Jon Stewart is a Mensch: The Veterans Edition

Jon Stewart Image by Getty Images

By Lior Zaltzman May 26, 2015

Abbi Jacobson, Ilana Glazer, and Jon Stewart attend The Night Of Too Many Stars Live Telethon Image by Getty Images

We all know Jon Stewart has been an outspoken opponent of the Iraq war, I mean, , to see how fresh his disdain still is.

But apparently, that hasn’t stopped him from being the mensch he is and giving back to our men and women in uniform.

No, Jon Stewart isn’t just donating money, he sharing his knowledge and experience to help veterans fulfill their dreams.

Unbeknownst to most of us, Jon Stewart has, since 2013, been developing a non-profit program to help veterans break into show business by teaching them everything from talent booking to editing. It’s a 5-week immersion crash course, that ends with a career fair and has helped many veterans get into the industry.

And just to show you how much faith Stewart has in the program, one of its graduates is now ‘The Daily Show”s own production coordinator. Justine Cabulong, a former Marine lieutenant who served in Mongolia and Afghanistan says her military background helped prepare her for such a high stress position:

“The show is high tempo; it’s pretty chaotic; you have to work together. We might be on the road, not be getting much sleep. But at the same time, it’s not a war zone here. No one is shooting at us. Yes, the printer might have just died, but we can call the printer guy.”

Now, Stewart is urging others to do the same:

“This is ready to franchise. Please steal our idea… It isn’t charity. To be good in this business you have to bring in different voices from different places, and we have this wealth of experience that just wasn’t being tapped,” the ‘Daily Show’ host said.

As if we needed another reason to be sad about Jon leaving ‘The Daily Show’! At least he’ll have more chance to do his charitable work.

And if you’re feeling charitable and melancholy about Jon leaving us, you can join this charity raffle to win tickets to his last show.

Lior Zaltzman was the Forward’s Digital Fellow. Follow her on twitter @liorca.

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