Comedy Central talk-show host Jon Stewart’s appearance at GW, originally slated for Thursday night, was moved to Sunday after scheduling conflicts with Stewart’s management team nearly halted the show.
Organizers for GW assured students Wednesday that all tickets purchased for the original date would be honored and that no exchange was necessary. The Sunday night show will begin at 9 p.m.
Peter Konwerski, associate director of the Student Activities Center, said he recently learned the comedian, who hosts The Daily Show on Comedy Central, needed to tape additional episodes this week. His managers told Konwerski that Stewart would be unable to make the Thursday show at the Smith Center, despite signing a contract with the University weeks ago, he said.
(Stewart’s managers’) top priority is producing their show for Comedy Central and not these smaller engagements, Konwerski said. If we couldn’t have rescheduled, they would have just pulled out of the contract.
Konwerski estimated that roughly one-quarter of the available seats for the Smith Center show were sold by last weekend. The venue holds more than 3,000 people. Eight-dollar, general admission tickets will remain on sale through Ticketmaster. A group rate of $5 for groups of 20 or more is also available.
Konwerski said he is not disappointed that the date of the show was changed. The event will now round out GW’s Homecoming Weekend lineup, which includes two home basketball games, the Union Station premiere of Scream 3 and a formal gala at the Washington Hilton.
It’s much more advantageous to have the show Sunday, he said. Now we have even more time to promote it to students.
SAC gave away 300 free tickets to the show to GW students at the home women’s basketball game Wednesday night against Virginia Tech.
Lilly Needleman, who worked on the program as vice president for Student Activities for the Student Association, said she was pleased that the Stewart team reached a compromise with the University.
It’s better than having to cancel the show, she said. Now there are more days to plan, and hopefully, more days for kids to get excited for the show.
