There are many questions—and swords—hanging over late-night television at the moment. One question is immediately pressing: What’s going to happen with Jon Stewart?
The clock is ticking, but so are his show’s ratings—ticking up, that is.
You might also be hearing more ominous, bomb-like ticking in the background as the new ownership of Comedy Central, Paramount Global, considers where the full-throated, unintimidated, Trump-satirizing comedy of The Daily Show fits into Paramount’s increasingly Trump-accommodating plans.
After all, a bomb did go off earlier this year when Stephen Colbert’s Late Show was canceled by CBS as its takeover by Paramount loomed.
All that ticking sets up a potentially fraught moment. Stewart returned to the show in February 2024 with a plan to host one night a week through the presidential election.
That plan went well, and a year ago next week, Stewart and Comedy Central announced an extension of his stay at TDS through December 2025. That sets up an end date just ten weeks away.
And a choice: keep TDS running with its headlining star still swinging from the heels every Monday night by extending his run for at least another year—or not.
People associated with the show say there is considerable uncertainty about what’s going to happen because, as one put it, “It all depends on what Jon decides.”
Of course it does. Stewart is more than the once-a-week host of the show—he’s an executive producer, and more than that, he’s the iconic face of what is now one of the great franchises in late-night history.
And given the now hugely challenged and hyper-contentious state of late-night television—under an administration overtly rooting for the demise of hosts whose jokes the President doesn’t like—Stewart is also seen as a commanding officer in the unofficial resistance.
Comic-at-heart Stewart would likely scoff at such a declaration.
But you know who made the importance of what he and the other hosts and writers of The Daily Show are doing right now abundantly clear to its viewers and fans?
Jon Stewart did—in his show following Colbert’s abrupt cancellation, where he laid blame at the feet of pusillanimous corporations trying to curry favor with “Lord Farquard.”
That case sounds familiar because Jimmy Kimmel made the same one on ABC—the case for standing against the dimming of American values and standing up for the First Amendment.
Notably, this whole standing-up thing is turning out to be a tasty dose of ratings elixir for late-night shows. Kimmel drew an enormous audience when he returned to the air after being declared canceled by the White House resident.
And with the activities in Washington as a nightly theme, TDS has been on a kind of revival tour of its own. As reported here on LateNighter earlier this week, younger viewers—who are these days the hardest and most valuable to collect—have been returning to TDS like a lost tribe coming home.
The ratings for viewers between the ages of 18 and 49 during the third quarter of this year were the show’s best in more than four years. These days, that’s akin to an achievement of historic proportions for any over-the-air television show featuring performers not wearing shoulder pads.
Year over year, the show’s numbers are up an eye-popping 25 percent.
That might give even the new ownership of Paramount pause. There may be only two shows of any value left on the ramshackle network called Comedy Central, but both South Park and The Daily Show are clearly live, walking, and breathing programming assets.
At a time when the leadership of that company sees fit to install a top executive at CBS News with no television news experience simply because she has conservative credentials, the ratings surge may not, in the end, be enough to preserve the independent voice that’s making TDS a hot product again. But all the show can do, as Stewart put it, is “try.”
During that show following the axing of his friend and one-time Comedy Central colleague Colbert, Stewart praised the choice Colbert made to bet on himself and his talent by taking on the imposing legacy of David Letterman at The Late Show on CBS.
Stewart sounded regretful that he himself made a different choice at that time. “I quit,” he said. “Stephen challenged his abilities in the biggest field he could, and I literally went to a farm upstate.”
Stewart certainly sounded like he was not about to make a bad choice again. He made a passionate argument against “choosing not to fight the vengeful and vindictive actions of our pubic-hair-doodling Commander-in-Chief.”
He urged institutions—from law firms to universities to advertisers—to stop their “pre-compliance” in the vain hope of “staying off the boy-king’s radar.”
Instead, he argued to those institutions: “These are troubled times, so sack the f**k up!”
And most pointedly, he said this: “This is not the time to give in. I’m not giving in. I’m not going anywhere.”
We’ll find out for sure about that sometime between now and New Year’s Day.
Get stories like this in your inbox: Sign up for LateNighter’s free daily newsletter.
You should never have come back with your predictable BOTH SIDES!!! bullshit that you and your fellow late night hacks spewed that inadvertently put that fat fuck Drumpf back in the White House! All while not taking responsibility for your words that aided that decision!
But you don’t care! You think your millions will protect you, until they come for you too!
Dems and yourself illustrate what LOSING looks like. Your temper tantrums mean nothing. Christianity and Conservatism are back envogue. Thankfully.
I got news for you, bitch hole! Christianity is plummeting because of you fucking hypocrites trying to shove a false narrative about God and Jesus down everyone’s throats! No one likes a Christ that tells people “blessed are the rich for they are awesome and fuck the poor for giving the rich a sad!”
