Not only did Stewart break down laughing — by the end, even Colbert couldn't keep a straight face. It’s a really clever symbiotic evolution. One of them, the journalist Maziar Bahari, was later imprisoned, and became the subject of Jon Stewart's debut directorial effort, Rosewater. He brought us Steve Carell, Stephen Colbert and … The 2000 presidential election, the first “The Daily Show” covered, brought the show a higher profile. We were running out of time. In a twist of fate, the final broadcast of the show aired at the same time as a doozy of a Republican presidential debate – a prime Stewart target. Jon used to joke all the time that our lead-in was “Mannequin 2.” The network was in its infancy in a lot of ways. The genuine relish with which Stewart would attack certain subjects always made those moments all the more watchable. I’ve heard people say that, “Jon Stewart is retiring because he made one film and he’s become more interested in filmmaking and he wants to be a filmmaker, and you’re responsible.” I’m sure that they’re joking. When George W. Bush (love that man) ran for re-election, Jon Stewart pitted him against himself from his first run. Steve and Stephen were in a kiddie pool just goofing around together, and I remember thinking: "I can’t believe these two guys are on this show. But after Jon Stewart took the chair in 1999, the show began to transform into something more substantial: a nightly comic dissection of current events, politics and the media. Stewart signed off for the last time on Thursday night after 16 years as host. At the time, “The Daily Show” was a little, unknown entity. Becoming an international superstar is just something I did while I was waiting for my next assignment.”. The next congress would have been a Republican Congress, meaning that it would have been dead. And, in a true sign of the show's influence: Nothing changed as a result. “The Daily Show” was one of those pieces, certainly for us.

If it's in the news and it involves a celebrity, she's likely to be all over it. We still see him on occasion – but it’s not the same. Jon Stewart did not disappoint during his first time covering an election for The Daily Show, thoroughly mocking the way the election was ultimately decided by the Supreme Court: "The final margin in the state of Florida?

And for a lot of young viewers, they don’t watch news very often. Veterans, morality and accountability for the wars, strategic issues in foreign policy, terrorism — he's by far the best communicator on those issues that we've had from the left in my generation. Trevor’s smart.

I know, I know; he’s still here. I’ve watched the show religiously. It’s hard to call Jon Stewart a genius without him just laughing at you. Long before I was a person who would ever be on “The Daily Show,” Jon Stewart was where I got my news. Looking back on Jon Stewart's highlights, 20 years later. Stewart changed the game for media and politics, … I remember listening to the Supreme Court argue the case and wishing we had footage, and then deciding we would create our own footage and voices for the Supreme Court. Here are the five best moments from the emotional sign-off episode. But it hurts, even as a joke. Watch the entire clip here →, A former executive producer and writer of 'The Daily Show'; showrunner of 'The Nightly Show With Larry Wilmore', It was my third day, and they were doing a summer spectacular shoot on the roof. It doesn’t get as much traction, because so many of the fans are left [-leaning] and loved our Bush stuff. This was made hilarious by the fact that the British media refused to describe what the scandal was about (2003 was a different time for gay coverage in the media). We were expanding our horizons of what we could cover and how we could cover it. Get push notifications with news, features and more. If you’re smart from the beginning, you get people who like smart stuff, and you can do even smarter stuff. T here are many notable moments from Jon Stewart’s 16 year reign at the helm of The Daily Show, following his evolution from a comedian to a genuine voice in critiquing media and politics.

It worked out for him. Over the years, Jon Stewart became something of a spokesman for certain Americans — those that couldn't believe the vapidity of their news or the stupidity of their politicians. When a petty dispute over whether or not New York’s Freedom Tower was taller than Chicago’s Willis Tower, he meticulously picked apart the debate that in all honesty didn’t need a second or two of interrogation before it fell to pieces. Many moments from Stewart’s Daily Show have already become cultural touchstones: his 9/11 monologue, his Jim Cramer smackdown, his rants about New York pizza. The goal of the show is to create a funny comedy show every night. I don’t think he went there planning to do that. Thanks for summing that up for us, Jon.

