--- title: Jon Stewart's 'Daily Show' Return: A Bad Omen for Late Night description: Stewart's return doesn't bode well for an aging show—and a faltering TV format—that's too eager to revisit its glory days. canonical: https://time.com/6588305/jon-stewart-daily-show-return-2024/ author: Judy Berman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2024-01-24T23:13:32.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-24T17:00:52.236Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: Jon Stewart's 'Daily Show' Return: A Bad Omen for Late Night og:description: Stewart's return doesn't bode well for an aging show—and a faltering TV format—that's too eager to revisit its glory days. og:url: https://time.com/6588305/jon-stewart-daily-show-return-2024/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3e8282ee92eac6b8/698a4424cabb1d09a9e522a0/GettyImages-483217408.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: "The Daily Show With Jon Stewart" #JonVoyage og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Jon Stewart's 'Daily Show' Return: A Bad Omen for Late Night twitter:description: Stewart's return doesn't bode well for an aging show—and a faltering TV format—that's too eager to revisit its glory days. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3e8282ee92eac6b8/698a4424cabb1d09a9e522a0/GettyImages-483217408.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Jon Stewart's _Daily Show_ Return Is a Bad Omen for Late Night > Sponsored content. 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Terms and conditions apply. * Savings buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Savings Account. * No ATM fees from Ally Bank at Allpoint and Moneypass ATMs plus we reimburse for fees charged by other ATM owners nationwide up to $10 per statement cycle. * Early direct deposit offers eligible direct deposits up to two days sooner. * Spending buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Spending Account. ## Video: The Biggest Snubs and Surprises of the 2024 Oscar Nominations [Watch (HLS stream): The Biggest Snubs and Surprises of the 2024 Oscar Nominations](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/J14aN3To.m3u8) (13:20)  _Published 2024-01-23. The 2024 Oscar nominations were announced Tuesday morning and Oppenheimer led the day with 13 nods, including for Best Picture, Best Actor (Cillian Murphy), Best Supporting Actor (Robert Downey Jr.), and Best Supporting Actress (Emily Blunt). Poor Things and Killers of the Flower Moon followed close behind, with 11 and 10 nominations, respectively._  by [Judy Berman](https://time.com/author/judy-berman/)  ## Judy Berman TV Critic Jan 24, 2024 11:13 PM UTC  Jon Stewart hosts the final episode of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart on Aug. 6, 2015 in New York City. Jon Stewart hosts the final episode of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart on Aug. 6, 2015 in New York City.Brad Barket—Getty Images for Comedy Central  by [Judy Berman](https://time.com/author/judy-berman/)  ## Judy Berman TV Critic Jan 24, 2024 11:13 PM UTC Jon Stewart didn’t create [_The Daily Show_](https://time.com/collection-post/3101518/the-daily-show/), but he did make it a cultural phenomenon. Before he took the helm, in 1999, Comedy Central’s foray into late night was a straightforward parody of network news that cast Craig Kilborn as the unctuous anchor. Stewart took a drier, rawer, and more politicized (also: angrier) approach, skewering hypocritical politicians and fulminating against the inanity of cable news. Now, following a seven-year run by [Trevor Noah](https://time.com/collection/most-influential-people-2018/5217611/trevor-noah/) and 2023’s revolving door of guest hosts, he’s [returning](https://time.com/6588174/jon-stewart-returns-the-daily-show/) to the show that made him a household name. As Showtime and MTV Entertainment Studios announced on Wednesday, Stewart will host _The Daily Show_ on Mondays beginning Feb. 12\. He’ll also serve as an executive producer, helping to guide the rotating cast of comedians who will fill the anchor’s seat every Tuesday through Thursday. For his fans, who were surely disappointed when his [uneven Apple TV+ talk show](https://time.com/6103094/the-problem-with-jon-stewart-review/) _The Problem With Jon Stewart_ was [abruptly canceled](https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/19/business/media/jon-stewart-the-problem-ends.html) this