Jon Stewart’s The Daily Show is coming back for at least another year, and fans of the talk show and late-night in general should consider this a big win. A stand-up comic turned late-night host with The Jon Stewart Show, turned political satirist with The Daily Show, turned actual political pundit, Stewart has almost accidentally become a political thought leader.
In a blazing interview with a pre-Fox News Tucker Carlson in 2004 on Carlson’s show Crossfire, Stewart quipped that, “The show that leads into me is puppets making crank phone calls” (via YouTube), meaning, he’s a jester. 20 years later, he’s arguably one of the most trusted voices on the left, at least for another year.
Jon Stewart Is Not Going Anywhere In 2026
It was never clear if Jon Stewart’s return in 2024 was only going to be for a little while, but on November 3rd, fans got the news they were hoping for: that The Daily Show was going to be renewed for another year. The announcement came soon after the Paramount+/Skydance merger, which owns The Daily Show.
Stewart has always been tight-lipped about the future, so it can be hard to determine whether he’ll be around for a decade or a day. In an interview with David Remnick of The New Yorker, Stewart said that he plans to keep doing and saying what he wants until he’s asked to leave.
Late Night Television Is In A Precarious Place At The Moment
In other years, the status of a late-night show’s renewal would be an interesting talking point for fans at the least, maybe a comment on the strength of the entertainment industry at the most. In 2025, the announcement that The Daily Show will be returning feels like something much more.
Stewart, like many late-night hosts over the last decade, has not softened his criticism of the current presidential administration in the United States under Donald Trump. That’s not new. On-air personalities have always taken shots at authority figures, no matter their affiliation.
However, in July 2025, CBS suddenly announced that it would not be renewing The Late Show with Stephen Colbert in 2026, just a few days after Colbert made a quip about Paramount agreeing to pay Trump $16 million in a lawsuit.
Then, on September 17, 2025, Jimmy Kimmel Live! was suspended and taken off the air indefinitely because of comments host Jimmy Kimmel made about MAGA and the gunman who shot Charlie Kirk. The show was restored to air on September 26, 2025.
The climate for late-night and free speech felt cool after these events, so a renewal of something like The Daily Show suggests that some institutions are still resistant to political forces.
Jon Stewart’s Daily Show Return In 2024 Was An Unexpected But Welcome Surprise
In 2015, Jon Stewart retired from The Daily Show, leaving Trevor Noah at the desk as he went on to… not much. For years, he would pop up on podcasts or TV shows to give his two cents about whatever was happening in the world, often having more insight in three minutes than most people have for a whole episode.
When it was announced The Daily Show would be returning with Jon Stewart at the helm again, it was an unexpected but welcome surprise. He dove right into the U.S.’s most pressing issues with humor, intelligence, and humanity, and it’s great we’ll have him until at least 2026.
- Release Date
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July 22, 1996
- Directors
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Chuck O’Neil
