Jon Stewart leaving ‘Daily Show’ seen a loss to real news
Jon Stewart, the comedian who turned Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show” into a sharp-edged nightly commentary on the news, the people behind it and the media reporting (and sometimes misreporting) it, said Tuesday that he would step down from the program after more than 16 years as its anchor.
His departure was announced by Comedy Central President Michele Ganeless after Stewart, host of the show since 1999, broke the news to the studio audience at Tuesday’s taping in New York.
Stewart, slapping his desk and blinking back tears, told the audience that he had signed on to “The Daily Show” 17 years ago, and “17 years is the longest I have ever in my life held a job, by 16 years and five months.”
“This show doesn’t deserve an even slightly restless host, and neither do you,” he said. It’s yet to be decided when he'll leave or what comes next for him, Stewart said, with one exception.
“I’m gonna have dinner, on a school night, with my family,” he said.
Ganeless called Stewart, 52, a “comic genius.” She did not specify his exit date or what led to his decision.
“Through his unique voice and vision, ‘The Daily Show' has become a cultural touchstone for millions of fans and an unparalleled platform for political comedy that will endure for years to come,” Ganeless said in a statement.
Stewart, 52, became the host of “The Daily Show” in 1999, entering with the identity of a hardworking standup, if not necessarily known as an astute political commentator.
A decade and a half later, his satirical sensibility helped turn “The Daily Show,” where he also serves as an executive producer, into an influential platform for news and media commentary, both in the United States and around the world. Under his direction, the program has been a humorous release valve for politically frustrated (often left-leaning) viewers and a bête-noir of (often right-leaning) critics who see too much collusion between politics and the fourth estate.
As recently as Monday night on the show, Stewart had been taking aim at the recent scandal that has engulfed NBC news anchor Brian Williams, who on Tuesday was suspended without pay for six months. Stewart cast him as a journalist with a propensity for personal exaggeration and commented on the failure of the news media to more thoroughly question the underpinnings of the Iraq War.
Speaking of Williams, a frequent “Daily Show” guest, Stewart said, “See, I see the problem. We got us a case here of infotainment confusion syndrome.”
Noting the widespread media coverage of Williams’ woes, Stewart wryly added, “Finally someone is being held to account for misleading America about the Iraq War.”
Created by Lizz Winstead and Madeleine Smithberg, “The Daily Show” had its debut in 1996 with Craig Kilborn, the former “SportsCenter” anchor, gaining buzz for its mixture of “Weekend Update”-style news-driven comedy and Kilborn’s sarcastic celebrity interviews.
Under Stewart, “The Daily Show” made Comedy Central a formidable player in late-night entertainment, a field that had largely belonged to the broadcast networks and programs like David Letterman’s “Late Show” (on CBS) and Jay Leno’s “Tonight Show” (on NBC).
During Stewart’s tenure, “The Daily Show” won nearly two dozen Emmy Awards, including numerous trophies for outstanding variety series and outstanding writing of a variety series.
The program also became remarkable for its success rate in launching the careers of other comedic talents, who generally started out as on-air correspondents on “The Daily Show.” Stephen Colbert used “The Daily Show” to refine his persona as a blowhard commentator and parlay it into his own companion series on Comedy Central, “The Colbert Report.” In April, CBS announced Colbert would succeed Letterman as the host of its “Late Show.”
Steve Carell, who went on to become the lead actor of NBC’s “The Office” and an Academy Award-nominated star of “Foxcatcher,” broke through as a “Daily Show” correspondent under Stewart. So too did John Oliver, now the host of HBO’s news satire program “Last Week Tonight,” and Larry Wilmore, who now hosts Comedy Central’s “Nightly Show,” following “The Daily Show.”
For a generation of television viewers, Stewart and his “Indecision” coverage of presidential and congressional elections became the satiric prism through which they viewed the American political process. Stewart spoke for audience members who became jaded about electoral democracy (some before they were old enough to vote) and was often cited as a primary source of information for a viewership that had given up on the staid evening-news programs of the broadcast networks and the shouting-match arenas of cable television.
Whether or not they shared Stewart’s viewpoints, guests from across the political and media spectrums frequently appeared on “The Daily Show” to promote projects and discuss current events. President Barack Obama gave interviews to Stewart (including one in October 2012, with that year’s presidential campaign in full swing). So too did former Presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton; Hillary Rodham Clinton; John McCain; Mike Huckabee; and Nancy Pelosi.
Bill O'Reilly, the host of “The O'Reilly Factor” on Fox News and a frequent critic of Stewart’s, was nonetheless a willing and able sparring partner, and often appeared on “The Daily Show” or invited Stewart onto “The O'Reilly Factor” for boisterous debates.
In his time at “The Daily Show,” Stewart was given latitude to be more than just the face and voice of the program. He has been a producer of Comedy Central series that include “The Colbert Report” and “Important Things With Demetri Martin,” and he continues to produce “The Nightly Show” with Wilmore.
In the summer of 2013, Stewart took a hiatus from “The Daily Show” to direct a movie, “Rosewater,” adapted from a memoir by Maziar Bahari, an Iranian-born journalist who had been held prisoner in Iran for 118 days after reporting on its disputed 2009 election.
Speaking about why he pursued the “Rosewater” project, Stewart told The New York Times that his desire to celebrate journalists like Bahari was no different than his impulse to make fun of others on “The Daily Show.”
“The only reason you mock something is when it doesn’t live up to the ideal,” Stewart said. “There’s a huge difference between what these journalists are doing on the ground, and the perversion of it that is the 24-hour news networks.”
Thank you Jon. pic.twitter.com/yPdxjnkuLw
— Comedy Central (@ComedyCentral) February 10, 2015
Just had the honor of being the great Jon Stewart's guest on @TheDailyShow, where he announced he's leaving. Emotional night. #jonstewart
— David Axelrod (@davidaxelrod) February 11, 2015
I'll be over here in the corner looking at puppies for the next day, trying to make the pain go away. #JonStewart
— Shannon DeVido (@shannondevido) February 11, 2015
You're the best Jon, it's really that simple. Please take all the time you need to finish, like years!! Just keeping it 100!! #cantquityou
— Larry Wilmore (@larrywilmore) Feb 10 2015
This story was originally published February 10, 2015 at 7:07 PM.