Amid ongoing uncertainty in late-night television and concerns that his parent company is shifting right to curry favor with President Donald Trump, Jon Stewart will remain behind the anchor’s desk of “The Daily Show” through the end of 2026.
Comedy Central announced that Stewart will continue to host the Emmy-winning series every Monday – a role he has enjoyed since returning to “The Daily Show” before the 2024 election – and serve as executive producer of the show until December 2026.
Jon Stewart continues to elevate the genre he created. His return is an ongoing commitment to the incisive comedy and sharp commentary that define The Daily Show,” Comedy Central head Ari Pearce said in a statement Monday. “The renewal is a win for audiences, for Comedy Central and for all our programming partners. We’re proud to support Jon and the extraordinary news team.”
The move will keep the comic, who initially helmed the political satire show from 1999 until 2015, in his once-a-week spot through next year’s midterm and gubernatorial elections. The rest of the week will feature correspondent from The Daily Show’s “News Team” – such as Ronny Chieng, Jordan Klepper, Josh Johnson and Desi Lydic – taking turns behind the anchor’s desk.
More than that, though, the extension will tamp down questions about Stewart’s immediate future that have been swirling since Paramount pulled the plug on Stephen Colbert’s late-night show on CBS, which is Comedy Central’s sister network. Colbert, a close friend of Stewart and a one-time “Daily Show” correspondent, is set to exit CBS next May as “The Late Show” franchise will come to an end after more than three decades.
The cancellation of Colbert – an outspoken critic of Trump – was announced this past summer as Paramount was preparing to close on a politically fraught $8 billion merger with David Ellison’s Skydance Media.
While Paramount asserted that the decision was “purely financial” due to late-night television becoming unprofitable, it came shortly after Colbert accused the company of bribing Trump by settling the “60 Minutes” lawsuit to help the Skydance deal go through. Days after “The Late Show” was axed, the Trump administration approved the merger.
“The fact that CBS didn’t try to save their No. 1 rated late night franchise that’s been on the air for over three decades is part of what’s making everybody wonder: Was this ‘purely financial’? Or maybe it’s the path of least resistance for your $8 billion merger to kill a show that you know rankled a fragile and vengeful president who’s so insecure that he’s suffering terribly from a case of chronic penis insufficiency,” Stewart said in his first episode after Colbert’s cancellation was announced.
“I think the answer is in the fear and pre-compliance that is gripping all of America’s institutions at this very moment, institutions that have chosen not to fight the vengeful and vindictive actions of our pubic hair-doodling Commander in Chief,” he added. “This is not the moment to give in.”
Stewart, who has long railed against Trump and Republicans, has also openly wondered if he or “The Daily Show” could see itself out of favor in a new Ellison regime. While Ellison – the son of mega-billionaire and close Trump ally Larry Ellison – has seemingly shifted the new Paramount towards the right, the president has repeatedly heaped praise on the 42-year-old media mogul.
“We’ve all got a surmise about who actually is owning it and what his ideology is, but ideology may not play a part,” Stewart said amid the looming Paramount-Skydance merger.
The comedian also snarked last month about Ellison's plans to expand his media empire and acquire Warner Bros. Discovery, saying his new boss should “have it all” and that all media companies should be owned by one person. “Shouldn’t they all just be one? Shouldn’t we get to a point where we’re all just fired and hired by the same guy?” he joked. “Just one guy controls all of the media—what could go wrong? That’s what I say.”
In recent weeks, however, Stewart publicly noted that he was “working on staying” with “The Daily Show” as his deal was set to expire this December. At the same time, he made it known that he disagreed with many of Ellison’s moves.
“They’ve already done things that I’m upset about,” Stewart said last month at the New Yorker Festival. “But then if I had integrity, maybe I would stand up and go, ‘I’m out.’ Or maybe the integrity thing to do would be to stay in it and keep fighting in the foxhole.”
He added: “You don’t compromise on what you do, and you do it until they tell you to leave.”
Meanwhile, one factor that may have helped Paramount’s leadership decide to stick with Stewart and the current staff is the show's continued high ratings since his return. Comedy Central recently announced that its flagship late-night show scored its largest audience share in a decade among the coveted 18-49 advertising demographic.
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