Jon Stewart to take 'Daily Show' hiatus to direct film

Carol Memmott, USA TODAY | USATODAY





It's no joke. Jon Stewart, who's anchored Comedy Central's The Daily Show since 1999, will take a 12-week hiatus to make his feature directing debut.

Stewart's project is Rosewater, an adaptation of Maziar Bahari's memoir Then They Came for Me: A Family's Story of Love, Captivity and Survival published in 2011. It tells the story of Bahari's travels to Iran in June 2009 to cover the country's presidential elections for the BBC.

What was planned as a one-week trip turned into a nightmare when Bahari was held in an Iranian prison for 118 days and was subjected to brutal interrogations by a man he knew only by his scent — rosewater.

Bahari was accused of being a spy, and one of the pieces of "evidence" used against him was an appearance he made on The Daily Show.

Stewart, who wrote the Rosewater script, will leave the show for about 12 weeks this summer, and Daily Show regular John Oliver will guest-host eight weeks of new shows.