Jon Stewart Returning to Host “The Daily Show”
Comedy Central is getting Jon Stewart back.
The longtime host of The Daily Show is returning to host on Mondays through the 2024 election, with the rest of the week led by the correspondents. This new approach will begin on February 12, with Stewart returning to the chair that made him a star to kick off each week, setting the table for the rest of The Daily Show team, which will likely include Desi Lydic, Jordan Klepper, Michael Kosta, Ronny Chieng, and Dulcé Sloan.
Stewart turned The Daily Show into a juggernaut for Comedy Central, hosting 16 awards-laden seasons. He’s not only returning as host but will also take on executive producing responsibilities. Stewart’s most recent show was his Apple TV+ series The Problem, which he recently left due to creative differences. The Problem was a markedly different show than what Stewart did every weekday night on The Daily Show, with the former giving him the chance to drill down on a single issue per episode rather than tackling the broader themes shaping America in a given week.
Stewart’s new role on The Daily Show offers him the chance to tackle the looming election without plunging back into the grind of hosting every night. Taking the Monday show means that Stewart will set the agenda for the week, and it will also give him the chance to work with new and rising talent, something he did so successfully during his initial run. (The list of people Stewart helped along the way includes the likes of Samantha Bee, Stephen Colbert, Michael Che, John Oliver, and his successor, Trevor Noah.) Returning to The Daily Show lets Stewart weigh in on a range of topics and will once again thrust him into the spotlight in the middle of an election year, one that promises to be bruising.
“Jon Stewart is the voice of our generation, and we are honored to have him return to Comedy Central’s The Daily Show to help us all make sense of the insanity and division roiling the country as we enter the election season,” said Chris McCarthy, President/CEO of Showtime/MTV Entertainment Studios. “In our age of staggering hypocrisy and performative politics, Jon is the perfect person to puncture the empty rhetoric and provide much-needed clarity with his brilliant wit.”
The move comes after Trevor Noah officially signed off in December 2022, after which the show saw a rotation of celebrity guest hosts beginning in January 2023. Those hosts included Leslie Jones, Sarah Silverman, and Chelsea Handler. For a while, it looked as if beloved Roy Wood Jr. might take the new top spot, but he eventually exited the show. Both Stewart and Noah have been open about the challenge of hosting The Daily Show, being plugged into the news that deeply, that consistently, and trying to do right by all the people in the building who work so hard for the host to succeed. Now, with this new template, Stewart has found his way back to the show that he made a sensation, and right as the 2024 election is heating up, but with a format that should keep him fresh during the long, grueling election season to come.
Featured image: NEW YORK, NY – AUGUST 06: Jon Stewart hosts “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart” #JonVoyage on August 6, 2015 in New York City. (Photo by Brad Barket/Getty Images for Comedy Central)
