In the wake of the cancellation of Stephen Colbert’s Late Show, a lingering question has been what will happen with Jon Stewart, whose year-to-year contract at The Daily Show expires in December.
Stewart himself poked fun at the speculation just days after the Colbert announcement, telling Daily Show viewers, “I’m not going anywhere—I think.”
Asked point-blank about Stewart’s future at Comedy Central’s flagship series yesterday, the executive now overseeing operations at the network following the departure of Paramount co-CEO Chris McCarthy was decidedly noncommittal.
That the executive, George Cheeks, is the same person who made the final call to cancel The Late Show with Stephen Colbert doesn’t exactly inspire confidence.
As Oliver Darcy reports in his Status newsletter, he caught up with Cheeks on Thursday while the incoming Chairman of TV Media for New Paramount ate “a hamburger with a fork and knife” following a press conference marking the closing of Paramount’s merger with Skydance.
Asked about the status of Stewart’s contract renewal, Cheeks reportedly indicated that no decision had been made, responding it was “day one” of the new company.
As Darcy writes: “I noted that renewals are usually negotiated months in advance. His answer didn’t change.”
In another telling exchange, Darcy asked Cheeks about the state of his relationship with Stephen Colbert, who has slammed leaks from the network claiming his show was losing $40 million. As Darcy writes: Cheeks “signaled that he didn’t really know, which said plenty.”
As we reported yesterday, Cheeks had only positive things to say about Colbert at the new company’s first press conference, telling reporters, “We are huge fans of Colbert. We love the show.”
