Jason Jones gets a vasectomy as ‘Daily Show’ cameras roll

Men interested in a permanent form of birth control are turning to an unlikely source for medical advice – “The Daily Show With Jon Stewart” correspondent Jason Jones, who televised his vasectomy on Thursday night’s program.

As Jones describes it, he went to the doctor after suffering for five years from a mysterious malady that caused him to feel lethargic, gain weight and hear voices at night. The stunning diagnosis: “You have children.”

And the condition was contagious, Jones explained: “Tragically, through unprotected intercourse, I had spread children to my wife,” fellow “Daily Show” correspondent Samantha Bee. “Similar to herpes, you are stuck with children for the rest of you life.”

The children the couple already had could not be “cured,” Jones said, but the simple procedure could prevent future “outbreaks.” So he went to Dr. David M. Weiner (yes, that’s his real name) and had his vas deferens snipped with the cameras rolling. He even had the, uh, guts to show a close-up of his scrotum.

Jones reported that his “nuts” were “achy” for three weeks but otherwise he seems thrilled with his results. And he encouraged other men to give the procedure serious consideration.

“If you have children, get the help you need,” he said in his best fake-reporter voice. “You are not alone.”

Who knows how many men will take his advice? So far, the episode has been “liked” almost 2,500 times on Facebook and the segment has been viewed more than 10,000 times on the “Daily Show” website. Clips are proliferating elsewhere on the Web too.

You can watch Thursday’s “Daily Show” episode here or jump straight to Jones’ segment here.

For a more clinical approach to learning about vasectomies, check out this fact sheet from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development or this interactive tutorial from the National Library of Medicine.