Jon Stewart will return to 'The Daily Show' as a weekly guest host
After more than a year searching to find a new host, The Daily Show has tapped the man who built it into a media and show business institution to help forge its next chapter.
Jon Stewart, who hosted the program for 16 years before leaving in 2015, will return to The Daily Show as a part-time host and executive producer through the 2024 presidential election cycle. He'll lead the program on Monday nights beginning Feb. 12, leaving hosting on Tuesdays through Thursdays to the show's correspondents.
But, more importantly, Stewart and his manager James Dixon will serve as executive producers for all episodes through 2025. The announcement says Stewart will "shape [the] next chapter of the franchise" — whatever that means — effectively kicking the question of who might host the show permanently down the road, past the time when Americans will choose our next president.
It's an arrangement which makes sense. Instantly, this announcement reinvigorates the show, and allows Stewart to help figure out a new identity for the program, in the same way he chose Trevor Noah as a successor back in 2015.
The search for a successor
Last year, Daily Show executive producer and showrunner Jennifer Flanz told me that Stewart asked how he could help the show after Noah announced his departure, because he cared about the program and its future. The result was a cameo appearance by Stewart during Roy Wood Jr.'s guest hosting stint.
Stewart's return may also show how tough it has been to find a new permanent host for the program. Lots of people have left late night jobs in recent years as the audience has contracted, including Noah, James Corden and former Daily Show correspondent Samantha Bee.
The program has had a succession of comics as guest hosts since January of last year, but they began to have people repeat in those roles — Leslie Jones and Sarah Silverman did it twice, for example — indicating that they may have even had a tough time finding a wide range of guest hosts.
There were rumors that former correspondent Hasan Minhaj might be chosen to take over the show, but controversies over his past standup specials seemed to quash that idea.
Since Stewart recently left a deal with Apple to do a show called The Problem with Jon Stewart over conflicts about content, he is free to return to a place where he had his greatest success, at a moment when old school fans of the show often post that they wish he was hosting The Daily Show, anyway.
A bid for younger viewers
I also wonder if this arrangement is an indication that the show's turn toward a younger voice — with Trevor Noah and a theme song revamped by Timbaland — might have put the show in a tough spot, as younger viewers turn away from watching traditional, linear TV platforms like cable channels.
Now The Daily Show has its star host back, recalling a time when the program was drawing many more viewers and had more impact. Stewart is widely admired for turning The Daily Show from a more run-of-the-mill comedy program into a show which reinvented how to satirize politics and media. That new style is now found across the late night TV landscape — from people who used to work on The Daily Show, like Stephen Colbert and John Oliver, to hosts like Jimmy Kimmel and Seth Meyers.
It seems that Stewart is back in the driver's seat to find the next iteration of The Daily Show — which might include finding another host as impactful as Noah, Oliver and Colbert. Watching him tackle that task is bound to make fascinating television.
And who knows? Stewart might just decide to come back to his old job full-time, once the election dust clears.
Isabella Gomez Sarmiento contributed to this story.
9(MDAxODcyMTgzMDEyMTgxMTY5NjYxN2I4OQ004))
Transcript
JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
Comedian Jon Stewart helped turn "The Daily Show" into a program that redefined satire about politics and media. Nearly nine years after he left the job, Stewart is returning as an executive producer and part-time host. The show has spent more than a year trying to find a successor to Trevor Noah, the comic who succeeded Stewart. Noah left "The Daily Show" in 2022. Here to discuss all of this is NPR TV critic Eric Deggans. Hello.
ERIC DEGGANS, BYLINE: Hi.
SUMMERS: So Eric, I mean, what do you make of this news? Why would Stewart choose to rejoin a show that he essentially retired from back in 2015?
DEGGANS: Well, I think this is a chance to really invigorate the show and instantly make it more relevant while they kick the can down the road a little bit in terms of actually choosing a permanent replacement host. So Stewart is set to return to hosting "The Daily Show" on Monday nights beginning February 12, all the way through the 2024 election cycle. And the show's correspondents will handle Tuesdays through Thursdays. And Stewart along with his manager, James Dixon, they're going to serve as executive producers for all the show's episodes, possibly through 2025. And this allows Stewart to help chart the future of the show in the same way that he chose Trevor Noah.
And as far as why he's doing it now, I think the show's executive producer, Jen Flanz, she told me last year that Stewart reached out when Noah announced his departure from the show and asked how he could help. Eventually, he agreed to drop in as a guest during former correspondent Roy Wood Jr.'s guest hosting stint. So he seems to still care about the future of the show, and now he's going to be actively involved in helping it succeed.
SUMMERS: Very interesting. So Eric, what do you think this all says about the show's efforts to find a new host to follow Trevor Noah?
DEGGANS: Well, I think it shows how hard it's been for Comedy Central to find a new host. I mean, the show had this succession of guest hosts since January of last year, but they also had some people kind of repeat those roles. Leslie Jones and Sarah Silverman did it twice, indicating that they might have had a tough time finding comics to even serve as guest hosts. So there were rumors that former correspondent Hasan Minhaj might be chosen to take over the show, but controversies over his past stand-up specials seemed to quash that idea.
And in Jon Stewart's case, you know, this past fall, he left this deal with Apple to do a show called "The Problem With Jon Stewart" over conflicts about content. So now he's free. He can return to this place where he had his greatest success during a presidential election. We're all going to be laser focused on politics and media, and it's a moment when fans of the show - old-school fans of the show might post on social media that they wish he was hosting "The Daily Show" anyway.
SUMMERS: Right, I mean, we've talked before about how the late night genre is contracting. So I'm curious if this development might offer a glimmer of hope for people who have seen folks like Trevor Noah that we've been talking about and James Corden leave late night shows and wonder what's next.
DEGGANS: Yeah, I think so. I mean, I wonder if this arrangement isn't also a little bit of an admission that, at least for now, the way the show focused on younger viewers when they hired Trevor Noah might have gotten the program in a bit of a jam because younger people are not watching old-fashioned, linear television like cable TV channels. Now, during his 16 years hosting "The Daily Show," Jon Stewart was widely admired for upgrading it from a more kind of run-of-the-mill comedy program to creating this style of political and news satire that we see all over late night TV now, including from people who used to work at "The Daily Show" like Stephen Colbert, Samantha Bee and John Oliver. So it seems like he's getting back in the driver's seat to try shape "The Daily Show's" next chapter, whatever that means. And watching him achieve it, I think it's going to be fascinating. And who knows? You know, he might decide he likes it enough to stay in the chair himself.
SUMMERS: Who knows indeed. That is NPR TV critic Eric Deggans. Eric, thank you.
DEGGANS: Thank you.
(SOUNDBITE OF THEY MIGHT BE GIANTS' "DOG ON FIRE") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
300x250 Ad
300x250 Ad