And thanks to your abusive daddy Drumpf wanting revenge on the nation for not bowing down to him, right wing MAGA fascism, you stupidly call conservatism, is going to collapse due to your precious toddler’s batshit economic policies! Enjoy sleeping under an overpass in your future, stupid!
Did you not fucking pay attention to the No Kings rally, last weekend? Completely dwarfed any Tea Party whinefest! You MAGA holes are in the minority, and not even close to making a comeback! Grow the fuck up, stupid bitch!
You MAGAturds aren’t gonna win, bitch hole!🖕😈🖕
Google is now paying $300 to $500 per hour for doing work online work from home. Last paycheck of me said that $20537 from this easy and simple job. Its amazing and earns are awesome. No boss, full time freedom and earnings are in front of you. This job is just awesome. Every person can makes income online with google easily……….
.
More Details For Us→→→→→→→→→→ Goto.now/y3CuX
TDS. President Trump rocks and is accomplishing great things for America. He is the most consequential President of my entire lifetime. Independent here.
“B-hole?” That sounds so adult like coming from someone who lacks polish and a vocabulary. President Trump is winning. Republicans will grow because of your friends like Jon Stewart and the now canceled Stephen Colbert. Facts. Now please go to your safe space with all of your tranny friends.
But then again, you’re not a real person! A real person wouldn’t call Drumpf the greatest American president! Not after driving the economy into the ditch with his fucked up tariffs that St Ronnie of Raygun thought made a person stupid, pissed off all of America’s allies and emboldened its enemies, and has kept the House shut down rather than have the Epstein files released. He’s not only the worst president that ever lived, he’s the worst American ever! Your Dear Pedo has supplanted Benedict Arnold as the go to face for treason against America!
You gonna get off on making libbies cry, while you’re roasting dead birds under an overpass? Because that’s what your fate has for you, for being so fucking stupid, bitch hole!
Now stay the fuck away from children, you fucking pedophile!
“Stewart returned to the show in February 2024 with a plan to host one night a week through the presidential election.
That plan went well”
Not really. Jonny was brought back for millions around the same time Paramount laid off hundreds.
The libs at Paramount and Jonny wanted to help sway the election and the result was Donald Trump winning the popular vote and the presidency.
Heh
And if Jonny is the de-facto leader of the Resistance (remember when late-night was not just left-wing propaganda to hate on Republicans and conservatives?), he should spend more than one night a week to justify his existence for his bloated salary.
Besides, the biggest threat to Jonny and ‘The Daily Fail’ remains cord cutting to cable. With fewer subscribers each and every month, financial losses will pile up faster.
Best thing Jonny Boy should do is quit, and go host a show on Apple TV where nobody will watch.
You think an entity like CBS Paramount are being run by lefty lefts who want to grab school children and change their genders because, FUCK YOUR FEELINGS?
You are too stupid to live, bitch hole!
Those media conglomerates are all being run by wealthy, out of touch billionaires who vote Republican for the tax cuts, and who support Drumpf because he makes their jobs so easy with all the stupid crap he deliberately causes, so they can turn around and push this at their audience!
Those media conglomerates were all in on getting Drumpf back in the White House, bitch hole! That’s why they went after Biden in that debate, even though he had a cold and was still functioning better than your Dear Stupidfuck Drumpf, who was his insane, lunatic self!
The Liberally Biased Mainstream Media™ is your ally, Mucky Boy! Not your adversary! But you’re too God damned fucking stupid to realize it, because you live inside your own head, where Republicans are considered superheroes to you fat stupid ugly losers, while Democrats are mankind’s greatest monsters that need to be wiped off the face of the earth!
I’m certain you’ll respond with your trademarked, fucked in the head beyond belief ignorance and stupidity! And I’ll be waiting here, ready to kick your fucking face in as usual, so that you can run upstairs and cry in your mommy’s lap, fuckface!🖕😈🖕
If that’s the case, why would Jonny, Colbert, Kimmel and Seth Meyers would want to work for these Republican billionaires?
They should all quit if they were principled.
What does it say that your billionaire oligarchs, whom you slavishly worship and want to lick their unwiped bungholes, are giving those late night hosts all that money to do whatever the fuck they want? If those late night hosts are unprincipled, then so are your rich idols!
It works both ways, dumbfuck!
Don’t you ever get tired of exposing your fat unwiped ass, Mucky?🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Except I’m not the one accepting paychecks from these billionaires like Colbert, Stewart, Kimmel and Seth Meters. They’re the ones licking their assholes.
It works both ways?
So you admit Colbert, Stewart, Kimmel and Seth Meyers are just as slimy and evil as these billionaires. Progress for you.
And then you should have no problem with them being fired like Colbert was.
But I’m having a hard time trying to decipher your latest pathetic attempt to make a point! So you admit that those billionaire oligarchs who worship Drumpf are slimy and evil? That just makes you look so totally lame and desperate! Billionaires support Drumpf and his fascist regime, like you!
Are you telling us you’re Antifa, Mucky Boy?
