Jon Stewart Returns to ‘Daily Show’ as Monday Host, Executive Producer
Jon Stewart Returns to ‘Daily Show’ as Monday Host, Executive Producer
Jon Stewart will return to 'The Daily Show' as its Monday host and executive producer. Show correspondents will host other nights of the week
After scuttling a months-long search for a new host, the Paramount Global network said it had enlisted Jon Stewart, who presided over the late-night mainstay’s most popular era, to serve as its host on Monday nights throughout the 2024 election cycle and to run the program. He is expected to oversee the program through 2025. Various “Daily Show” correspondents will host the program Tuesday through Thursday nights, and Jen Flanz, the current executive producer, will continue her duties on the show.
You son of a removed, I'm in.
A BRILLIANT LIGHT SUDDENLY BURNS IN THE DARKNESS.
HE HAS RISEN
I'll never not believe that if Jon was running the Daily Show for the 2016 election season, Trump wouldn't have been elected.
Either way, Zelenskyy proved what a satirical comedian with good character can do on the world stage. Wish Jon would just run for office already...
Side note: Mehdi Hasan has left MSNBC.... Apart from Jon, I can think of nobody else more qualified to run the Daily Show.
Bassem Youssef is the only not-Jon i want.
Yeah it's no way the timing of Trump was an accident. He literally ran before when Jon was still working and was laughed off the stage. Then Jon retired...
What Zelenskyy did, his career trajectory I mean, is nothing short of… well, the sitcom fiction he wrote himself. A good one, btw— it’s called Servant of the People. It’s on Netflix. He’s hilarious. And that may be the most fucked up part: he seemingly predicted all of this (to some degree) in the form of, honestly, a pretty hilarious sitcom that got cancelled before the 3rd season started production because it fucking came true.
It’s not a direct A:B comparison of reality, but it’s uncannily close— also, proof that Ukraine is perfectly capable of making a delightfully funny politically-oriented sitcom for streaming. Well, until the guy became president and globally-beloved war daddy. Nonetheless, it’s bizarre how it coincided with, or perhaps provoked, real-word events that led to him becoming a popularly-elected anti-corruption president against all of the “influence” Russia could throw at the elections.
And he’s lived up to all of his promises. He spent the first pert of his presidency cleaning house, something he’s kept doing, even after meeting deep parliamentary resistance. Fucker has stood up to Trump’s attempts to extort him, over which Trump got impeached, btw. Like… holy shit! World leaders from far greater nations have melted in front of US presidents. Not this guy. After the Russians invaded, something nobody expected a comedian to have the temerity to face, he, in no uncertain terms - with a raised middle finger to Putin - has become one of the most inspiring world leaders of the 21st-century.  not only his people, but people all over the world fucking love him.  More importantly, they respect him. 
He’s amazing.
Finally, some good news.
Out of a lot of jackasses in the world, Jon Stewart continues to be clear-headed unmitigated good.
Yes, that means I have forgiven him for using trans people as the butt of his jokes for a long time, and I'm hoping he's had enough growth to understand why those were bad. Also, to be fair, it's been quite a while since he has done a joke like that. And if he turns on a dime and makes some uncouth remarks about trans folks, he'll be in shit-city with me, and I'll take back the good things I said about him. Pretty sure he won't tho.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/jon-stewart-atones-for-his-own-shitty-anti-trans-jokes
He is self aware and takes responsibility, which I think is the best thing we can expect from just about anyone.
I'm less concerned about trans jokes specifically, but I worry that Jon Stewart of now won't be able to live up to our memories of him during the W years. Will be be sufficiently progressive for modern left viewers, or is he going to be a Bill Maher "center left" type? Will he be is sharp and cutting as he was, and be able to translate that to a world that is so more polarized and down the rabbit hole with conspiracy theories and all that junk?
Basically I'm afraid this is Michael Jordan coming out of retirement to play for the Washington Wizards.
Maybe my concerns are not well placed, I didn't catch his newer show because I don't feel like subscribing to Apple TV, so I don't know where he's at nowadays. I'm cautiously optimistic, but I'm fully prepared to be let down.
Jon is how I got sucked into US politics all those years ago. He was amazing. Look at me now, knowing things about stuff and all. Thanks Jon!
Everyone says the darkest timeline started when Harambe was killed. I think it was when Stewart left the Daily Show.
Maybe this will be able to get us back a little bit.
Dicks Out For Harambe
Or 9/11, JFK assassination, or MLK, maybe when Debbie Wasserman Schultz handed the DNC over to the Clinton campaign, maybe after the civil war when the traitors weren’t brought to justice, or when Gore won but didn’t take the seat. There are so many turning points.
I often wonder if an impassioned Jon Stewart plea in 2016 might have motivated enough young Bernie supporters to make the difference in a few swing states.
Chicago Cubs world series.
Why did he leave btw? Did he retire?
Almost seems like he took a holiday and now wants to start back on easier hours.
Nothing would have been easier than hosting during the 2016 campaign w/ Trump doing the writing for him.
He could have had a show compromised of nothing but reading quotes verbatim, pausing only for nonverbal reactions
Great! Now do President.
Does Jon even want the job? It sucks. You have to deal with so many roadblocks. You get blamed for everything. You pitch ideas and make demands and some shithead dept will block you and some company throws billions to turn the public against you.
Unless he finds loopholes like Trump and load it up with toadies willing to bow to the king, which I doubt Stewart wants to abuse because he has ethics, it'll be hard to get much of the government on his side.
Even basic shit like feeding school kids is a fucking political theater by assholes.
I’d cry.
That's Wednesdays
Everyone could write him in and he would have to do it, right?
They would be wasted votes, and have to do it would be considered indentured servitude I'm fairly certain haha
Finally some good fucking news
About bad news
9/11 was good news. Well it wasn't good news, obviously, but it was good news.
For people who love Bad news 🎶
Sorry, kinda had that feel
Well Jon Stewart's coming back, so we've got that going for us at least!
Doing more for America than the government was.
He's a god damn hero, I mean that genuinely.
The world is healing.
I'm alright. Nobody worry about me.
Excellent. Keep fighting the good fight Jon.
Thank God. I still can't believe he was off air for the first Trump presidency.
How dare you say “first”. Don’t you put that bad mojo on me
Oh....you're gonna be a sad, sad boy January next year.
The only worthy host of the show. He was able to make a comedy show compete with shows on so-called news channels.
I wonder why it looks like he was the last person considered for the show, is it because he cared about issues that he talked about and made young people care?
He was doing his own thing until Apple killed his show over fears that he would talk about China.
It’s not quite that simple. Stewart wanted to do a show critical of China, Apple said, no, and Stewart walked. Since this was during the negotiations for his next season of his show, they mutually agreed not to renew for the next season.
Yes, this is shitty of Apple to put a limit on him like this, but it wasn’t so hostile as it might seem. 
Kilborn wasn't that bad.
It was OK, but it was a really different show than what Jon Stewart ended up doing with it. It was much more like 1990s-era SNL‘s Weekend Update. 
He was the last person considered because 1) he already hosted for 16 years and quit so they probably assumed he didn’t want to go back to it, and 2) when they started considering people, Stewart was under contract with a competing show on AppleTV+ (The Problem w/ Jon Stewart), but that show was recently cancelled. Also, The Problem only airs once a week, so imagine Stewart told CC that he’d only come back to do one show weekly rather than the four that he used to do.
Because he retired from the show in 2015. Hence why he's only coming back part time. It was his choice to leave the first time, so that's probably why he was the last one to reach out to.
The coincidental timing with his contract non-renewal with Apple is also quite… serendipitous, no?
Stewart is at the point in his career where he doesn’t want to commit to something more than a weekly show and executive producership. He’s also digging the podcasting space. This works out for everyone. 
It's funny. I saw the potential of the daily show early on. Was a fan from the first episode.
When they let Craig Kilborne go, replaced him with no name comedian Jon Stuart, and ended five questions, I was so angry I wrote to Comedy Central and said the show would never be funny again. Boy was I wrong.
He likely wasn’t the last person considered. He was the hardest person to get.
He had another show up until recent, and I was famously burnt out from the Daily Show. They Likely need to wait until he was free and make him an offer that he couldn’t resist.
I'm just a random person in the world, so my opinion doesn't mean much in the grand scheme of things.....but I have never found Trevor Noah even slightly funny my entire life.
I feel bad saying that, because he seems like a genuine, sincere person from what I have read and watched, but his delivery on the Daily Show just comes across as bland/flat to me, I stopped watching maybe 1 year into his tenure.
As someone with no special insight into the internal workings, and who didnt watch trevor noah's DS too much, or know much about noah himself, i've honestly been pretty convinced that the problems with TN DS doesn't really have anything to do with trevor specifically, but i'm reasonably sure that comedy central took jon stewart leaving as an opportunity to "tame" the writing on the show.
