Jon Stewart’s final Daily Show to air Aug. 6
Jon Stewart just moved one step closer to ending his days as host of The Daily Show.
The 52-year-old comedian announced on the Monday edition of his acclaimed Comedy Central series that his last day on the job will be Thursday, Aug. 6. He revealed his departure date at the end of the broadcast, quipping “I will be wearing a suit, I will more than likely be showered…” When the audience was slow to respond, he added: “I’m sorry. I’ll be wearing overalls and I won’t shower,” which received much louder cheers. Stewart also mentioned that fans will have a chance to win tickets to the final show at omaze.com/dailyshow, with proceeds going to the Night of Too Many Stars charity.
Back in February, Stewart told a Daily Show audience that he was leaving the news-satirizing series, which has received heaps of Emmys and critical praise under his 16-year tenure. Today’s announcement confirms that he’ll be winding down just as the presidential race starts heating up—which Stewart cited in a recent interview as one of the reasons he’s calling it quits. “I’d covered an election four times, and it didn’t appear that there was going to be anything wildly different about this one,” he told the British newspaper The Guardian, also noting that he wasn’t “getting the same satisfaction from doing the show.”
A few weeks ago, Comedy Central announced that South African comedian/talk show host and new Dail Show correspondent Trevor Noah would replace Stewart. After controversy flared over some of Noah’s old off-color tweets, Stewart defended him on a Daily Show broadcast, saying: “I do hope you give him an opportunity to earn that trust and respect because my experience with him is that he is an incredibly thoughtful and considerate and funny and smart individual… I’m excited for where he’s going to take the thing. And I’m going to watch.”