Jon Stewart Set To Leave 'The Daily Show' After 17 Years
Maria Millage ’17 / Emertainment Monthly Staff Writer
Midwest Midterm Midtacular.” Photo Credit: Kevin Fitzsimons/Comedy Central.
After the departure of Stephen Colbert from his show, The Colbert Report, to take over for David Letterman on The Late Show, Comedy Central’s late-night programming is taking another hit with the announced resignation of Jon Stewart, host of the immensely popular program The Daily Show. Stewart has been hosting the comedy/news satire show since 1999 and has developed an almost cult-like following of fans.
Stewart’s contract is due to end sometime around the fall of this year and he is expected to remain host of The Daily Show until that contract expires, giving fans both more time to grieve and the network more time to find a replacement who can at least emulate the unique flavor that Stewart brought to the show.
Comedy Central executives have apparently been silently planning for Stewart’s exit from the network for some time and Stewart himself has made comments about leaving the show, most recently while promoting his directorial debut, Rosewater, which was released in November of 2014.
Comedy Central’s president told Variety “I don’t like to think about the day that Jon leaves but there will be a day. The show will live on. It’s a franchise, like the Tonight Show. We’ll figure it out when we get there. He has set the standard. We will identify talent, and hopefully, we will find the next Jon Stewart.”
Stewart’s loss packs an especially hard punch to the network because of his remarkable history with talent finding. Host of The Colbert Report, Stephen Colbert’s first introduction to a large audience was as a correspondent for The Daily Show back in 1997. The same goes for Colbert’s replacement, writer and producer Larry Wilmore, who started on Stewart’s show in 2006.
There is no word yet on what Stewart plans to do after leaving The Daily Show but one thing is for sure: his talent, specific brand of comedy, and well-known personality will be sorely missed.