - the author mentions that Stewart felt his older brother had the "brains" arena well-staked out when they were school-aged, accounting in part for his leaning toward comedy and the role as a class comedian. But she never mentions that Larry Leibowitz is currently the COO of the parent company of the NY Stock Exchange, or any other single fact about the man - or their father and mother, both having interesting lives themselves. Not the most critical of omissions - but it could be a potentially illuminating fact when evaluating whether the younger Stewart merely had a case of normal sibling intimidation, or was perhaps growing up with a person of exceptional intellectual power.

      As I said, it's not a bad book - just a very disappointing one if you were expecting, as I was, a closer and more revealing look at the man.
    • 2/5
      The beginning of this biography of Jon Stewart felt like it was a high school writing assignment. Facts, no heart, fairly boring. No, not fairly boring; really boring. It stayed that way for far too long. It became more interesting once Jon Stewart became host of The Daily Show. At that point, there was more about the person, his personality, his interactions with people, some anecdotes sprinkled in.I knew very little of Mr. Stewart although I usually enjoy The Daily Show. I still feel like I don't know very much. He can be contradictory, he can be stubborn, he has a temper. He has a soft spot in his heart for pit bulls, and he has three rescued dogs, my favorite factoid. He is a devoted husband and father. He is 5'7”. Yes, there is more than that, but it all felt fairly superficial.I listened to an unabridged audio version narrated by Cassandra Campbell, and her reading did not add to the story. It did, for me, detract. Although now I know a little more about Mr. Stewart, this biography was ultimately unsatisfying.
    • 2/5
      Oh, how I love Jon Stewart. He is so smart and so funny and so worthy of really good biography. Unfortunately, this one is pretty cheesy. It's clear that the author had no access to Stewart or to anyone close to him; it's mostly a cut-and-paste of other sources. It served its purpose of distracting me while sitting in a hospital waiting room, and I'll give the author points for including negative opinions of Stewart instead of going for all-out hagiography.
    • 4/5
      The life and times of Jon Stewart are more than the last fifteen years of helming The Daily Show with Jon Stewart as author Lisa Rogak writes. The unlikely rise of the short wise-cracking Jewish kid from Jersey rising to become one of the most influential, and comedic, voices of political commentary is a told expertly and without bias.Given Stewart’s impact the last fifteen years, Rogak could have easily just given a brief synopsis of his life prior to January 1999 instead she spent the a third of the book detailing Stewart’s childhood, collegiate years, and life before and after deciding to go into comedy. Rogak gives the reader as glimpse to Stewart as a young man that will affect how he helmed The Daily Show, including the triumphs and the many failures that he experienced throughout the 1980s and 90s.Once Rogak gets to Stewart’s tenure on The Daily Show, instead of just detailing the next decade and a half, she shows how Stewart made the show more in his style and how he was hands on than previous host Craig Kilborn. Throughout the last two-thirds of the book, Rogak tackles The Daily Show years not strictly chronologically but as a mixture of chronology and themes. This approached allowed Rogak to give the reader a fuller understand of Stewart and The Daily Show as a whole.Rogak was very evenhanded in her approach to the overall view of Stewart, mixing praise and criticism from critics and how the viewing audience has seen Stewart. Triumphs and embarrassments are told in their detail as well has controversies surrounding the show from his interview style, to the lack of female writers, and his liberal bias. And as Stewart seems on the verge of a major shakeup in his professional life, Rogak writes about his possible transition to films as director not actor.Given Jon Stewart’s continued presence within media, Lisa Rogak did an wonderful job in writing about his life and career. Although it is hard for an author not to have some bias for their subject, Rogak is able to give a balanced portrayal of Stewart in her book from accomplishments to stumbles. I thoroughly recommend this book to anyone who wants to understand the host of The Daily Show.Disclaimer: I received this book through Goodreads First Reads.
    • 4/5
      “The only things I am able to do, I am able to do here.”Jon Stewart has been lucky. He was able to move up through the entertainment industry, step by step, seemingly without setbacks, controversy or tragedy. He went from standup to tv to film to books, and now film directing. He got gigs and parts seemingly effortlessly. He didn’t have to sleep in his car or spend time in jail or rehab. About the lowest he fell was having to share a Manhattan apartment with Anthony Weiner. He developed his verbal talent because he is short (ish).His biography is a straightforward narrative, revealing not that much, and focusing on the Daily Show, which made him a household name. His great contribution to entertainment is to look at the news as a sitcom: “I can’t wait to find out what’s happening with my favorite characters. Like, ‘Oh, I’m so sorry they dropped Saddam Hussein from the show. Oh, they’re bringing him back!’” He has also changed the way young Americans look at the news. Far too many consider the Daily Show their primary source for news. Yet it is (proudly) fake. Not original, not journalism, and certainly not thorough. It is made for laughs, and that’s apparently how Americans want their news delivered these days.This has given Stewart popularity and power well beyond those of a mere comedian. Politicians line up to be skewered in interviews. Scientists say it the only vehicle for them to get their data and theories out. On the darker side, Stewart got Rick Sanchez of CNN fired after belittling him so much on air that Sanchez fired back and overreacted – also on air. The irony is that as much as Stewart dislikes CNN, “You’re the one I liked.” It was all part of the greater joke, you see.The high point of the book came with his stunningly unique wedding proposal, which I will not spoil.Lisa Rogak seems to have had some difficulty fleshing out this biography. It’s only 161 pages, but it manages to repeat itself often. She tells us at least five times that Stewart does not participate in the nightlife of New York. He goes straight home and stays there. At first, watching Knicks games alone. These days, to be with his wife, two children and three rescue dogs. Same with title quote above. Stewart says this is all he ever trained for and is grateful someone lets him do it without oversight. But it doesn’t have to be said four times. She also likes to begin new chapters with the last sentence of the previous one.Jon Stewart is an important cultural figure. He deserves a thorough appreciation. Until that time, Angry Optimist is the best source. David Wineberg