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Jon Stewart Fans Camp Out in Droves to Catch His Last Night on 'Daily Show'

By Gwynne Hogan | August 6, 2015 3:50pm
 Dozens lined up beginning at 2:00 a..m. with the hopes of getting to see Jon Stewart's last show. 
Waiting For Jon
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HELL’S KITCHEN — For Alex Sandin, who just turned 18 Thursday, it was his first and last chance to see Jon Stewart host "The Daily Show" live.

Sandin and his mom drove from their New Hampshire home on Wednesday night and woke up at the crack of dawn Thursday to take their places in line in front of "The Daily Show" studios at 6:00 a.m.

By the time they got there there were already dozens of fans lined up.  

“You have to be 18 to see the show,” he said. “I’ve wanted to see the show for a really long time.”

Sandin’s mom got him hooked on the show at a young age and they've watched it together for years, he said.

"My mom’s been watching the show forever,” Sandin said. “I watched the show before I even knew what they were talking about."

But as he grew up he began to appreciate the show’s political commentary and satire and what he called "smart humor," he said.

Dozens of other fans, in a line that snaked around the block, waited on rented chairs, dozed on air mattresses and sheltered under umbrellas protected from the hot sun, all in hopes of seeing Stewart’s last night.

The host will step down after 16 years at the beloved satirical news program, passing the reins to South African comedian Trevor Noah

Stewart fans began the wait as early as 2:00 a.m. Thursday morning outside the Daily Show Studios at 733 11th Ave.

One was Chad Lance, 27, who arrived at 2:30 a.m.

“I haven’t slept and I worked all day,” said Lance, who got into the city from Baltimore on Wednesday night, dropped his stuff with a friend in Brooklyn then headed straight to Midtown.

“I’m the biggest Jon Stewart fan of all time,” he said.

Lance started watching Stewart when he was host of the "Jon Stewart Show" on MTV and interviewed musicians. He fondly remembered a 1995 episode where Marilyn Manson jumped on Stewart's back and rode around.

Seeing that episode changed the trajectory of his life, he said.

“I just knew I didn’t want to be a stiff,” he said.

Lance now produces music for young inner city performers with a program called Youth Opportunity Baltimore, he said.

The first person in line, who would not give his name because he was skipping work, was actually there to see Bruce Springsteen, who was rumored to be performing, he said.

“I still like Jon Stewart,” he said. But the man, who took the train from the Jersey shore, said his true love lies with Springsteen.

“I’ve seen him over 400 times,” he said. 

Springsteen fans were outliers in the crowd, with there to witness Stewart's finale. 

"He's been an important voice for a generation of viewers,” Mike Langley, 33, from Miami, who extended a vacation in New York to catch the show. “I don't think that anyone who's a fan of the show would pass up the opportunity to be here."