past October, this is wonderful news. But whether you idolize him or abhor him, Stewart’s return feels like a bad omen for an aging show that captured the early-aughts media zeitgeist like no other—and for late night as a genre. "Jon Stewart is the voice of our generation," declared Showtime/MTV Entertainment Studios head Chris McCarthy while announcing the news. But whose generation is he talking about? Born in 1962, on the baby boomer-Gen X cusp, Stewart made his _Daily Show_ debut at 36, after cutting his teeth on edgy, youth-oriented programs like MTV’s _The Jon Stewart Show_ and Comedy Central’s _You Wrote It, You Watch It_. His sarcastic humor and anti-Establishment orientation resonated with a young audience that the host himself lightheartedly stereotyped as students, stoners, and slackers. The show’s appeal—especially before blogs cornered the market on snark and during a George W. Bush administration whose absurdity seems in retrospect like a dress rehearsal for the Trump years—was in its honest, acerbic analysis of the partisan nightmare unfolding in Washington and a mainstream media that either politely sugarcoated this cataclysm or exploited it for entertainment. No pop-culture icon deserves more credit than Stewart for [starting a conversation](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/video/watch-jon-stewart-call-tucker-carlson-a-dick-epic-2004-crossfire-take-down-961147/) about the debased state of cable news. ### More From TIME But nearly a decade after his departure from _The Daily Show_, Stewart is twice or three times the age of late night’s traditional target demographic. Broadcast hosts like Stephen Colbert and Jimmy Kimmel aren’t so much younger, you might point out. And age isn’t necessarily correlated with relevance. This is all true. But it was the freshness of Stewart’s voice that made his cable program an effective alternative to the politically cautious Lenos and even Lettermans of the Y2K era. _The Daily Show_ seemed to understand this upon [his departure](https://time.com/3988497/jon-stewart-daily-show-finale-rant-bullshit/), in 2015\. When Noah, a biracial, millennial comedian from South Africa with a notably calm demeanor, [became Stewart’s successor](https://time.com/3763214/trevor-noah-daily-show-host/) at 31, it felt like an acknowledgment that it was time to pass the torch. In that regard, hiring a fresh face was an act of optimism on the producers’ part, and the show’s persistence for a decade after Stewart left, albeit in somewhat diminished form, heartening. But the TV landscape of 2024 is very different from the TV landscape of 2014 or even 2019\. Cable in particular has suffered, as viewers—especially millennials and Gen Z—[abandon it in droves](https://www.indiewire.com/news/business/cord-cutters-outnumber-cable-tv-subscribers-study-1234930781/) for streaming platforms. News [isn’t the only category of cable](https://cordcuttersnews.com/cable-tv-has-a-huge-problem-its-viewers-are-getting-older-even-for-traditionally-kids-focused-networks/) that has seen its audience skew older. Now the broadcast schedules of historically youth-focused channels like [MTV](https://www.mtv.com/tv-schedule/mtv) are larded with reruns, offering little in the way of appointment television. Tune in to Comedy Central [this week](https://www.cc.com/tv-schedule), and you’ll be treated to 24/7 marathons of _Seinfeld_, _South Park_, and _Futurama_. Late night is a similarly sad state of affairs. Audiences have [shrunk dramatically during Noah’s tenure](https://www.forbes.com/sites/marisadellatto/2022/09/30/how-late-night-talk-ratings-cratered-during-trevor-noahs-daily-show-era/?sh=1460ac166c15), in large part because of cord cutters’ exodus. Streaming services have [struggled](https://time.com/6213692/jennifer-hudson-karamo-brown-talk-show-future/) to get subscribers watching timely talk shows helmed by marquee comedians from Chelsea Handler to Michelle Wolfe. In recent years, hosts including Conan O’Brien, Samantha Bee, Desus and Mero, and James Corden have either seen their shows canceled or left and not been replaced. (One result of this contraction: late night looks whiter and more male than ever.) Axios reported, last year, that ad revenue for the top six late-night shows was [down 50% ](https://www.axios.com/2023/04/28/late-night-tv-corden-ratings-decline)since 2014. This must have weighed heavily