Jon Stewart, who turned Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show”
into a sharp-edged commentary on current events, delivering the news in
layers of silliness and mockery, said on Tuesday that he would step
down after more than 16 years as its
anchor.
Mr.
Stewart, whose contract with Comedy Central ends in September,
disclosed his plans during a taping of the program on Tuesday. Saying
that “in my heart, I know it is time for someone else” to have the
opportunity he had, Mr. Stewart told his audience that he was still
working out the details of his departure, which “might be December,
might be July.”
“I
don’t have any specific plans,” Mr. Stewart said, addressing the camera
at the end of his show, at times seeming close to tears. “Got a lot of
ideas. I got a lot of things in my head. I’m going to have dinner on a
school night with my family, who I have heard from multiple sources are
lovely people.”
“I’m
not going anywhere tomorrow,” Mr. Stewart added, “but this show doesn’t
deserve an even slightly restless host, and neither do you.” Comedy
Central did not elaborate on the future of the show, except to say that
it “will endure for years to come.”
In
becoming the nation’s satirist in chief, Mr. Stewart imbued the program
with a personal sense of justice, even indignation. For a segment of
the audience that had lost its faith in broadcast and print news outlets
or never regarded them as sacrosanct in the first place, Mr. Stewart
emerged a figure as trusted as Walter Cronkite or Edward R. Murrow.
Mr. Stewart, 52, became the host of “The Daily Show” in 1999, entering with the identity of a hard-working standup, if not necessarily an astute political commentator.
A
decade and a half later, his satirical sensibility helped turn “The
Daily Show,” where he also serves as an executive producer, into an
influential platform for news and media commentary, both in the United
States and around the world. The program — which averaged a respectable
2.2 million viewers a night last year — has been a humorous release
valve for politically frustrated (often left-leaning) viewers and a bête
noire of (often right-leaning) critics who saw him as a member of the
liberal media elite.
As
recently as Monday night on the show, Mr. Stewart had been taking aim
at the recent scandal that has engulfed the NBC news anchor Brian
Williams, a frequent “Daily Show” guest who on Tuesday was suspended
without pay for six months. Mr. Stewart cast him as a journalist with a
propensity for personal exaggeration and commented on the failure of
the news media to thoroughly question the underpinnings of the Iraq War.
Speaking of Mr. Williams, Mr. Stewart said, “See, I see the problem. We got us a case here of infotainment confusion syndrome.”
Noting
the widespread media coverage of Mr. Williams’s woes, Mr. Stewart wryly
added, “Finally someone is being held to account for misleading America
about the Iraq War.”
Created
by Lizz Winstead and Madeleine Smithberg, “The Daily Show” had its
debut in 1996 with Craig Kilborn, the former “SportsCenter” anchor,
gaining buzz for its mixture of “Weekend Update”-style, news-driven
comedy and Mr. Kilborn’s sarcastic celebrity interviews.
Under
Mr. Stewart, “The Daily Show” made Comedy Central a formidable player
in late-night entertainment, a field that had largely belonged to the
broadcast networks and programs like David Letterman’s “Late Show” (on
CBS) and Jay Leno’s “Tonight Show” (on NBC).
During
Mr. Stewart’s tenure, “The Daily Show” won 20 Emmy Awards, including
numerous trophies for outstanding variety series and outstanding writing
of a variety series. The program also became remarkable for its success
rate in boosting the careers of other comedic talents, who generally
started out as on-air correspondents on “The Daily Show.” Stephen
Colbert used “The Daily Show” to refine his persona as a blowhard
commentator and parlay it into his own companion series on Comedy
Central, “The Colbert Report.” In April, CBS announced that Mr. Colbert
would succeed Mr. Letterman as the host of its “Late Show.”
Steve
Carell, who went on to become the lead actor of NBC’s “The Office” and
an Academy Award-nominated star of “Foxcatcher,” broke through as a
“Daily Show” correspondent under Mr. Stewart. So did John Oliver, now
the host of HBO’s news satire program “Last Week Tonight,” and Larry
Wilmore, who now hosts Comedy Central’s “Nightly Show,” following “The
Daily Show.”
For
a generation of television viewers, Mr. Stewart and his “Indecision”
coverage of presidential and congressional elections became the
satirical prism through which they viewed the American political
process. Mr. Stewart spoke for audience members who became jaded about
electoral democracy (some before they were old enough to vote) and was
often cited as a primary source of information for a viewership that had
given up on the staid evening-news programs of the broadcast networks
and the shouting-match arenas of cable television.
Whether
or not they shared Mr. Stewart’s viewpoints, guests from across the
political and media spectrums frequently appeared on “The Daily Show” to
promote projects and discuss current events. President Obama gave
interviews to Mr. Stewart (including one in October 2012, with that
year’s presidential campaign in full swing). So too did former
Presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton; Hillary Rodham Clinton; John
McCain; Mike Huckabee; and Nancy Pelosi.
Bill
O’Reilly, the host of “The O’Reilly Factor” on Fox News and a frequent
critic of Mr. Stewart’s, was nonetheless a willing and able sparring
partner, and often appeared on “The Daily Show” or invited Mr. Stewart
onto his show for boisterous debates.
Mr. Stewart saw no need to pretend to be a neutral host, and sometimes confronted his targets on their home turf.
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