Jon Stewart, the comic, actor, writer, director, political commentator, TV personality, recent Instagram adopter, and longtime host of satirical news program The Daily Show, is adding another line item to his impressive resume: drummer in an “indie old man emo band” called Church and State.
As Stewart explained Friday in a post on his Instagram—which he launched two months ago and has so far used to post a mix of Daily Show clips, photos of his dog and his Taco Bell order (attached to a Marcus Aurelius quote), and extreme close-up selfies—his musical endeavors date back to the pandemic.
“A few years back,” Stewart wrote, “my friend Andy Bova taught me how to play drums. I had left the Daily Show and wanted to learn something new and guitar was way too hard. Post pandemic, Andy suggested that I might benefit from playing with actual people instead of sitting alone playing [Rage Against the Machine’s] Bulls On Parade over and over until the neighbors complained. So a couple of years ago we started gathering in Andy’s basement…Andy on guitar, his Dad Jim on bass, Rick Barry on melancholy singer songwriter and me…on smashie smashie.
“We called ourselves Church and State,” Stewart continued, “because Jim is a Pastor and Andy, in addition to many musical talents plays a sterling church band drums…and Rick and I…are State.”
He added, “I’ve always been a huge music fan…from the old days bartending at Trenton’s punk Mecca City Gardens to Genny Cream soaked nights at The Stone Pony. Always a fan…never a part. So it’s been such an incredible gift to sit around Andy’s basement like a group of proper 14 year olds and write songs…or at least yell at Rick to write songs! And not to brag…but we have almost nine of them.”
Jon Stewart and his Church and State cohorts showed off their almost-nine songs during a live performance at storied Asbury Park, NJ rock club The Stone Pony late last year. During the show, the band welcomed Emily Bornemann and Justin Bornemann of NJ indie surf-pop group Dentist for a sit-in on a tune called “Faulty Freeze, Fight, Flight”. Check out a pair of pro-shot videos from the Church and State Stone Pony show below.
Church And State w/ Dentist – “Faulty Freeze, Fight, Flight” [Pro-Shot] – The Stone Pony – Asbury Park, NJ – 11/28/25
Church And State – “Profit and Loss” [Pro-Shot] – The Stone Pony – Asbury Park, NJ – 11/28/25
“To be clear,” Stewart emphasized in his post, “I am not even the best drummer in my own band…might be third…but I [f—ing] LOOOOOOOVVVEE it!!! The feeling you get…when disparate limbs lock in and move in a way they never have before…you can feel new neural pathways opening up…lighting up…It feels like the opposite of death. So I wanted to share a couple of tunes. Freeze and Profit and Loss. And thank me band mates who patiently await me getting a metronome…Who’s up for some Indie Old Man Emo!!! Not a genre yet…but it’s coming!!!!”
Read the full post from Jon Stewart about his budding love for drumming and his new band, Church and State, below. Scroll down for some additional, crowd-shot videos from the Stone Pony show.
Until Church and State is ready for the big time, you can catch Jon Stewart doing his day job as one of the various hosts of The Daily Show every Monday on Comedy Central and Paramount+.
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Church And State ft. Jon Stewart – “Metronome” – The Stone Pony – Asbury Park, NJ – 11/28/25
Church And State ft. Jon Stewart – The Stone Pony – Asbury Park, NJ – 11/28/25
Church And State ft. Jon Stewart – The Stone Pony – Asbury Park, NJ – 11/28/25