I feel like comedy central wanted to pull the show back from leaning too far left to appeal to a wider audience.
What i mean by that, is where jon stewart might tear into a political figure for the way they stand on some particular issue he disagrees with, trevor's daily show would like...make fun of their hair/clothes, or some other "safe" joke that doesn't get too political.
And noah, unfairly, probably takes all the blame for this, even though i'm quite sure this is on the studio heads and was outside his control.
Roy Wood Jr talks about that here
Maybe not funny all the time, but if you go on YouTube the daily show channel used to post between the scenes cuts of Trevor. I also used to dislike his delivery, but I found him way more interesting and engrossing in the more off-the-cuff style. I am convinced it was the writers or producers who were dropping the ball.
I also loved his freeform stuff. Perhaps scripted hosting just isn't his bag.
I absolutely turned around on Noah. His standup is fantastic.
His daily show era is still kinda bland. His "Outsider looking into America" perspective didn't really fit what Stewart built up.
Agreed. He had big shoes to fill, and I don't know that anyone except maybe Colbert could've actually done it. He did have some good moments though, I remember a brief segment where he questioned why the US always seems to make things into an X vs Y dynamic, instead of X and Y.
"Why does it have to be cat people and dog people? Why can't we just love both of them?!"
His stand-up is actually really great. I just never really liked him all that much on TDS.
I'll have to check out his stand up too.
I liked his from-home stuff during Covid, but never liked TDS with Trevor Noah. I'm not exactly sure why. Too silly, not "edgy," insightful, or hard hitting enough I guess. John Oliver's show is pretty good though.
I agree. See also, Seth Myers. Like I get that hosting a regular show is hard because you need to consistently entertain with fresh material. But damn do they both miss the mark there.
And don't get me wrong. They both seem like sincere and down to earth dudes, but funny, they ain't
Nobody did.
Kinda like John Oliver for me, He's a better writer than performer I think and I don't like his delivery
Stewart is great, but I wonder if any of the original writing staff is returning as well. He didn't carry the original show alone, and even the opening monologue will hit different if there's a new team behind it.
I assume he'll bring some Apple TV folks along.
But also the show has been solid for years. Trevor did a great job, the guest hosts have done an great job. The show is and has been great.
Now, that isn't to say you don't need a good host. The guest hosts only having a week or so don't have time to make the show truly their own, but they still add their personal touch.
Trevor, during the pandemic especially, added a huge personal touch and really made the show work well.
Jon, coming back, is going to have a lot of fun and I'm looking forward to it.
Consequential election + Stewart… America’s back baby!!
Hanging chads pt II coming this Winter
I'm the asshole who liked the og show and host Killborn. I didn't watch it initially when Stewart took over. It was a different show... Man what an idiot I was.... While I liked the og version Stewart made it so much better. Glad to see him back in some form.
I liked Craig too, that was a fun era for Comedy Central. I remember they played a lot of Absolutely Fabulous and Viva Variety back then. Good times.
It's really better to think of them as two completely different shows both with very different philosophies and strengths. One just happened to begin when the other ended. Also Jon's show took a while to find its legs.
Kilborn had a comedy show that looked like a news show. Even the interviews of the daily guest had a zany, fake-pressure vibe.
Stewart used comedy to get people engaged in a news show. Everyone else that has tried has either had too much comedy, or too much news. Too much news sounds like video essays and too much comedy isn't as impactful.
I liked the Kilborn show. He kind of an asshole, but I'm not one to hold that against people. But I feel we need the Stewart show.
I remember the original ads of "it's the same Daily show, but now under 6 feet tall" or whatever
You reminded me to go back and find the Waco, TX promo. So much nostalgia.
Same. I wrote to Comedy Central and said the show would never be funny again. Ha.
Can you americans explain what this means to everyone else in the world? Seems like a big deal to some people...
He has a great mix of humor and serious discussions about important topics. He calls out guests for avoiding answering difficult questions etc.
I cant even express it very well, but the man is a legend. One of a kind.
Tucker Carlson’s career after that Hardball segment!
Sounds like what a journalist should be.
He's willing to ask the questions other networks are to afraid to ask. He has destroyed careers because of it look up jon Stewart and hard ball. We do have NPR and MSNBC but they still won't ask the hard questions or confront the hosts. I've heard that only a couple of times on NPR but only lately. Plus Jon can taunt the people to afraid to come on unlike a professional news orgs.
When he got together with Colbert and did the Colbert report and tricked the entire GOP that was just icing on the cake.
