Michael Kosta had a surprise guest waiting under his desk on Thursday night’s Daily Show.
Midway through his interview with Beth Stern, Kosta shared the adoption story of his dog Walter, “a little 13-pound Havanese schnauzer” of uncertain origin, whom he first spotted in a shelter’s Instagram post while driving through Los Angeles.
“I took an illegal U-turn,” Kosta said. “I scooped him up. He has been in our family for 11 years.”
Kosta then asked the studio audience: “Does anyone want to meet Walter?”
Out came Walter, looking not entirely convinced this was how he wanted to spend his evening.
“He was sleeping,” Kosta explained. “Imagine if you were sleeping and you woke up and you were on TV.”
Asked by Stern what Walter means to him, Kosta responded, “He just brings me so much joy and love,” adding that Walter is “the only other boy in the house” alongside Kosta’s wife and two daughters.
“Sometimes we just kind of bro out,” he said.
As national spokesperson for North Shore Animal League America—and, with husband Howard Stern, one of animal rescue’s more famous foster parents—Stern seemed perfectly happy to cede the spotlight to Walter and help Kosta make the case for adopted pets.
The Daily Show is famously a dog-friendly environment, with staffers’ pups known to freely roam the halls of the show’s offices. (The “Daily Show Dogs,” as they’re known, even have their own Instagram page with 63,000 followers.)
The show also has a history of championing pet adoption, memorably partnering with voter registration organization HeadCount and rescue group Animal Haven on a joint voter-registration and pet-adoption initiative dubbed “InDogCision 2024: Rescuing Democracy.”
Watch Walter make his Daily Show desk debut below:
