Showing posts with label wounded warriors. Show all posts
Showing posts with label wounded warriors. Show all posts

Monday, September 3, 2012

Nothing like a backyard barbecue -- with Jon Stewart




We caught up with "Daily Show" host Jon Stewart Monday at an afternoon barbecue in Myers Park, where he was mingling at a fundraiser for veterans and wounded warriors.

The cause is one of Stewart's favorites. It's also a favorite of party co-host and Charlotte author Paula Broadwell (shown with Stewart and with local veterans). (Check the end of this post for a list of veterans' resources that Broadwell recommends.)

About 200 attended the event, held at the home of Shannon Lalor and Sami Aasar. Broadwell, author of "All In: The Education of General David Petraeus," met Stewart in January during a "Daily Show" appearance to promote her book.

That day, she and Stewart engaged in a push-up competition to raise money for wounded veterans. Broadwell, a West Point graduate and counterterrorism expert, bested Stewart easily. Recalling the contest Monday, Stewart said: "I'm never doing that again in my life."

With Stewart in town to film "The Daily Show" at ImaginOn during the Democratic National Convention, Broadwell decided to throw the last-minute party.

Stewart, wearing khakis, a black T-shirt and at least a day's beard growth, said he was enjoying the sunshine after spending a week taping shows in Tampa during the Republican National Convention. "I haven't been outside for a week," he said "I feel like a mole person."

He spent much of the party posing for photos, chatting with guests and drawing laughs with one-liners. When a little girl clad in a bathing suit and swim flippers approached him, he quipped: "Oh my God! It's a web-footed person!"

Has he gathered any good material on Charlotte for his show yet? He's working on it, he told me. "We're trying to figure out why, no matter what you're eating, they put it on a biscuit."


Here's a list of local resources for veterans that Broadwell highlighted Monday: