Jon Stewart’s least favorite ‘Daily Show’ guest ever? Hugh Grant

Jon Stewart found out the hard way what fans of “Bridget Jones’s Diary” have known for years: Hugh Grant can play a pretty convincing bad guy.

In the 13 years he’s hosted “The Daily Show,” Stewart has conducted plenty of tense interviews with powerful, high-profile people, but it turns out the worst guest he ever dealt with wasn’t a warmongering politician or an egomaniacal filmmaker. Nope, it was the floppy-haired rom-com star and phone-hacking victim, who paid a visit to “The Daily Show” back in 2009 to promote the instantly forgettable witness-protection comedy, “Did You Hear About the Morgans?”

The news came to light during a lengthy conversation with his friend and colleague Stephen Colbert, staged as a fundraiser for the Montclair Film Festival in New Jersey. During the course of their talk (recapped extensively here) Stewart said that Grant was the worst guest they’d ever had, even though “we’ve had dictators on the show,” and that he vowed he would “never” invite him back.

So just what made Grant so singularly unlikable? Did he hurry off from a romantic weekend with Stewart citing a work emergency, only to cheat on him with an American stick insect? Did he invite Stewart over for a romantic evening and then alert the paparazzi to his whereabouts?

Not exactly. Stewart recalled the infamous visit this way: “He’s giving everyone ... the whole time, and he’s a big pain in the ass.” Allegedly Grant also complained angrily about the clip from “Did You Hear About the Morgans?” that was played during his interview, to which Stewart replied with some pointed advice: Make better movies.

The interview in question is posted above and while it’s a trifle awkward -- Grant is dismissive of Stewart’s attempt to make small talk about the World Cup -- there’s certainly no indication that Grant was a guest of historically awful proportions.

It just goes to show you: Never underestimate the willingness of two famous guys to make nice in front of the cameras.

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