Jonathan Edward Favreau (/ˈfævroʊ/; born June 2, 1981) is an American liberal political commentator, podcaster, and the former director of speechwriting for President Barack Obama.

After graduating from the College of the Holy Cross as valedictorian, Favreau worked for the John Kerry 2004 presidential campaign to collect talk radio news and was promoted to the role of Deputy Speechwriter. Favreau first met Barack Obama, then a state senator from Illinois, while working on the Kerry campaign.

In 2005, Obama's communications director Robert Gibbs recommended Favreau to Obama as a speechwriter. Favreau was hired as Obama's speechwriter shortly after Obama's election to the United States Senate. Obama and Favreau grew close, and Obama referred to him as his "mind reader". He went on the campaign trail with Obama during his successful presidential election campaign. In 2009, he was named to the White House staff as Director of Speechwriting.

After starting the podcast Keeping it 1600 via The Ringer media group in March 2017, he co-founded liberal media company Crooked Media with fellow former Obama staffers Tommy Vietor and Jon Lovett, and began co-hosting the political podcast Pod Save America with Vietor, Lovett, and Dan Pfeiffer.

Favreau was born at Winchester Hospital and raised in nearby North Reading, Massachusetts, the son of Lillian (née DeMarkis), a schoolteacher, and Mark Favreau. His father is of French Canadian descent and his mother is of Greek descent. His grandfather, Robert Favreau, was a member of the New Hampshire House of Representatives and described by Favreau as a "New England Republican." Favreau graduated from the Jesuit College of the Holy Cross in 2003 as his class's valedictorian, with a degree in political science.

At Holy Cross, he was treasurer and debate committee chairman for the College Democrats, and studied classical piano. From 1999 to 2000, he served on the Welfare Solidarity Project, eventually becoming its director. In 2001, Favreau worked with Habitat for Humanity and a University of Massachusetts Amherst program to bring visitors to cancer patients.

In 2002, he became head of an initiative to help unemployed individuals improve their résumés and interview skills. He also earned a variety of honors in college, including the Vanicelli Award; being named the 2001 Charles A. Dana Scholar; memberships in the Political Science Honor Society, Pi Sigma Alpha, the College Honors Program, the Sociology Honor Society, Alpha Kappa Delta, and was awarded a Harry S. Truman Scholarship in 2002. He was an editor on his college newspaper, and during summers in college, he earned extra income selling newspapers as a telemarketer, while also interning in John Kerry's offices.

He joined Senator John Kerry's 2004 presidential campaign soon after graduation from the College of the Holy Cross. While working for the Kerry campaign, his job was to assemble audio clips of talk radio programs for the Kerry camp to review for the next day. When the Kerry campaign began to falter at one point, they found themselves without a speechwriter, and Favreau was promoted to the role of deputy speechwriter. Following Kerry's defeat, Favreau became dispirited with politics, and was uncertain if he would do such work again. Favreau first met Obama (then an Illinois State Senator running for the U.S. Senate), while still working for Kerry, backstage at the 2004 Democratic National Convention as Obama was rehearsing his keynote address. Favreau, then 23 years old, interrupted Obama's rehearsal, advising the soon-to-be-elected Senator that a rewrite was needed because Kerry wanted to use one of the lines.