When is Jon Stewart returning to host The Daily Show and how long will his term last?

After nine years, Jon Stewart, the American comedian and actor, is returning to US talk show The Daily Show. He will be the host for one night every week during the US election campaign.

The 61-year-old will be back behind the desk starting February 12, 2024. As per BBC, he will host on Monday nights from February until November's election. The comedian will also be the executive producer and will continue to oversee the show into 2025.

Stewart hosted the Comedy Central hit from 1999 to 2015. He was replaced by Trevor Noah, who stepped down in 2022. The producers have not found a permanent replacement yet, as per People magazine.

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Jon Stewart to return as host of The Daily Show ahead of 2024 election

Jon Stewart is returning to late-night television with Comedy Central’s The Daily Show, the program he hosted to huge success from 1999 to 2015. The network announced Mr. Stewart’s comeback on Wednesday, January 24, 2024, and stated that his first show will be on February 12.

The Daily Show has been without a permanent host since Jon Stewart’s successor, Trevor Noah, stepped down in late 2022, as per The New York Times. Chris McCarthy, a senior executive at Paramount, Comedy Central’s parent, said,

“We are honored to have him return to Comedy Central’s The Daily Show to help us all make sense of the insanity and division roiling the country as we enter the election season. In our age of staggering hypocrisy and performative politics, Jon is the perfect person to puncture the empty rhetoric and provide much-needed clarity with his brilliant wit.”

Jon Stewart is known to be a talented comedian; however, his focus on politics over his 16-year show run, unusual for late night at the time, transformed him into one of the nation’s foremost political and media critics, as per People. He will also be a producer on all episodes of The Daily Show.

Other episodes of the show will be hosted by a rotating lineup of the show’s news team. The correspondents include Desi Lydic, Michael Kosta, and Ronny Chieng. In 2022, Trevor Noah announced his exit from the show, saying,

"It's been one of my greatest challenges. It's been one of my greatest joys. I've loved trying to figure out how to make people laugh even when the stories are particularly sh*tty on the worst days. We've laughed together, we've cried together. But after seven years, I feel like it's time."

After retiring from the Comedy Central show, Jon Stewart told The Guardian:

"It’s not like I thought the show wasn’t working anymore, or that I didn’t know how to do it. It was more, 'Yup, it’s working. But I’m not getting the same satisfaction.' These things are cyclical. You have moments of dissatisfaction, and then you come out of it and it’s OK. But the cycles become longer and maybe more entrenched, and that’s when you realize, 'OK, I’m on the back side of it now.'"

Stewart responded to the news of his return to the show on X as he joked he “decided to enter the transfer portal” after “much reflection.” He added:

"Excited for the future!"

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The Daily Show with Jon Stewart won the Emmy Award for best variety series 10 years in a row from 2003, as per BBC. After Stewart left the show in 2015, he hosted The Problem With Jon Stewart on Apple TV+ and was executive producer of The Late Show With Stephen Colbert.