Nearly nine years after retiring from the desk of “The Daily Show” Jon Stewart is set to return once more for the 2024 election season. After handing the reins to the spectacular Trevor Noah in 2015, Stewart took a break from the spotlight, and then returned to Apple TV+ with “The Problem with Jon Stewart.”
Noah announced his intention to leave the show in 2022, and Comedy Central has been “auditioning” hosts ever since. A slew of excellent guests have stepped in to host including Leslie Jones, Roy Wood Jr., Ronny Chieng, Wanda Sykes, Chelsea Handler, Hasan Minhaj, Kal Penn, Jordan Klepper, Desi Lydic and more. Stewart will only be returning for one night a week, Mondays. This shake up of the existing format suggests the continued reliance on guests and correspondents to fill out the remainder of the days.
Searching for a host has been no easy task, and the decision to return Stewart to the desk is an interesting one for the network. Bringing in a tried and true part of the franchise history is certainly a calculated move during this tumultuous news cycle. President / CEO of Showtime / MTV Entertainment Studios (who own Comedy Central) Chris McCarthy said “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,”
We know we’ll be tuning in, how about you?