‘Daily Show’ halts production after suicide

LOS ANGELES - An employee of the Comedy Central program “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart” has committed suicide, leading the network to suspend production of Monday night’s episode of the program, a spokesman confirmed.

Bill Clarey, 25, took his own life over the weekend, according to the network. A former “Daily Show” intern, Clarey also worked as a receptionist at the program’s offices in New York.

“Bill Clarey, a young staff member of ’The Daily Show with Jon Stewart,’ passed away over the weekend. He was a wonderful and dedicated employee and all of us at Comedy Central and ’The Daily Show’ are devastated by his loss. Our hearts and prayers go out to his family and friends,” the network said in a statement.

Comedy Central has sent grief counselors to the “Daily Show” set to help its employees, sources said, who first learned of the suicide upon coming to work Monday. The network was scheduled to shoot a week’s worth of new episodes before shutting down for the final two weeks of the year. The network will air a “Daily Show” repeat instead of the regularly scheduled episode.

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