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HBO said in a statement on Tuesday that the four-year
agreement will see Stewart producing content that will be shown
on its digital platforms HBO NOW and HBO GO. HBO will also get
the first look at other, unspecified, film and TV ventures from
the comedian.
In the first project under the deal "Stewart will view current
events through his unique prism" and work with a graphics
company to produced timely short-form digital content that will
be refreshed multiple times a day, the statement said.
No start date for the venture was announced but HBO officials
said it was expected to get under way early next year.
The announcement was the first indication of a new venture for
Stewart, who quit as host of Comedy Central's satirical "The
Daily Show" in August after 16 years without saying what he
planned to do next.
"Appearing on television 22 minutes a night clearly broke me.
I’m pretty sure I can produce a few minutes of content every now
and again," Stewart quipped in a statement, referring to his
"Daily Show" job.
Stewart's irreverent brand of political and media satire made
him a beloved figure on television and his influence reached far
beyond the small 2-3 million nightly audience of "The Daily
Show."
Since leaving, he has kept a low profile, traveling to Los
Angeles in September to accept an Emmy award and opening a farm
sanctuary with his wife in New Jersey.
Although details of Stewart's venture were unclear on Tuesday he
is not the first comedian to turn to digital content after a
successful career on mainstream television.
Jerry Seinfeld, co-creator of the award-winning 1990s comedy
series "Seinfeld," launched a popular web series in 2012 called
"Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee," made up of short episodes,
that is now in its sixth season and has been streamed about 100
million times.
(Reporting By Jill Serjeant and Lisa Richwine; Editing by
Bernard Orr)
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