Jon Stewart is coming back to ‘The Daily Show’ — will his old audience follow?
Stewart shepherded the news comedy program through peak relevance, but can he handle the competition?
Jon Stewart will make a comeback to his old desk. But only on Mondays. Photo by Brad Barket/Getty Images for Comedy Central
By PJ Grisar January 24, 2024
Time was when everyone I knew watched The Daily Show. But will they watch it again when Jon Stewart returns in February?
During the George W. Bush years and the Obama administration, Stewart ruled the roost of political comedy. His monologues, interviews and correspondents who spun off to their own desks, weren’t just topical — they were cool. I mean, they published a textbook with photos of naked Supreme Court justices. Who does that?
Stewart’s star was once so high that he and Stephen Colbert, hosting dueling rallies on the Washington Mall in 2010, drew 215,000 people, only a few hundred thousand fewer than the (actual) estimated turnout for Donald Trump’s inauguration. Stewart wasn’t on air when Trump — or as Stewart calls him, F—face Von Clownstick — entered office, but if he was he would have been in a much more crowded space.
Stewart left the show in 2015 and, with the rise of a reality show commander in chief and a superlatively dysfunctional government, every late night show began indulging in political satire. John Oliver, who gained exposure as Stewart’s fill-in host, gained eyeballs with Last Week Tonight on HBO. Stephen Colbert, out of character from his Colbert Report persona, debuted a surprisingly partisan Late Show. Even Jimmy Fallon, after ruffling candidate Trump’s hair, donned a rust-colored wig and entered the overpopulated field of bad impressions of our 45th president.
The Daily Show, with new host Trevor Noah, plummeted in popularity, averaging nearly 1 million fewer viewers and sinking 81 percent in the key demographic of 18-49 at the time of his departure in 2022, per IndieWire. The show did a bit better with a rotation of guest hosts in 2023, but was still nowhere near the height of Stewart’s reign.
And so, the news that Stewart — who lately has kept busy lobbying for 9/11 first responders, directing a couple movies and leading a now-cancelled AppleTV+ show — will host his old program on Mondays, offers an interesting test of the comedian’s appeal. Was Stewart the secret sauce that made The Daily Show a hit, or did he benefit from being the only game in town?
Airing at 11, and now with a 45-minute format (in Stewart’s day it was 30), he will run into the monologues of his old colleague Colbert and the rest of the late night crew who took on a more political bent in the twilight of his tenure and the dawning of the age of Trump.
It remains to be seen if Stewart will boost the show’s ratings on Monday nights or if he’ll, as in The Problem with Jon Stewart, mix up the formula by hyperfocusing on one issue per episode.
Much is still unknown, but Stewart, who is also joining as executive producer, is said to be staying on through the election in November, a stretch of time where we will all sorely need many moments of zen.
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