4 Things toknow
Jon Stewart signs off
Jon Stewart announced Tuesday he is leaving The Daily Show later this year. Here are four things to know about the “comic genius”:
1 He invented an entirely new genre of television. If Survivor producer Mark Burnett helped invent reality TV, Jon Stewart helped invent the genre of full-episode news satire programming. Over The Daily Show’s run, three “correspondents” have capitalized on Mr. Stewart’s example to head their own comedy talk shows: Stephen Colbert, John Oliver and Larry Wilmore. 2 He wasn’t actually The Daily Show’s inaugural host. That title belongs to actor Craig Kilborn. The Daily
Show had a sillier lineup of fake news and pop culture satire when Mr. Stewart took the helm. But the comedian soon steered the show toward the in-depth political and foreign affairs commentary. 3 He hates being called a journalist. Even as thousands of Millennials treated The Daily Show as a legitimate source of news, Mr. Stewart has persistently denied there was any journalism to be had on his show. His argument is that, as a comedian, his chief allegiance will always be to “the joke,” rather than the facts. However, Mr. Stewart does not blame his viewers for taking him seriously. In a 2011 interview on Fox News, he said “the embarrassment is that I’m given credibility in this world because of the disappointment that the public has in what the news media does.” 4 He’s leaving a ludicrously high-paying job. According to TV Guide estimates, Mr. Stewart was pulling down as much as $30 million a year. By contrast, late-night veterans David Letterman and Jay Leno were each making $20 million when they retired.