Jon Stewart is returning to The Daily Show as part-time host, Comedy Central announced Wednesday.
Starting in February, Stewart will host the late-night satirical news show on Mondays through the 2024 election.
“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,” Chris McCarthy, president and CEO of Showtime and MTV Entertainment Studios, said in a statement. “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.”
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The Daily Show‘s team of correspondents will rotate as hosts the rest of the week. The show’s current correspondents are Desi Lydic, Michael Kosta, Ronny Chieng, and Jordan Klepper.
News of Stewart’s return to the anchor desk comes over a year after Trevor Noah signed off in December 2022. At the time, Noah said he “loved” hosting the show, but felt after seven years it was time to do something different.
Last week The Daily Show With Trevor Noah won the 2023 Emmy Award for outstanding talk series (the awards were rescheduled because of the Hollywood strikes).
As the cast and crew gathered on stage to accept the award, former Daily Show correspondent Roy Wood Jr. mouthed, “Please hire a host.”
Now there’s a temporary solution in place. Stewart officially returns as host on the Monday, Feb. 12 episode.
He’ll also serve as an executive producer and help producers decide on a permanent direction for the program.
Craig Kilborn served as the show’s host from 1996 to 1999. He was followed by Stewart from 1999 to 2015, and Noah from 2015 to 2022.
After Noah’s departure, the show used celebrity guest hosts, including Leslie Jones, Wanda Sykes, Chelsea Handler, Al Franken, D.L. Hughley, John Leguizamo, Hasan Minhaj, Kal Penn, Sarah Silverman, and Marlon Wayans.
Daily Show correspondents also got a shot in the hosting chair. Roy Wood Jr., who filled in on the anchor desk last year, announced his exit in October 2023 as the host searched dragged on.
“After eight amazing years on The Daily Show, where I’ve been able to pursue my comedic and political curiosities with some of the best writers, producers, crew and correspondents anyone could hope for, I’ve made the decision to move on,” he told NPR.
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