Being Interviewed by Robert Bob Wiltfong, the Former Correspondent of The Daily Show With Jon Stewart

I am yet to meet my most favorite show host and comedian Jon Stewart, but I've not only met Robert "Bob" Wiltfong, incoming President of the Rotary Club of Ponte Vedra, Florida, famous, award-winning American actor & comedian, and former correspondent at the Daily Show With Jon Stewart, and was interviewed by him :) It was the first Rotary International convention for Bob and he was not only actively engaging in the breakout sessions and other activities and networking, generating new ideas and contacts, but also making a daily vlog to share with his club.

Things like this can only happen in Rotary - the first social network in the world with 117 years of history and 1.4 million members around the world. Every person is a truly unique and interesting personality from very different walks of life. What unites us all, is not only the motto #PeopleOfAction, but also the personality traits of a business, profession, or community leader and avid advocate for causes close to our hearts.

While Bob was interviewing and filming me, my daughter Gabija Trimbel, incoming President of Vilnis International Rotaract Club, filmed us. So we have a picture in the picture and a full unabridged comment that I've made to Bob to share with you :)

Bob is best known for his work as a correspondent on The Daily Show on Comedy Central, as well as appearances on Chappelle's Show and Late Night with Conan O'Brien. He was a true-life newscaster for 10 years, making him the first correspondent in Daily Show history to have worked as a traditional news reporter. He decided to exit the world of non-satirical journalism after the September 11, 2001 attacks, during which he lost a close friend, cameraman Glen Pettit. He also played in famous movies like Definitely, Maybe (2008), Modern Family (2009), and Pepper Dennis (2006) - maybe that's why I had that strange sixth sense that I've seen him somewhere before :). Bob also ran a leg of the Olympic torch relay for the Atlanta games in 1996.

Bob has won 4 regional, individual Emmys for television performances and has been nominated for 14 others. He was part of The Daily Show's 2004 winning submission for the prestigious Peabody Award and was featured on the election year wrap-up DVD put out by Comedy Central. He was a member of Neutrino, an improv comedy team in New York City.

Read more about Bob here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Wiltfong and there https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1331513/ and elsewhere.

As for Jon Stewart, there is interesting video coverage of him by Bloomberg Game Changers https://youtu.be/RTutwy3wNGc, "profiling Jonathan Stuart Leibowitz, now Jon Stewart, from his New Jersey boyhood through the standard struggle of the stand-up comedian - part-time jobs and late-night gigs at New York's comedy clubs and <...> shining a spotlight on his early television shows and movies, including rare video from his early career, to show his transformation into the dominant American commentator of our time. (Source: Bloomberg).

I usually start my mornings with a "daily dose of laughter", by watching one of the late-night comedy shows. One of the reasons, why I like Jon Stewart, apart from his hilarious, witty, and at the same time very righteous shows, is told by his fellows in that video profile by Bloomberg: "Wait, there is an actual point of view here, and that's something that you don't see every day. He is not afraid, he is not self-conscious and he does not have contempt for the audience", "he's become one of the people that keeps you honest" "now he's the one person in America, that people trust". Kind of inspiration, isn't it?

When Jon left The Daily Show, it took me a while to get used to Trevor Noah, albeit his skit on the "true Balinese experience" with snakes (https://youtu.be/fN9hm7k9fns) is one of my all-time favorites, and now I often listen to his Netflix shows when flying, especially during turbulence - so funny that you forget to be scared if any.

It was super interesting to have a brief chat with Bob and learn some stories from behind the scenes from his times at The Daily Show, for example, that show writers prepare script for the host based on the current news, with Jon or other host sometimes throwing everything away and having their own authentic talk, while correspondents, such as Bob, dwell more in-depth into feature stories.

#Rotary22 #ConnectingPeople