Jon Stewart Announces Date Of His Last 'Daily Show'
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Jon Stewart has announced when he'll be stepping down from his post as anchor of "The Daily Show."
During Monday night's taping, the New Jersey-born Stewart told his audience Thursday, Aug. 6 will be his last night hosting the popular parody news program.
Stewart began hosting the Comedy Central show in January 1999. He had taken over for Craig Kilborn, who had hosted the program for its first three years before that.
Last month, the network announced 31-year-old South African comedian Trevor Noah would replace him.
A day after he was declared the new host, controversial tweets targeting women, Jews and Middle America posted by Noah between 2009 and 2014 caused a social media backlash.
Comedy Central released a statement supporting Noah saying, "Like many comedians, Trevor Noah pushes boundaries; he is provocative and spares no one, himself included. To judge him or his comedy based on a handful of jokes is unfair. Trevor is a talented comedian with a bright future at Comedy Central."
Noah also responded to the criticism tweeting, "To reduce my views to a handful of jokes that didn't land is not a true reflection of my character, nor my evolution as a comedian."
Noah will be joining Larry Wilmore, who replaced Stephen Colbert in January in the half-hour slot following "The Daily Show."
His start date has not been announced.