…Other comedy pros have a different perspective. Kevin Smith, who directed and co-starred with Stewart in 2001’s Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back (one of Stewart’s several small movie roles), credits his friend’s success to “his Semitic good looks, for one. Also, he’s one of the five smartest and sharpest people I’ve ever met. That kind of combo will take you all the way.”

When Stewart, who for a long time was a fixture on the stand-up scene as well as on MTV and Comedy Central, took over The Daily Show in 1999, “most folks were writing it off as the show Craig Kilborn left behind. But Jon and his outstanding team of writers quickly turned the program into the best 22 minutes of television,” Smith says. As Comedy Central’s distribution has increased, ratings for the show have gone up 72% compared with 1998.