On Monday, the comedian, who is 61 years old, came back to the Comedy Central show for the first time in almost ten years. He got a warm welcome from the audience after leaving the hosting role in August 2015.
Stewart used to be the host of the show for 16 years. Now, he will both host and produce the Monday night episodes of the late-night show.
He will stay as the host until the next presidential election in 2024, and he will still be in charge of the show until 2025.
In his opening speech, Stewart said he was excited to be back on the Daily Show. He joked about being chosen again for the job, saying he might have been chosen because he’s committed a lot of crimes, referring to the immunity claims made by some politicians like Donald Trump.
Stewart’s return follows Trevor Noah leaving the show in December 2022 after hosting for seven years. Since Noah left, there have been different guest hosts, but no permanent replacement has been announced yet.
Stewart’s comeback was announced last month. The President/CEO of Showtime/MTV Entertainment Studios praised Stewart as the voice of our generation and said he’s the perfect person to bring clarity and humor to the divisive political landscape as we head into the election season.
After leaving the Daily Show in 2015, Stewart returned to TV in 2021 with his own show on Apple TV+, called The Problem with Jon Stewart. Unfortunately, the show was canceled after two seasons last year.
In an interview on CBS Mornings, Stewart explained that his show was canceled because they didn’t want him to say things that might cause trouble. He also mentioned that he wanted to come back to the Daily Show to share his thoughts during the upcoming election season.