In addition to what the others have said, Jon was a strong advocate for the 9/11 First Responders. Being a New Yorker himself, he took it extremely personally when Congress (controlled by, well go ahead and guess) was dragging their feet on giving these guys the health benefits they needed.
His testimony before Congress was fantastic, and ultimately he succeeded
Whoever uploaded that realised they could cut it to exactly the right length.
I didn't even notice the first time I saw it and I don't know it's deliberate on Jon's part but the speech and reaction fit perfectly.
It's an incredible speech and worthy of that detail.
Was gonna link his monologue after 9/11 as well
Jon Stewart made me a proud blue dog Democrat growing up. Maybe I'll be one again someday
Jon Stewart is quite awesome in my book. He is legit funny and he put the Daily Show on the map with being officially a comedy show (and it was hilariously funny) but at the same time being just about the only reliable news source as he just cut through the political bullshit from both sides (again, in a super funny way). He has great interviews with politicians where he calls them out on their bullshit so hard that you wonder why any politician would still want to do interviews with him, but yet they kept coming.
Thing is, you can tell that he researches and knows the subjects that he talks about and he actually cares, so if during interviews the guy comes up with some bullshit arguments Jon would typically tear him a new hole with actual facts. He was like the original "he crushed that guy" guy. IIRC, he (temporarily) crushed ticket Carlson's career by literally ending tickets show overnight with an interview. Unfortunately, Jon retired and Tucker was fucking back.
His show also was the birth place of other comedians like john Oliver (who went on to make the similar great show "last week tonight"), Steve carell, and Stephen Colbert
The guy following after him, Trevor Noah, was just a sad little shadow, honestly, and in stoked to hear Jon is back as he has shown that he hasn't lost his touch.
Yeah, before Tucker got his Fox segment, he used to do a show on CNN with Paul Begala called Crossfire, whose entire schtick was having a conservative and a liberal talking head co-hosting the show and basically arguing with each other for an hour. Jon came on the show in 2004 and ripped the entire concept apart so thoroughly that it got the entire show cancelled. It's truly a glorious moment: https://youtu.be/aFQFB5YpDZE&t=0
Thanks, that's some resume.
The Daily Show was funny with Craig Killborn.
More like Talk Soup funny than anything intellectual or political.
But still was worth a chuckle.
He was the best host of The Daily Show, a show that made current events and politics palatable to Americans that have Comedy Central. He's also immensely likable as a person. He fought for the US government to uphold their promise to first responders of 9/11 that all have mesothelioma from asbestos inhalation. He generally cuts to the core of most issues and doesn't suffer fools. He will call people out directly to their faces.
Sounds like a good egg.
He's a much beloved comedian and a great show host. I think people are just excited to have him back again, especially in this contentious political environment where he thrives as "the guy who asks hard questions when nobody else will".
More people will tune into non-Fox based politics because of his showmanship
He would have made the best president in America's history (yes). Look to Ukraine for what you get when you elect the guy who speaks truth to power.
After scuttling a months-long search for a new host
Incompetent searchers, they already had Roy Wood Jr's phone number.
I actually liked the rotating host format tbh. I feel like it kept the show fresh and fit well with the post-Stewart vibe where it was more about the content and writing than the host.
The only way this would get any better is of he can get an interview with Donald Trump. That'd be like bringing the pig to a slaughter house
Trump is pretty dumb, but I don't think he's dumb enough to do that. Jon would eviscerate him.
He is egotistical enough to think he could go toe to toe with Stewart.
If he did go on, he would spin his absolute journalistic murder into more fuel for his media hate campaign.
What’s the best way, without cable or torrenting, to watch Comedy Central these days?
Edit: looks like Paramount+ might have it in the states. From time to time I sub to that to blast through all its Trek content, so this might work out for me.
Parts of the episode are uploaded to YouTube by Comedy Central.
Large portions of the show, actually.
Large portions of the show, actually.
https://www.cc.com/shows/the-daily-show#video-guide
They actually have nearly 100 recent episodes in full, too.
Seems like the only way to watch full episodes is to have cable, no?
I deleted my comment, because it was deceiving, you DO have to have a cable package to watch them online on the comedy central website. I misread originally.
Youtube TV or Sling?
EDIT: Actually, looks like only some of those episodes are available without a Cable package, but the most recent ones are entirely free.
