He may only be hosting once a week, but Jon Stewart still bleeds for The Daily Show.
Stewart cut his hand while shattering a mug during his monologue Monday night, echoing a similar injury the host suffered on the show over 13 years ago.
This time around, the moment came while the host was railing against the Department of Government Efficiency’s misguided tactics for cutting large federal expenditures. Stewart had taken out an array of accountant props to take a crack at DOGE’s job himseld: a banker’s lamp, a calculator, a visor, and a mug that read “World’s Most Dad.”
Fuming over America’s inability to negotiate drug prices despite being responsible for pharmaceutical companies’ subsidies, Stewart smashed the mug—a real one apparently, rather than a breakaway one that would typically be supplied by a prop department for any scripted drinkware-smashing—onto his desk.
Stewart kept gripping a few giant shards of the splintered mug in his right hand as he shouted, finally pausing and looking down at his hand, which already seemed to be drawing blood. “I’ll be going to the hospital soon,” he told the crowd as he tucked the injured hand under his desk for the most of the remainder of the segment. Stewart exposed it one more time during an applause break, his hand now wrapped in a rag with blood covering his fingers.
“It’s fine!,” he insisted as the audience groaned at the sight.
Jon Stewart injured his hand on The Daily Show Monday night after smashing a mug on his desk. #DOGE #thedailyshow pic.twitter.com/5bQV1mMnYP
— LateNighter (@latenightercom) February 25, 2025
After the break, Stewart kept his right hand hidden as he interviewed his guest, former Special Master of the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund Rupa Bhattacharyya.
In-show injuries are a rare but not unprecedented hazard of hosting a late-night show—but this marks Stewart’s second hand-maim by drinkware.
Back in 2011, a mock press conference on The Daily Show about Anthony Weiner resulted in Stewart cutting his wrist on a margarita glass. His reaction was nearly identical: “I probably need to go to the hospital,” he told the audience. Indeed, he wound up getting six stitches for that wound.
In a social post teasing Monday night’s broadcast, Stewart foreshadowed his injury “New Daily Show tonight! It’s a bloody good episode…emphasis on bloody…I’m an idiot…”
Watch Stewart’s entire monologue below:
Trying to get that Leonardo vibe from Django.
Yup, I remembered when I saw this that he’d done it before. We need somebody to find and post a video of the first time!