Undoubtedly, Jon Stewart’s fans will be the first to admit that he’s done more than his fair share of good works during his 16 years with the Daily Show. Almost singlehandedly raising the bar of political discourse in this country should be enough for a man to rest on his laurels and relax as he bids farewell to his adoring fans, but apparently that’s not Stewart’s style.
For his final episode, he joined forces with charity fundraiser, Omaze. According to an Omaze press release, together they pulled in a whopping $2,235,520 for New York Collaborates for Autism.
Of Stewart’s efforts to help the cause, co-founder of Omaze, Matt Polhson, said, “Over the last 16 years, no one has done more than Jon to engage people around the issues that truly impact our lives, and it’s fitting that he leveraged his final show to raise over $2M for this incredible cause.”
Watch Jon’s exit interview below.
“We made the switch to English muffins. I don’t know if that’s when we won our first Emmy…” – Jon’s exit interview http://t.co/NzuRXWVdC6
— The Daily Show (@TheDailyShow) August 12, 2015
To pull this off, Stewart enlisted viewers to donate $10 and up for the cause. Doing so automatically entered donors in a raffle to win tickets to the taping of the Daily Show’s final episode. The winner also would get to spend some time on set with Stewart himself. It took 47,048 donors from 78 countries to reach such a staggering final sum. The biggest donation? An incredible $35,000. The average? $45.50. The winner donated $100, and for one night he was the envy of nearly 50,000 people as he glad-handed with Stewart before watching the final live taping.
Check out our winner Sameer wish Jon Stewart #JonVoyage before the final taping of @TheDailyShow tonight! pic.twitter.com/6zrnZPsSlB
— Omaze (@omaze) August 7, 2015
It is exactly this kind of gesture from Jon Stewart that confirms what we’ve all known for the past 16 years. He’s a class act, the kind of voice we’ve always needed in American politics. Whatever he does next, we can only wish him the best and hope it offers another 16 years of insight and entertainment for the rest of us.