Stewart signs off of ‘Daily Show’
“I’m going to get a drink,” he says.
We review his final episode at usatoday .com/life
Sweet 16, it’s not, at least for his fans. After taking over The Daily
Show on Comedy Central in 1999, and turning a marginal late-night series into must-see news TV, Jon Stewart signed off on Thursday night with an extended segment.
“I want to thank my wife Tracey and my kids Nate and Maggie — I’m not going to look over there — for teaching me what joy looks like,” he said towards the close of the broadcast.
Stewart waxed, if not poetic, then philosophical. “This show isn’t ending. We’re merely taking a small pause in the conversation — a conversation that, by the way, I have hogged. I’ve been dominating this in a very selfish way,” he said.
He had no plans to provide a drawn-out, tearful exit. “Rather than saying goodbye or goodnight, I’m going to get a drink,” he said.
In typical Stewart fashion, he refused to grandstand, turning his final episode into an ode to the people who made his show what it was, including some standout correspondents. “When you look through the talent that’s passed through these doors, it would have been hard to screw the show up,” said Stewart.
He closed the show with a reference to what his monologues and news segments were great at: calling out the idiocies, fallacies and hypocrisies of our world. Feces, said Stewart, using another term for it, is everywhere. “The best defense against (expletive) is vigilance. If you smell something, say something,” said Stewart.
Some reporters and staffers watched a live stream of the taping in the nearby studios of Comedy Central’s companion The
Nightly Show, which was preempted. A host of Daily Show vets showed up for the finale, including Samantha Bee, Jason Jones, Steve Carell, Mo Rocca, Rob Corddry and Larry Wilmore.
“I got nothing else to do tonight. The Nightly Show got bumped,” Wilmore groused. “Black shows matter, Jon.”
Stephen Colbert, as his blowhard alter ego, then sat next to Stewart, first offering up a zinger. “You’re Frodo,” said Colbert. “One of us is adult-sized and doesn’t have hairy toes.”
And then, things got emotional. Colbert, as himself, recounted how Stewart had always told staffers they owed him nothing. But he was wrong.
“We owe you because we learned from you. We learned from you by example how to do a show with intention. You’re infuriatingly good at your job. We are better people for having known you. You are a great artist and a good man,” said Colbert, in a seemingly unscripted bit that seemingly left Stewart mortified.
Wyatt Cenac, who recently caused a media ruckus when he recounted an argument with Stewart, had a taped bit. “Yeah I’m good. You’re good?” he said to Stewart.
And then every correspondent who was there in person rushed on set into a big group hug.
Stewart’s departure has been grieved so heavily that President Obama, a seven-time guest, joked about issuing an executive order that would force Stewart to stay. He’ll be replaced by Trevor Noah on Sept. 28.
His next move remains unclear, but as he stated on air, he’s leaving to spend more time with his wife Tracey McShane and their two kids.
Fittingly, Stewart called on his favorite musician, Bruce Springsteen, who performed Thunder
Road.