But indeed they were, and they were very good at it too. Turning his gaze to mindlessly poorly thought out arguments was – at times – Stewart’s raison d’être. The overseas reporting was a new step for The Daily Show, one later seen on Last Week Tonight when John Oliver flew to Russia to interview whistleblower Edward Snowden. Nothing was working. We had lots of highfalutin, intellectual hand-wringing over it. Jon Stewart has hosted the political comedy show with wit and fairness. According to Colbert, British slander laws prevented him from talking about the allegations directly. Steve Carell and Stephen Colbert in ‘Even Stevphen’.

He’s always been cantankerous and angry, even in front of the crowd, but he was so charming and smart.

At his core he makes the news hilarious, but at the same time he doesn't gloss over it — he acknowledges the pain and confusion. Former writer, 'The Daily Show'; former executive producer of 'The Colbert Report'. But because it was “The Daily Show” and I had been a fan, I said, "Sure, let’s do it.". Now that it’s been more than two months since he bid us ado from his seat behind the Daily Show desk, we thought we’d ease a little of hurt, a little of the miss, and reminisce for a moment. When John Oliver hosted, it was the first time I realized, no, we built a hell of a machine here. Jon Stewart took the “Daily Show” host chair on Jan. 11, 1999. There were many tearful late-night moments after 9/11. You would pull this imaginary lever and five stories would come up and that was what you had to work with. It was, “O.K., who can be the quickest and who has the best points?” When you make a point with Stewart he’ll cede it, and many of the others wouldn’t do that. We miss Jon Stewart and his hilarious antics and his dry news reading capabilities. But my answer is, "Yes, probably, he is still mad."

Whatever Happened to The Cast of Beverly Hills 90210? He said to her at one point, “I like you, but I don’t understand how your brain works,” after he was able to virtually shut her down with facts and statistics every step of the way. In the first act of the show, we were going to just kill some time and make people wait, knowing that they wouldn’t go away, because we were about to have the president on, so we could just tease and torture them. I mean, we got it. And this was the one where it got really serious. He’s not Bob Hope. Show me where I’m not getting it.

Cue Stewart’s uncontrollable incredulity as the details of the event were revealed. He started talking about it and then everybody started talking about it.

That machine is going to keep humming. For instance, Stewart didn't just give his emotional post-9/11 remarks and be done with it; years later, he assembled and interviewed a group of 9/11 first responders to show the human cost of the Senate's decision to filibuster a bill designed to compensate emergency responders who had fallen ill from the effects of ground zero. If all that had happened in a different order, maybe Oliver would have ended up sitting in the chair when Jon left. Including my membership in a Pauly Shore fan club. So here it is – my moment of zen.”. Asked about the “hopes and dreams on your shoulder,” the then-Senator Obama admitted that he did “worry about the hype.”, “The only person who's more overhyped than me," he told Mr. Stewart, “is you. [The final ruling] was upsetting. Watch the entire clip here →.

A victory has many authors. That was my first inkling that there was something going on. I think a lot of it was our fault. The channel’s reporting after the Ferguson protests – where the Department of Justice released two reports: one debunking the “hands up, don’t shoot” narrative and another which said the Ferguson police department often acted unconstitutional and disproportionately targeted African Americans – piqued his interest. He starts by apologising for not doing his job and writing jokes because once again America was having to “peer into the abyss which is the depraved violence” that so often occurs. You are a great artist and a good man.”. The opening jokes were about President Clinton’s impeachment trial. Watch the entire clip here →. Mr. Jones helped bring back a different story: Among the sources who appeared in his segment “Persians of Interest” was Maziar Bahari, an Iranian-Canadian journalist whose work had made him a thorn in the side of the Iranian regime. At that time, I was very busy.

There’s always that feeling people have about "The Daily Show," that its mission is to drive some left-wing narrative, and it’s not. They’d had “Politically Incorrect,” and “South Park” was getting going. But Mr. Obama's visit in October 2010 was the first time a sitting president had appeared on "The Daily Show." When Jon Stewart talked about the same thing on his show, we all got it. We’re not even sure why, really, other than the fact that they were so carefully paired with Stephen Colbert’s American flag star pants. And then Trevor’s going to find his voice. The result was a demonstration of the emotional human stories underneath so much of the show's comedy.