Why Jon Stewart Banned Hugh Grant From The Daily Show

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In Paul King's "Paddington 2," High Grant played an egocentric actor named Phoenix Buchanan, a greedy villain given to flights of narcissism. Given what Jon Stewart has said about Grant, it might not have been a stretch for him to play such a character. Grant had a bad reputation and has taken to task by the press several times in the past for losing his temper on set. Most recently, Grant was reported to have yelled very harshly at a woman on the set of "Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves." He assumed that the woman was a visiting executive and he was infuriated by her demands. As it turns out, the woman was an on-set chaperone for one of the film's child actors, and certainly didn't deserve a dressing down.

Grant was conciliatory afterward, however. He admitted immediately to "groveling," asking for forgiveness.

Back in 2012, however, Grant already recognized this about himself. In a 2015 interview with Vanity Fair, he admitted to throwing a tantrum backstage on "The Daily Show," right in front of the host Jon Stewart. "I did have a tantrum backstage," he confessed. "About once a year, I have a really mega-tantrum, and sadly he witnessed one." In between tantrums, Grant seems to be decent, but he also regularly appears to be in a position where he becomes inexcusably angry and makes unreasonable demands of his co-workers.

Of course, this was after Stewart had already called the actor out while being interviewed by Stephen Colbert live on stage at the Wellmont Theater in New Jersey (via The Guardian). According to the "Daily Show" host, Grant was the worst guest he had ever had on his series, and that included some of the political monsters and dictators that he has deliberately hosted.

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Stewart noted that Grant was his least favorite guest on the show, "and we've had dictators on the show." This was in reference to an on-camera kerfuffle from back in 2009, when Grant appeared on "The Daily Show" to promote his then-upcoming film "Did You Hear About the Morgans?" (a comedy he made with Sarah Jessica Parker, Mary Steenburgen, and "Yellowstone" bad-mouther Sam Elliott). In the movie, Grant plays a philandering husband who is on the cusp of separating from his wife (Parker) when both of them witness a mob murder. This forces them to go into witness protection in rural Wyoming, where they have to make believe they're still a loving couple.

As with most talk shows, Stewart displayed a clip from the film, clearly provided by a publicist. When Grant and Stewart watched the footage, Grant admonished Stewart (not the publicist) for selecting such a terrible scene. Stewart shot back, "Well, then make a better f***ing movie." Grant was also, according to Stewart, complaining incessantly while on set, talking about how he had better things to be doing. "He's giving everyone s*** the whole time, and he's a big pain in the ass," Stewart explained. Then host swore that he would never have Grant back.

Grant, as mentioned, has openly apologized for his behavior. Stewart has not invited Grant back.

Stephen Colbert, however, has had Grant on "The Last Show" several times, including an appearance last year where he and the host shared an amusing anecdote about meeting at a French restaurant while they were both intoxicated. Colbert presented Grant — in a drunken fashion — a tureen of soup (?). Grant merely mentioned that Colbert wasn't supposed to be there. Grant, it seems, has learned to be a little more professional on talk shows since 2009.