As election looms, Stewart returning to ‘The Daily Show’

Jon Stewart is heading back to host “The Daily Show” this election cycle, nearly a decade after departing the desk of the latenight hit.

The 23-time Emmy winner, 61, will return to the Comedy Central series Feb. 12 to host Monday nights in the runup to the 2024 presidential election, Deadline reports.

Due to covering all the news from the weekend, Mondays are believed to attract the largest “TDS” viewership.

Though he’ll only host once a week, Stewart (inset) will serve as executive producer — alongside his manager, James “Baby Doll” Dixon — for every episode through the end of next year to “shape” the show’s next chapter.

“Jon Stewart is the voice of our generation, and 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 around the country as we enter the election season,” Chris McCarthy, the president and CEO of Showtime/MTV Entertainment Studios, said.

“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.”

Stewart’s much-hoped-for return comes after Apple TV+ abruptly canceled “The Problem With Jon Stewart” in mid-October due to reported creative differences.

The company was allegedly concerned over potential show topics related to China and artificial intelligence, as well as the possible discord that could arise between Apple and Stewart over the looming election.

His return also comes amid a less stable time for “The Daily Show,” which has only had guest hosts since the 2022 departure of Stewart’s successor, Trevor Noah.

Hasan Minhaj was reportedly eyed as a front-runner to take over from Noah, but that all changed in mid-October after a New Yorker article accused him of embellishing the stories used in his standup comedy material.

Stewart hosted “The Daily Show” from 1996 — taking the torch from Craig Kilborn — until 2015.