{"id":491878,"date":"2019-11-05T09:04:07","date_gmt":"2019-11-05T16:04:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/?p=908128"},"modified":"2019-11-05T09:04:07","modified_gmt":"2019-11-05T16:04:07","slug":"bruce-springsteen-jon-stewart-and-more-10-highlights-from-stand-up-for-heroes-2019","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kqzr\/music-news\/bruce-springsteen-jon-stewart-and-more-10-highlights-from-stand-up-for-heroes-2019\/","title":{"rendered":"Bruce Springsteen, Jon Stewart, and More: 10 Highlights from Stand Up for Heroes 2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Twelve years ago almost to the day, ABC news correspondent Bob Woodruff \u2014 who was seriously wounded in Iraq while covering the war in 2006 \u2014 brought Conan O\u2019Brien, Lewis Black, Robin Williams, and Bruce Springsteen<\/a> to New York\u2019s Town Hall to raise funds for wounded veterans. The Stand Up for Heroes<\/a> benefit has been held every year since, moving up to the Beacon Theatre and then the Theater at Madison Square Garden, raising over $55 million in the process and helping countless American heroes rebuild their lives.<\/p>\n

The lineup rotates a bit each year, but Bruce Springsteen has been at every single one besides the 2017 show when it conflicted with his Broadway schedule. He\u2019s always joined by many of the biggest names in comedy for an incredible evening of music, laughter, and moving speeches about the incredible work of the Bob Woodruff Foundation.<\/p>\n

The 2019 Stand Up for Heroes show was held on Monday night at the Theater at Madison Square Garden with Daily Show<\/em> correspondent Ronny Chieng, former Daily Show<\/em> correspondents Hasan Minhaj and John Oliver, and former Daily Show<\/em> host Jon Stewart<\/a> (see a pattern here?), along with Bruce Springsteen, Sheryl Crow<\/a>, and Fr\u00e9d\u00e9ric Yonnet. Here are 10 of the highlights from the evening.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

1. Fr\u00e9d\u00e9ric Yonnet Covers Led Zeppelin
<\/strong>Fr\u00e9d\u00e9ric Yonnet was the least well-known artist off the night, but the jazz harmonica player \u2014 who has worked with Stevie Wonder, Prince, John Legend, John Mayer, and many others \u2014 won over the crowd with an incredible, epic rendition of Led Zeppelin\u2019s \u201cKashmir\u201d backed by his group. Even many of the fans dressed in vintage Springsteen tour T-shirts seemed to be surprised by how much they were enjoying themselves.<\/p>\n

2. Jon Stewart Takes on the College Admissions Scandal
<\/strong>Many of the comedians from the night got their big break on The Daily Show<\/em>, so it only made sense for the comedy portion of the evening to kick off with Jon Stewart. He\u2019s kept a relatively low profile since retiring from the Comedy Central show four years ago, but he\u2019s clearly kept up with the news and packed a lot of topical jokes into his 12-minute set. The college admissions scandal got him particularly fired up. \u201cThe whole thing made me realize that between Hunter Biden sitting on the board at Burisma and Aunt Becky going to prison, I really feel like I don\u2019t do shit for my kids,\u201d he said. \u201cI don\u2019t do shit for these people! There are people out there going like, \u2018Honey, I\u2019m going to go to jail for 40 years so you can major in nutrition.\u2019 And with my kids I\u2019m like, \u2018I am not driving you to the diner! Not going to happen!’\u201d<\/p>\n

3. Ronnie Chieng Slays the Room
<\/strong>Without a doubt, Ronny Chieng got the biggest laughs of the entire night with his observations about America from the perspective of somebody who has lived in the country for just four years. \u201cAll these anti-vaccination people are reading some bullshit on the internet, getting brainwashed and not vaccinating their children,\u201d he said. \u201cYo, the Internet is making people so fucking stupid. Who knew all of human knowledge could make people dumber? In 50 years we\u2019ll look at the internet the way we look at smoking now. It\u2019s going to be like, \u2018Man, I can\u2019t believe that 50 years ago we just let pregnant people use the internet. What were we thinking?’\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Hasan<\/p>\n

Hasan Minhaj. Photograph by Nicole Fara Silver for Rolling Stone<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

4. Hasan Minhaj Tackles Race and Religion
<\/strong>Hasan Minhaj\u2019s set was quite brief, but he used the time to a talk about his young baby and life as an Indian American. \u201c[My daughter] is Indian and Muslim, like me,\u201d he said, \u201cThat\u2019s such an interesting combination, to be something that people love \u2026 and then also be something that people fucking hate. It would be like if one half of you was Oreo cookie and the other half was Muslim. I can\u2019t think of a better analogy! My dad will call me and be like, \u2018Just lean into the Indian part! People respect that. Eleven straight spelling bees.’\u201d<\/p>\n

5. John Oliver Looks Back at Anti\u2013Anne Hathaway Hysteria
<\/strong>John Oliver told the crowd that he\u2019ll know America is back to normal after Trump leaves office when we are once again \u201cfurious with Anne Hathaway.\u201d As bizarre as that sounds, he made a decent point. \u201cThere was a time around 2011 I was angrier with Anne Hathaway than I was with any other human being on Earth,\u201d he said, \u201cdespite the fact \u2014 now this is important \u2014 she\u2019s never actually done anything wrong. Nothing! She deserved no criticism, and yet do you remember how she pissed people off? She hosted the Oscars and she tried really hard. That got under people\u2019s skin. Then she won an Oscar and seemed genuinely touched and humbled by the experience. That was just a red rag to a bull. \u2026 Since Trump won I haven\u2019t found it in myself to be annoyed with Anne Hathaway anymore. Do you know what seems more important? Every other thing happening every fucking second.\u201d<\/p>\n

6. Sheryl Crow Goes Back to the Nineties
<\/strong>Backed only by her longtime guitar player Peter Stroud, Sheryl Crow kicked off her set with her 1996 hit \u201cEveryday Is a Winding Road.\u201d She ended it with a solo piano rendition of \u201cI Shall Believe\u201d from her 1993 debut LP Tuesday Night Music Club<\/em> with a bit of Burt Bacharach\u2019s \u201cWhat the World Needs Now Is Love\u201d tacked onto the end of it. Not many in the crowd seemed to know the song, but it was a fitting finale.<\/p>\n

7. Bruce Springsteen Joins Sheryl Crow
<\/strong>Midway through her set, Crow told the crowd she was going to sing a song entitled \u201cRedemption Day\u201d that she wrote in 1997 after playing for overseas troops. Years later, it was recorded by Johnny Cash and Crow\u2019s new LP, Threads,<\/em> features a virtual duet of them singing it together. \u201cBut tonight I get the special thrill of inviting Bruce Springsteen to play it with me,\u201d she said as cries of \u201cBrooooce\u201d filled the air. \u201cI used to worry early when I\u2019d see Bruce play, \u2018Why are they booing?’\u201d Springsteen had never played the song in public before, but they traded off verses with great ease.<\/p>\n