On February 10th Jon Stewart, the host of Comedy Central’s, The Daily Show is leaving after 17 years because he feels “its someone else’s turn”. Stewart isn’t leaving quite yet and said on his show, “We’re still working out the details, it might be December, it might be July,” even though his contract expires in September.
Stewart calls The Daily Show “ the longest I have ever in my life held a job”, unlike Stephen Colbert—he isn’t leaving this show to join another but instead has “no specific plans”. The network has confirmed his plan to leave; president of the network Michele Ganeless says they plan to replace him and states, “For the better part of the last two decades, I have had the incredible honor and privilege of working with Jon Stewart. His comedic brilliance is second to none. Jon has been at the heart of Comedy Central, championing and nurturing the best talent in the industry, in front of and behind the camera. 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.”
Stewart had been hinting at leaving when he began promoting Rosewater, his directorial debut, last fall and told NPR that he would never find another job he’s as well suited for. Still, these news were sudden coming in just a few weeks after the end of Stephen Colbert’s The Colbert Report, which Stewart had produced, in order to succeed David Letterman on CBS for September.
Once a MTV host, Stewart was not the first host of The Daily Show he replaced Craig Kilborn who had hosted for the first three seasons and then later moved to CBS. He dragged the show into a cultural and political standpoint, satirizing the flaws of news media and politicians such as Fox News host Bill O’Reilly and Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.Stewart’s show is also used as a foundation to provide increasingly rare and valuable outlet for authors to promote books on serious topics, along with the occasional movie star or comedian interview.
His show also made celebrities of several of its fake “correspondents”, including Steve Carell, Ed Helms, Colbert and John Oliver, who became Stewart’s only fill-in in the summer of 2013, during filming of Rosewater. Stewart’s departure comes after 12 months in late-night TV shows, in which NBC’s Jimmy Fallon replaced Jay Leno, Seth Meyers replaced Fallon, and Letterman had announced plans to retire in May.
