Pop Quiz with Jon Stewart
People Magazine
March 4, 2002 Vol. 57 No. 8

Jon Stewart returns as Grammy Awards host Feb. 27.

"Anytime you're asked to do something twice, whether the Grammys or a date, it's a positive," says Stewart, who lives in Manhattan with his wife, Tracey, and hosts Comedy Central's The Daily Show.

What will be different?

"They're letting me play trumpet this year,which I'm excited about."

To keep it real, shouldn't rappers boycott the Grammys, an establishment show?

You know what? At 39 years old, I don't even think I'm qualified
to comment on the phrase "Keep it real."

Your favorite band?

Buffalo Tom.

They're still together?

I hope so. I feel badly because I'm a little out of the loop. You know, I don't want to throw anything out there like Sha Na Na. I don't want to hit you with Tony! Toni! Tone! or the Thompson Twins. That's digging through the archive, baby!

Any old favorites that embarrass you today?

Kiss's Alive! is one of the first albums I ever got, but I feel no shame.

You're from New Jersey. So are Sinatra and Springsteen. Why not
sing?

I did sing for a time. Perhaps you heard my performance of the Haftarah, Temple Beth-El, 1975, I believe. There's a lot of bootlegs of that.

What's the deal with "Stairway to Heaven"?

Most FM rock stations are programmed by cyborgs that were created by NASA in the 1970s, when "Stairway to Heaven" was big.

Pulling for any one artist?

I'm rooting for U2--not to win a Grammy, but to end Third World debt.

Are Lenny Gomulka & Chicago Push a sure thing for best polka album, or will Eddie Blazonczyk's Versatones kick their backsides?

Gomulka wins every year. But you know what you hear very little of in the polka category? "Boom Boom" Washington.

Trivia challenge: Who wrote the book of love?

Duke, Duke, Duke, Duke of Earl?