on _The Daily Show_’s producers’ minds when they elected to spend last year low-key auditioning comedians to replace Noah. Who could possibly justify such a [reportedly hefty salary](https://www.cosmopolitan.com/entertainment/celebs/a36511958/trevor-noah-net-worth/) with ratings and earnings both in free fall? For a while, it [seemed likely](https://variety.com/2023/tv/news/hasan-minhaj-daily-show-host-1235685137/) that _Daily Show_ correspondent turned _Patriot Act_ host [Hasan Minhaj](https://time.com/collection/100-most-influential-people-2019/5567704/hasan-minhaj/) would get the gig. Then a [_New Yorker_ profile](https://www.newyorker.com/news/annals-of-communications/hasan-minhajs-emotional-truths) revealed he was mixing fact with politically charged fiction in his comedy, and the [tide turned against him](https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2023/10/hasan-minhaj-is-reportedly-out-of-the-running-to-host-the-daily-show). Despite an impressive roster of guest hosts that included many of the above names, as well as Wanda Sykes, Kal Penn, Sarah Silverman, and fan-favorite correspondent Roy Wood Jr. (who [quit the show](https://www.npr.org/2023/10/05/1203743662/roy-wood-jr-daily-show) rather than remain in limbo), a second frontrunner never emerged. Last week, [_Variety_ reported](https://variety.com/2024/tv/news/comedy-central-daily-show-host-no-choice-correspondents-1235879076/) there would be no new host. You can see why the show might see Stewart as a godsend at this precarious moment, when behind-the-scenes flux could thwart any potential for an election-year viewership bump—and why he might be inclined to help save an institution that will almost certainly define his legacy. I have trouble imagining a new host who could, at least initially, attract nearly as much interest as this particular returning host. It seems likely, though, that many who tune in will be Stewart loyalists doing so out of nostalgia. Who knows how quickly that novelty will fade? Yes, it’s encouraging that other comedians will rotate through the studio; here’s hoping the producers take risks on rising talent. Still, for me, hearing that Jon Stewart was coming back to _The Daily Show_ was a bit like hearing about [Bob Iger’s return to Disney](https://time.com/6269006/bob-iger-interview-time100/). My first thought was that something had to be very wrong. Only a show—or a network, or an entertainment monolith, or a TV format—whose glory days were over would be so eager to revisit them. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/6588305/jon-stewart-daily-show-return-2024/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/6588305/jon-stewart-daily-show-return-2024/"},"headline":"Jon Stewart's Daily Show Return Is a Bad Omen for Late Night","datePublished":"2024-01-24T23:13:32.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-24T17:00:52.236Z","description":"Stewart's return doesn't bode well for an aging show—and a faltering TV format—that's too eager to revisit its glory days.","url":"https://time.com/6588305/jon-stewart-daily-show-return-2024/","keywords":["Television","Second click","culturepod"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3e8282ee92eac6b8/698a4424cabb1d09a9e522a0/GettyImages-483217408.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Judy Berman","jobTitle":"TV Critic","url":"https://time.com/author/judy-berman/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3e8282ee92eac6b8/698a4424cabb1d09a9e522a0/GettyImages-483217408.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"\"The Daily Show With Jon Stewart\" #JonVoyage","caption":"\"The Daily Show With Jon Stewart\" #JonVoyage","creditText":"Brad Barket—Getty Images for Comedy Central","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":"/tag/television/","name":"Television"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/6588305/jon-stewart-daily-show-return-2024/","name":"Jon Stewart's Daily Show Return Is a Bad Omen for Late Night"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"The Biggest Snubs and Surprises of the 2024 Oscar Nominations","description":"The 2024 Oscar nominations were announced Tuesday morning and Oppenheimer led the day with 13 nods, including for Best Picture, Best Actor (Cillian Murphy), Best Supporting Actor (Robert Downey Jr.), and Best Supporting Actress (Emily Blunt). 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