Jon Stewart will return to “The Daily Show” for its upcoming season — hosting one day a week.
Stewart, who hosted the show for 16 years before stepping down in 2015, will serve as the Comedy Central show’s host on Monday nights, and will also be an executive producer. The Associated Press reports that Stewart is expected to start Feb. 12 and stay on the show 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,” said Chris McCarthy, the president and CEO of Showtime/MTV Entertainment Studios, in a statement provided to the AP and other news outlets. “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.”
Stewart alluded to his return on social media, writing that he had “decided to enter the transfer portal for my last year of eligibility.”
On Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday nights, “The Daily Show” correspondents will host the program, according to Variety, which also reported that current executive producer Jen Flanz will also remain on the show.
Stewart hosted “The Daily Show” from 1999 to 2015, taking over from original host Craig Kilborn. Since leaving the show, he has remained an executive producer on “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” and hosted a weekly show on Apple TV+ called “The Problem With Jon Stewart,” which ended in 2023, after two seasons.
Stewart has also been an outspoken advocate for 9/11 first responders and U.S. veterans, even speaking before Congress on multiple occasions.
In 2015, Trevor Noah became the new host of “The Daily Show.” Noah announced in September 2022 that he would step down from the program that year, setting off a search for a new host. Noah’s last episode aired in December 2022. In 2023, the show was hosted by a number of guests including Leslie Jones, Sarah Silverman and Chelsea Handler.
Comedy Central is owned by Paramount Global, which is also the parent company of CBS News and Stations.
The Associated Press contributed reporting.