This is why I so enjoy bitchslapping your racist sexist MAGA self! You have no principals to stand on. You just spew whatevers inside that fruit pit you use for a brain to make yourself and your MAGA cause look good! All while leaving people wondering why they let you out unsupervised! This is why you MAGA holes are going to lose! There’s less of you than us and you’re all dumber than a doorknob. And we’re getting more and more tired of your bullshit! You WILL be dragged into the 21 Century!
And I will await for another one of your dumbfuck responses so that I can bitchslap you harder, Mucky Boy!🖕😈🖕
Again, if what you’re saying is true, , why would Jonny, Colbert, Kimmel and Seth Meyers would want to work for these Republican billionaires?
They should all quit if they were principled.
Are you saying those late-night liberals lack principles?
They should quit ASAP, right? Otherwise they’re scum-sucking left-wing hypocrites?
Mucky Boy continues to spew out the same boring bullshit he consistently posts here, because he thinks (LOL!!!) liberals have no morals or principles, like MAGA losers have! Or so he thinks (LOL!!!). Isn’t he such a tiring piece of shit that couldn’t think his way out of a paper bag?
Hey Mucky Boy, don’t you ever get tired of posting the same ignorant shit, over and over and over again? And do you hang around your mommy’s computer all day waiting for me to respond to you? Because you quickly respond to my posts like the bumhurt diaper baby you are! Are you confined to your mommy’s basement because the authorities say you’re a threat to children? You have no fucking life, troll!
Go back to school and learn something for once in your trailer trash life, Mucky Boy! You’ll find out what a loser life you’ve been leading!🖕😈🖕
it’s not about “a president who hates jokes,”. It’s about appealing to broad based audiences
STOP BEING LIBBIE MEANIES AN’ QUIT PICKING ON THE GREATEST PRESIDENT WE EVER HAD IN DRUMPF, AND START PICKING ON THE DUMMYCRAPS, CUZ I SAID SO!!!😭😭😭😭😭
Next book title to complete the trilogy:
The Late Night Strikes Back.
The problem with Broadcast Networks is that they have been heavily regulated and poorly managed (There are no longer any Leslie Moonves, Brandon Tartikoff, or even Robert Wright-types running things). The “Talent” have driven the genre and the Medium of Broadcast Television in to the ground/irrelevance with their PERSONAL Politics. Jimmy Kimmel: “I don’t care if Republicans don’t watch my show.” Of course not, because this would be GOOD for Business.
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Oh wait, you’re being serious! Lemme laugh even harder!
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
God, but you’re fucking hilariously stupid, ya lamebrain!
Pay no attention to the trolls Jon. At a time when I needed it most, YOU, Stephen, and Sam Bee gave me hope when I needed it the most. When I lacked courage, I channeled it. When I felt lost, I found humor that I needed to go on. John Stewart needs to do what he needs to do, but I know he will do the right thing. These are the times we all must stick together as Democrats but mostly as Americans. Good luck John whatever you do.💙
He’s still the same he was before! He’s of no fucking help to the country, and I say that as someone who used to watch his show on a regular basis!
He didn’t change when the political environment changed after Drumpf went down that escalator, ten years ago! He should never have returned to that seat! He’s just smearing his own shit all over his legacy!
These are no longer the Nights of Johnny Carson or David Letterman where Talent drove ratings and revenue. Now, Late Night Television is littered with mediocre (non?) “personalities” who no longer have the finesse, business sense, nor capability of appealing to a mass, broad-based audience. Yet, most believe that they are irreplaceable.
Yet you ignorant MAGA babies all think he’s the best, because he draws huge crowds from a defected gene pool! You put that humorless hack on a network show, and he wouldn’t make it to the end of the week!
No matter what happens to this crowd of late night hosts, they’re still better than your idol Gutfool, you sad, drooling loser!
No go play in a viper pit, suck!
Wow… if I didnt know any better, by all these trolls, I could assume that they are afraid of … or feel threatened by comedians like; Stewart, Colbert, Kimmel, etc…
Just pissed! They were of no help to the country with their both sides bullshit that helped put Drumpf back in the White House! All while fellating Bernie the Bum Sanders shrivelled up dick! Got a problem with THAT?!!
After Trevor Noah nearly destroyed it, we can now see it’s abundantly clear that the Daily Show can not survive without Jon Stewart. The rotating hosts do not have the same presentation, energy, or passion that Stewart has. Desi Lydic sounds like she’s reading. Jordan Klepper is good, but still feels mechanical. Michael Kosta is decent but he comes across as more of a game show host. Josh Johnson? Dear god, I know people like him but he’s so flat and his delivery is so limp, that he’s utterly milquetoast. Watching Josh Johnson is like watching an episode of Barney The Dinosaur, and then he tries to prove a he can do political comedy by saying “And how about that Trump guy, am right?”.
I’m afraid that if Stewart were to leave the Daily Show now, it would tailspin straight into the ground and in about a year and a half, we’ll be watching reruns of South Park at 11pm.