Jon Stewart, nursing an injured left arm, at the Count Basie Theatre in 2012 for an appearance with news anchor Brian Williams. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Six years after a packed-house appearance, satirist and Red Bank homeowner Jon Stewart plans a return to stage of the Count Basie Center for the Arts this month, the theater announced Wednesday.
The Colts Neck resident “will participate in an onstage interview” by a yet-to-be identified moderator on Sunday, June 17, the announcement said.
The event will include an audience question-and-answer session, the announcement said.
Tickets for the evening, a fundraiser for the Basie’s $26 million expansion now in construction, are priced from $75 to $250 each. They go on sale Thursday, June 7, at noon, with a limit of four per billing address.
In December, 2012, then working as the host of Comedy Central’s The Daily Show, Stewart and then-NBC News anchor Brian Williams sold out the 1,500-seat venue for a conversation, moderated by then-New York Times media writer Bill Carter. That event was a fundraiser for victims of Hurricane Sandy, which pummeled the region two months earlier. It ended with Williams announcing that he and Stewart would match the proceeds of ticket sales.
Stewart owns two homes in Red Bank and Williams grew up in Middletown.
Since then, Stewart has left his Comedy Central job, written and directed a feature film called “Rosewater,” and been active with his wife, Tracey, in providing sanctuary for farm animals.
The Monmouth Street venue last month changed its name from the Count Basie Theatre to the Count Basie Center for the Arts.
