Jon Stewart, host of "The Daily Show" on Comedy Central, will appear at the F.M. Kirby Center in Wilkes-Barre for a rare stand-up comedy appearance on Friday, Jan. 25, at 8 p.m.

Tickets, priced at $49.50, $39.50 and $29.50, may be purchased at the Kirby box office or by phone at *. Tickets also are available at all Ticketmaster locations (Boscov's and Gallery of Sound), Ticketmaster charge-by-phone at 693-4100 or online at www.ticketmaster.com.

A New Jersey native, Stewart is considered one of America's top social and comedic voices. From his anchor chair of Comedy Central's "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart," he "has breathed new life into a show that hadn't even seemed to need it," said The New York Times. Since taking over as the anchorman of "The Daily Show" in January 1999, Stewart's presence has seen higher ratings and awareness for himself and Comedy Central.

It recently was announced that Stewart will make an encore appearance as host of this year's Grammy Awards, the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences.

"Jon was a joy to work with last year and demonstrated a real passion for the music and genuine understanding of his job as host," Michael Greene, the academy's president, said in announcing that Stewart had been asked to return.

The 44th annual Grammy Awards will take place in Los Angeles on Feb. 27.

With an election year, Stewart and "The Daily Show" were poised to lead the way to the White House as the torchbearers of Comedy Central's "Indecision 2000" election coverage.

"Indecision 2000" covered the elections, debates and candidates from the Iowa Caucus and New Hampshire primary straight through to the National Conventions and culminated on election night with a one-hour special.

Prior to taking over "The Daily Show," Stewart's most recent television work was on HBO's critically acclaimed series-within-a-series, "The Larry Sanders Show," playing a character he should know very well: himself. The final season saw, among other things, Stewart seemingly being groomed to take over the fictitious late-night throne from the perpetually paranoid Larry Sanders (Garry Shandling). Stewart also served as a creative consultant on the series.

On the feature film front, Stewart starred with Adam Sandler in one of 1999's biggest hits "Big Daddy." He also starred in the romantic drama, "Playing by Heart," opposite Gillian Anderson, which marked a departure for Stewart in that he was allowed to show more of a dramatic side of himself than people are accustomed to seeing.

Stewart also starred in "The Faculty," a horror-comedy directed by Robert Rodriguez.

His next film, "Death to Smoochy," starring Robin Williams, will hit theaters in March.

While it may be the conventional route for stand-up comedians to sign a book deal and expound on their early days inside dingy comedy clubs, Stewart took the path less traveled with his debut book, "Naked Pictures of Famous People" (Rob Weisbach Books). A collection of fictitious and humorous what-if essays, "Naked Pictures" has appeared on many best-sellers lists including the New York Times Best-Seller List.

Stewart returned to "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" following the September 11th attack on our nation and shared his insight regarding the recent tragedies with his viewers. For all those who witnessed this fine moment, it was touching and eloquently delivered.