It's actually one of the shows that are entirely free to watch on the Comedy Central website.
https://www.cc.com/shows/the-daily-show#video-guide
They have roughly the 100 most recent episodes (S28E36-S28E122), but they don't include anything from this month. Most recent episode available online is from December 14th, 2023, so they don't have the most current episodes, but if you're fine watching on a mild lag-time, it's great.
They've got a really talented bench of people, I'm surprised this has gone on so long (though I am far from a regular viewer). My vote would have gone to Jordan Klepper, who I think has both the intelligence and sincere anger that made Jon Stewart the cultural force he was on the show. My theory is that the execs saw him as too much of a risk after his previous (unfortunately) failed solo outings.
Yeah that's a pretty good take. Klepper's on the street interviews with MAGA idiots and the like are the most Daily Show feeling bits of content I've seen since Stewart left.
I am so here for this
Honestly I'm surprised that HBO hasn't picked him up and done a back to back with John Oliver.
Is the show itself only airing on Mondays, or is that just the only night that Jon will host?
Also, as excited as I am to get him back, I hope he didn't let himself get bullied out of retirement. He had definitely earned it.
He will host Mondays and Executive Produce. Other correspondents will host T, W, and Th.
I don't think he got bullied out of retirement, I think running the sanctuary full time, while fulfilling, might only meet his needs 80% of the time and he still wants to express himself creatively.
And plus, animal sanctuaries are expensive to run.
Roy Wood Jr. was great for the job and they didn't want him. Shame. But I'm glad that they caved and gave Jon Stewart more money to fix their ignorance.
I dunno. I really like Roy Wood, Jr., but I don’t think he’d be great as host. His performance isn’t… energetic enough. His style is a bit more laid back, and I’m not sure if that’s the best fit for host of this show. I think he’s great, and an important part of the show, but whenever he hosts, it feels a bit flat.
Just my opinion, though.
I really liked when Charlemagne the God guest hosted. He was hilarious. 
This is fantastic. Great news!
Suggestion for first guest: A shirtless Jason Kelce
They didn't ask meeee!
Remember that phone call a few months ago from some random number that you didn't answer...
WOOT!!!
It's a little surprising that he's never ventured into his own platform. At this point, Comedy Central (as well as they've been for his sense of political humor thus far) seems a bit of a downgrade for Stewart. Meanwhile, you've got the far right conspiracists getting banned from mainstream social media and forced to establish their own "free speech" platforms. Isn't Jon, in some sense, just the far(ther) left mirror-image version of Jones?
I really enjoyed his stint at Apple (more akin to Last Week Tonight + VOX) and would have liked him to continue more down that path of investigative reporting and interviews. I just don't know if he'll have the freedom he wants / deserves on platform owned by Paramount.
Jon deserves something bigger than a cable comedy network. He deserves a ton of money to invest in passionate journalists and writers. At least something as big, if not bigger, than Oliver gets. I don't know... I just feel like we haven't yet seen Jon as his ultimate form. Maybe our projections of what we all want from him are too grand for his own aspirations.
left mirror-image version of Jones?
No. That does a disservice to how fucking crazy the right is now.
Maybe try the tankies from Hexbear if you want a mirror.
how fucking crazy the right is now.
Yes. The mirror image of 'fucking crazy' is reasonably sane. Or are you suggesting Stewart isn't as equally sane as the right is crazy?
I don't think Jon is far-left. Maybe a progressive liberal. AFAIK, he's not even a SocDem, much less a DemSoc. Alex Jones is just a grifter conspiracy theorist. The likes of Matt Walsh and Michael Knowles are full-on fascists, and I'd think the mirror of that would be an anarcho-socialist or communist.
Maybe I don’t know the granular definitions of these philosophies. Far-left, progressive liberal, democratic socialist are all the same to me. Or at least all how I would describe my own ideas in general conversation. I’m aware there may be subtle differences but, generally for the point of this not political science 101 conversation about someone who isn’t here to represent themselves, I think we can forgo the nit picks.
thanks for the garbage kind stranger
Chuckling at the news doing nothing is hip again
Thank god, he left when we needed him most. No one gives a shit about what a south African comedian is saying about American politics. Harsh but true
Noah left? Huh. Makes sense i guess, he felt better during the pandemic when it felt like he was hosting a podcast instead of a show. Eh probably not going to watch anyway, i haven't even turned my television on since early pandemic.
Was it Jon who fell down a conspiracy rabbit hole regarding COVID19? Or the other guy.
Are you thinking about Jordan Peterson?
Nope.
I remember him talking about the Wuhan COVID research facility a stone throws away from ground zero for the outbreak. I have since also had some questions.
