--- title: Jon Stewart's Final Episode of The Daily Show: The Host Signs Off description: After 16 years hosting Comedy Central's 'The Daily Show,' Jon Stewart hosted his final episode on Thursday evening. canonical: https://time.com/3984650/jon-stewart-final-episode-daily-show/ author: Eliza Berman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-08-07T04:14:29.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T04:47:09.645Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: Jon Stewart Has Left the Building og:description: The longtime host of "The Daily Show" bade his final farewell Thursday night og:url: https://time.com/3984650/jon-stewart-final-episode-daily-show/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4d370923993fcb66/69885de13c1639ddfb4591ea/jon-stewart.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Jon Stewart poses for a portrait in promotion of his forthcoming directorial and screenwriting feature debut "Rosewater" on Nov. 7, 2014 in New York. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Jon Stewart Has Left the Building twitter:description: The longtime host of "The Daily Show" bade his final farewell Thursday night twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4d370923993fcb66/69885de13c1639ddfb4591ea/jon-stewart.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Jon Stewart Signs Off From _The Daily Show_  by [Eliza Berman](https://time.com/author/eliza-berman/)  ## Eliza Berman Berman is a senior editor at TIME. Aug 7, 2015 4:14 AM UTC  Jon Stewart poses for a portrait in promotion of his forthcoming directorial and screenwriting feature debut "Rosewater" on Nov. 7, 2014 in New York. Jon Stewart poses for a portrait in promotion of his forthcoming directorial and screenwriting feature debut "Rosewater" on Nov. 7, 2014 in New York.Victoria Will—Invision/AP  by [Eliza Berman](https://time.com/author/eliza-berman/)  ## Eliza Berman Berman is a senior editor at TIME. Aug 7, 2015 4:14 AM UTC It’s over: The last Fox News correspondent has been lampooned, the last shrug has been shrugged, the last eyebrow raised in skepticism. At least, under Jon Stewart’s watch. After 16 years hosting Comedy Central’s _The Daily Show_, Stewart bade farewell to his audience Thursday night before passing things on to [Trevor Noah](http://time.com/3763185/trevor-noah-daily-show-jon-stewart/), who commences hosting duties on Sept. 28. To some, Stewart was the only honest voice in the media, a primary source for real news even though he billed the show as [fake news](http://time.com/3704321/jon-stewart-daily-show-fake-news/). To others, he was guilty of the [same offenses](http://time.com/3987151/daily-show-jon-stewart-dumber/) committed by those he criticized nightly. But from either side of the Stewart aisle, it’s hard to deny that he has shaped minds, moved conversations and blurred the boundaries between comedy and real political discourse. (The show’s 20 Emmys accumulated during his tenure surely count for something, too.) On Thursday night, after receiving visits from well over a dozen [former correspondents](http://time.com/3987824/jon-stewart-final-daily-show-alumni/) and a particularly [heartfelt goodbye from Stephen Colbert](http://time.com/3988371/stephen-colbert-daily-show-finale/), Stewart signed off by saying that the entire show has been one long conversation, and it’s far from over. “Nothing ends, it’s just a continuation, it’s a pause in the conversation,” he said. “Rather than saying goodbye or goodnight, I’m just going to say I’m gonna go get a drink, and I’m sure I’ll see you guys before I leave.” And then he looked to none other than Bruce Springsteen to take us through the home stretch. ### See Jon Stewart's Most Memorable Guests On The Daily Show  Kurt Vonnegut appeared on the show in 2005, one of his last public appearances. Comedy Central  Denis Leary and Jon Stewart have long been friends, so every time the actor appeared on the show, the two comedians would opt to make fun of one another rather than conduct an interview, leaving the audience in stitches Comedy Central  After releasing Hugo in 2011, Martin Scorsese visited the show Comedy Central  Last year, Christopher Walken talked tap dancing on the show Comedy Central  Barack Obama appeared on the show in 2005 as a senator, twice in 2008 as a presidential candidate, again in 2010 during his fist term, and finally in 2012 as he ran for a second term Comedy Central  First Lady Michelle Obama has appeared twice on the Daily Show, once in 2008 and twice in 2012 Comedy Central  During one of Paul Rudd's may appearances on the show, Stewart revealed that the comedian was his first test guest after her took over for Craig Kilborn Comedy Central  Rachel Maddow was a repeat guest on the show where she described Justice Scalia as a "troll," said she could kill Bin Laden with a spoon and declared she was "embarrassed" by Bush Comedy Central ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3984650/jon-stewart-final-episode-daily-show/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3984650/jon-stewart-final-episode-daily-show/"},"headline":"Jon Stewart Signs Off From The Daily Show","datePublished":"2015-08-07T04:14:29.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T04:47:09.645Z","description":"“Nothing ends, it’s just a continuation, it’s a pause in the conversation\"","url":"https://time.com/3984650/jon-stewart-final-episode-daily-show/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Television","The Daily Show","Jon Stewart"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4d370923993fcb66/69885de13c1639ddfb4591ea/jon-stewart.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Eliza Berman","jobTitle":"Berman is a senior editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/eliza-berman/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4d370923993fcb66/69885de13c1639ddfb4591ea/jon-stewart.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Jon Stewart poses for a portrait in promotion of his forthcoming directorial and screenwriting feature debut \"Rosewater\" on Nov. 7, 2014 in New York.","caption":"Jon Stewart poses for a portrait in promotion of his forthcoming directorial and screenwriting feature debut \"Rosewater\" on Nov. 7, 2014 in New York.","creditText":"Victoria Will—Invision/AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3984650/jon-stewart-final-episode-daily-show/","name":"Jon Stewart Signs Off From The Daily Show"}}]}] ```