Monday’s “The Daily Show” began with loud applause and a standing ovation from the studio audience as they welcomed host Jon Stewart, who left the show in 2015 after 16 years at the helm.
“Why am I back?” you may be wondering, and that's a reasonable question,” he said with a smile on his face. “I've committed a lot of crimes and from what I understand, talk show hosts are grants them immunity.”
Stewart's high energy coincided with the anticipation surrounding his return to the Comedy Central show, which was hosted by Trevor Noah until 2022, when he stepped down. The last year and a half has been anchored by a series of guest hosts, including Kal Penn, Charlamagne tha God, Sarah Silverman and Michelle Wolf.
Now that Stewart is back, he'll host the show every Monday night, at least until the presidential election in November. The other nights will be populated by a rotating series of “correspondents.”
But a lot has changed since Stewart left office, including national levels of political vitriol and the media's role in making and breaking candidates. Consider that the last time Stewart hosted, Bill O'Reilly was the kingpin at Fox and the possibility of Donald Trump being in the Oval Office was a joke.
Stewart dove into his opening monologue with the verve, wit, and timing that made him a pioneer of modern, late-night political satire.
When discussing the Super Bowl, he addressed absurd conspiracy theories about the NFL and Taylor Swift as agents of the Democratic Party. The game was really something of a bust for conservatives who feared the success of a Biden plot if the Kansas City Chiefs beat the San Francisco 49ers, he said. But “if the Chiefs lost, who wins? The Communist People’s Republic of Gay Pelosistan,” Stewart joked.
Appearing that same Monday on “CBS Mornings,” the 61-year-old joked that he was well-positioned to cover this election because he is someone “who really understands two older men who are past their prime.” Stewart appeared on his episode Monday night and admitted all about his return to “The Daily Show.”
The host's last effort, the Apple TV+ show “The Problem with Jon Stewart,” lasted just two seasons. Stewart told the CBS anchors that he “really wanted some kind of place to unload my thoughts as we head into this election season. I thought I was going to do it on (they call it Apple TV+), it is a television enclave, very small. It's like living in Malibu. But… they felt like they didn’t want me to say things that would get me in trouble.”
Stewart, who is also an executive producer of “The Daily Show,” spent most of his time Monday night doing what he does best: addressing contentious political discourse with insight and humor, and focusing on the critical issues. His signature bipartisan style, while still firmly progressive, diminished Bill Maher's recent efforts to brand his HBO show as the only place where both sides are represented.
President Biden and former President Trump were the main focus of Stewart's opening show. She talked about them alongside a graphic that showed both men looking their age. “The elections are nine months away, people, and we already know our candidates. Drum roll please…these damn guys,” he said in a deflated tone. Then the new poster for this year's elections appeared on the screen: “Indecision 2024: American DeMOCKracy” and “Electrical Dysfunction.” He later changed it to “Indecision 2024: Antiques Roadshow.”
Stewart offered a refreshing perspective on how both Democrats and Republicans have largely avoided looking at their own candidate's advanced age, while using that same factor as a weapon against the opponent.
“The question then is what the fuck are we doing here, people?” Stewart joked. “We have two candidates who chronologically are outside the norm of anyone who has run for president of this country in the history of the country. They are the oldest people to run for president, breaking by just four years the record that they established the last time they ran.
“What is crazy is to think that it is we, as voters, who should silence concerns and criticism. It's the candidate's job to allay concerns, not voters'. No mention them.”
The gray-haired Stewart then asked the camera operator to come closer to take a close-up photo of his face: “I didn't want to have to do this on my first day. Look at me. Look what time has done. Give kids a treat from the lunar surface here. I'm like 20 years younger than these mothers. …And if you think 20 years isn’t that long, this is me 20 years ago.”
And a photo surfaced of Stewart looking, well, much younger.
“Look, the next nine months or so, and maybe more depending on the timing of the coup, are going to suck. You'll get emails with crazy subject lines like, 'Hi Jon, this is Chuck Schumer.' Donald Trump is right behind you with a knife. You're going to be inundated with robocalls,” he said, “and real surveys and polls…it'll all make you feel like Tuesday, November 5th is the only day that matters, and that day does matter, but Man, November 6th. November is nothing to sneeze at, or November 7.”
“If your guy loses, bad things can happen, but the country is not finished,” he continued. “If your man wins, the country is not saved in any way. I've learned one thing these past nine years, and I was at best glib and at worst probably dismissive about it. The work of making this world look like one you would rather live in is lunchbox work… work, day in and day out, where thousands of committed, anonymous, intelligent, dedicated people knock on closed doors and lift up those who have fallen. and work on the problems until they get a positive outcome, and even then, they have to stick around to make sure the outcome holds. So the good news is that I'm not saying you shouldn't worry about who wins the election. What I'm saying is that you have to worry every day before and every day after, forever. Although, on the positive side, they tell me that at some point the sun will run out of hydrogen.”
The program also included an interview with Zanny Minton Beddoes, editor-in-chief of The Economist, and dispatches from correspondents during the campaign. From outside a restaurant in Michigan, Dulcé Sloan complained that the election was a tired reboot. “They already had this job. Now these old white men have to come back and claim it? Come on! Go do something new and don't get so desperate. Let’s let someone else run the show,” he said, clearly referring to Stewart’s return.
Later, Jordan Klepper, who will host the show the rest of the week, appeared behind the desk with Stewart. “Have you saved democracy yet?” Klepper asked. “With your sarcastic '90s style and both siderisms… Scorching, Jon.”
And with that, Stewart was back.
