I’ll Take Jon Stewart’s Red Pill Over The Blue One Any Day of the Week
Glenn Leibowitz
Senior Marketing Strategist @ McKinsey | 4x LinkedIn Top Voice | 130K Followers | AI Savvy Viral Content Creator | Inc. magazine called me "a writer you should start reading today"
Jon Stewart’s announcement that he’ll be stepping down from The Daily Show later this year has kicked up a digital dust storm this week.
Millenials from East Coast to West are tweeting teary tributes. Gen X’ers and Gen Y’ers are bemoaning the loss (if only temporarily, which is more likely the case), of someone who has been a voice of their generations as well.
I like Jon. I laugh along with his twisted, ironic take on this crazy world of ours. I applaud his ability to cut through the crap that fills the airwaves and clogs the internet.
He’s the red pill, to traditional media’s blue, and I’ll take red over blue any day of the week.
One thing not mentioned in the flurry of coverage is the story of his name. Like so many entertainment and media celebrities, Jonathan Stuart Leibowitz at one point in his career decided to drop the surname. As some have noted, he could have made this decision for personal reasons unrelated to his career.
Yes, there was a time when changing names with strong ethnic connotations opened doors in the entertainment world. Jon was no pioneer in this respect, and I don’t need to list all the famous individuals who lopped off or changed their names entirely before they hit it big.
Lots of immigrants to America dropped their Old World names or changed them at the port of entry, which was, in the case of my great-grandparents (like millions of others), ?Ellis Island in New York City.
My grandparents?—?second generation Americans?—?changed their name many decades after their parents arrived in America, on the advice of a manager who told them it would help them to sell more real estate.
As he makes the transition from his perch on The Daily Show to the next chapter of his career, would Jon consider reclaiming his original name?
I think it would send a powerful message to all of us?—?Millenial, Gen X’er, Gen Y’er, Baby Boomer, and every demographic before and after —that we live in a different world now. A world where we can take pride in our family’s heritage, and not feel compelled to lop off the names of our parents and their parents.
The likelihood that he will change his name again is not very high—and that's okay. I'll still be a fan of his unique style of delivering the news.
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I blog at www.glennleibowitz.com. I’m on Twitter @glennleibowitz. Connect with me here on LinkedIn as well.
Image: fanshare.com
Head of marketing & communications - McKinsey Strategy & Corporate Finance, M&A, Transformation, Risk & Resilience, Private Equity/Principal Investors, and Implementation
10 å¹´Interesting topic Glenn - thanks for sharing. The only entertainer I could think of who did change his name "back" was John (Cougar) Mellencamp. His original change to John Cougar had been forced on him by a record company executive, and it was only after he'd attained commercial success that he was able to change it back...
FreedomCare at Personal Assistant/Home Attendant
10 å¹´I had a good read! Inspired me to do some writing as well. Nice post!
Talent, Recruitment, Etc.
10 å¹´If the red pill represents painful reality, and the blue pill the blissful ignorance of illusion, wouldn't the fact that he changed his name for professional reasons (i.e., more easily and broadly accepted) make him more blue pill than red--as in, he avoided the reality that his name would cause for a more "illusionary" path? I think what the author meant was "I just plain love Jon Stewart."