LAS VEGAS -- Jon Stewart -- host of Comedy Central's critically acclaimed hit, "The Daily Show" -- just played a stand up show at the Aladdin Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. I've been following him since his early days as a stand-up comic, as well as his ill-fated MTV attempt "The Jon Stewart Show," and was looking forward to seeing his new stand-up routine. Frankly, I wasn't disappointed.

After working his way through the stand-up comedy circuit in the 80s and early 90s, Stewart got what he thought would be his big break on MTV with his own "The Jon Stewart Show." But like so many great, clever shows that MTV put out, it was canceled within a year. After the show's demise, Stewart began to take small movie roles in the likes of "Big Daddy," "Half Baked," and "Elmopalooza," until finally landing what would become his big break, "The Daily Show."

After four successful years of "The Daily Show," Stewart uses his newfound star-power to get back to his original love, stand-up comedy. Even after a long hiatus from stand-up comedy, I feel safe to say that Jon Stewart hasn't missed a beat. Using his dry-witted and self-depreciating style that he perfected on "The Daily Show," he is able to come up with a variety of side-bursting jokes.

He brought up topics such as masturbation ("I masturbate so much that you're all lucky that I'm even here tonight"), to his dog going through an endless cycle of eating his poop and puking it up and re-eating it due to a lack of short-term memory. He also touched on his political humor, a lot of which could have been taken from some of his "Indecision 2000" reports on "The Daily Show."

He's a very smart comedian that really knows his stuff and how to pick out the humor in the world. His post Sept. 11 speech was touted as one of the best, and most heartfelt on late-night TV, and now that things have settled, he knows how to make the right jokes about it, while still keeping at a safe enough distance as not to offend.

Furthermore, Stewart's opening act, John Pinette, was great, although he was somewhat one-dimensional doing only "fat jokes." Still, though, he had a lot of good stuff and was very entertaining.

Jon Stewart's return to stand-up was a great success and I definitely recommend it. Stewart plans on taking two days off per month from now on to do stand-up but until then, keep tuning into "The Daily Show," and keep watching for Jon Stewart to rise up into his deserved spot as one of comedy's best.