Comedy Central: Jon Stewart To Step Down From 'The Daily Show'
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Jon Stewart will be stepping down from his post as anchor of "The Daily Show" later this year, Comedy Central announced Tuesday.
His departure was announced by Comedy Central President Michele Ganeless after Stewart, host of the show since 1999, broke the news to the audience at Tuesday's taping at the Daily Show studio at 733 Eleventh Ave.
Comedy Central also issued a tweet with an announcement that Stewart, 52, will be stepping down at an unspecified time. The New York City native has been host of the Daily Show for 16 years.
"For the better part of the last few decades, we have had the incredible honor and privilege of working with Jon Stewart. His comedic brilliance is second to none. Jon has been at the heart of Comedy Central, championing and nurturing the best talent in the industry, in front of and behind the camera. Through his unique voice and vision, The Daily Show has become a cultural touchstone for millions of fans and an unparalleled platform for political comedy that will endure for years to come," the statement said.
"Jon will remain the helm of The Daily Show until later this year. He is a comic genius, generous with his time and talent, and will always be a part of the Comedy Central family," the statement continued.
Ganeless did not specify Stewart's exit date or what lead to his decision.
Reaction was swift from his admirers and, in some cases, likely past targets.
``Just had the honor of being the great Jon Stewart's guest (on `The Daily Show'), where he announced he's leaving. Emotional night,'' David Axelrod, former adviser to President Barack Obama, posted on Twitter.
Stewart's departure represents a second big blow for Comedy Central: Another star, Stephen Colbert, left ``The Colbert Report'' last year to take over from CBS "Late Show" host David Letterman when he retires in May. The Late Show with Stephen Colbert will debut Tuesday, Sept. 8 at 11:35 p.m.
Larry Wilmore and the new ``The Nightly Show'' replaced ``The Colbert Report.''
Stewart took over "The Daily Show" in January 1999. Craig Kilborn had hosted the program for its first three years before that.
The Stewart and Colbert shows created templates for a comedic form that offered laughs along with trenchant political and social satire. Authors and politicians were as common as Hollywood celebrities on the self-described ``fake news'' programs.
Stewart took a several months-long hiatus in 2013 to direct ``Rosewater,'' a well-reviewed film about an Iranian-born journalist who was imprisoned for 118 days in Tehran and accused of being a spy. The Comedy Central statement did not indicate what his plans were after leaving.
Mindy Kaling blamed the lure of filmdom.
``I knew when Jon Stewart left to direct that movie he was gonna try something like this,'' Kaling posted on Twitter.
When he returned from his filmmaking break, Stewart played a tape of President Barack Obama urging military action against Syria because of last month's poison gas attack.
``America taking military action against a Middle East regime,'' Stewart said. ``It's like I never left.''
In 2010, Stewart and Colbert drew a crowd to the Washington Mall for their Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear. They tackled familiar topics -- the partisan gridlock in the nation's capital and the political talk show culture that encouraged it.
Stewart was credited with effectively killing one cable program -- CNN's ``Crossfire'' -- when his withering criticism of its partisan squabbling hit a nerve and CNN soon canceled it.
He poked fun at politicians but spent even more time on the media establishment covering them. The most recent example was Monday night, when he tut-tutted NBC's Brian Williams for being caught misleading the public about the danger faced covering the Iraq War.
Stewart, however, had more withering criticism for the reporters covering Williams, joking that finally the media was criticizing someone for misleading the public during the Iraq War.
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