‘The Daily Show’ with Jon Stewart Justifies Itself — Again

The last thing TV needs right now is another reboot. So when it was announced in January that Jon Stewart would be returning home to “The Daily Show,” hosting the show on Mondays through the 2024 election and becoming an executive producer full-time on the program, I found myself curious what the response would be from longtime fans.

During his first run as host of the Comedy Central news program (1999-2015) Stewart paved a new kind of infotainment that inarguably shaped how a segment of the population consumed news. In his wake, he was far from the only one (John Oliver, Stephen Colbert, Seth Meyers, Trevor Noah, Samantha Bee, etc. etc. etc.). When Stewart got the Mark Twain Prize in 2022, former “Daily Show” correspondent Bee cracked, “Satire solves the world’s problems. Don’t believe me? Just look at all the satirical shows we now have and how amazing the world is doing!”

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Does that world still need Jon Stewart? Perhaps more pressing: Is 2008’s man of the moment still 2024’s right person for the job?

The first three episodes of his new hosting tenure present a mixed bag. Not messing with the standard “TDS” formula, Stewart sits behind the desk and delivers an extended monologue about the forthcoming Biden vs. Trump showdown or the ongoing Israel/Palestine conflict. (Great news: watching Stewart take down Tucker Carlson still absolutely hits.)

Absent other reactions, I would have said this was all pretty par for the course. Unnecessary but pretty harmless and exactly the kind of topics previous host Noah would also tackle. Great if you like this kind of joke-y headline rundown, but totally understandable if this infotainment isn’t now or never was your scene.

Boy, was I wrong!

The internet flipped the hell out over Stewart pointing out that President Biden is old. Twitter lost its mind following the first episode segment, likely because the election stakes are high, and people think Stewart holds real sway over individuals not already predisposed to agree with them. “Saturday Night Live” would kill for this kind of angry enthusiasm!

It’s a hard thing to measure, but between the higher-than-normal ratings for the show (1.3 million last week) and the more-ubiquotous-than-before social media clips, it does seem like Stewart’s voice is one people still want to listen to — and be guided by. That can be a good thing because, as opposed to far too many others within the news ecosystem, Stewart now seems less likely to be flippant about the weight he holds in the culture.

He responded to the Biden segment criticism in his next program, succinctly laying out why age questions matter, but more critically getting back to a larger point he laid out in the first episode: “I’ve learned one thing over these last nine years and I was glib at best and probably dismissive at worst about this. The work of making this world one you would prefer to live in is a lunchpail f*cking job, day in and day out.”

What some people want from Stewart in 2024 — uniting all Democrat and Dem-leaning independents into a large, cohesive, consistent voting block — feels impossibly weighty, and at odds with an angrier, more savvy populace. But given that the occasional both-sideism and “I’m just a comedian!” excuses that marked his previous tenure have fallen increasingly out of favor among his primary audience, it’s encouraging to see him try a different tack. (2010’s Stewart-led “Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear” looks just terrible in hindsight.) Stewart’s ability to pivot and grow is an encouraging sign heading into an election, and makes the case that a return to his old stomping group isn’t an aging rocker phoning it in or “just playing the hits.”

Look, the jokes aren’t all winners: In the February 26 episode, the team may have found the limits on what people feel like laughing about with respect to the horrors in Gaza (“The Futile Crescent”), and I’m internet-brained enough that 30-minute episodes already feel like we’re straining the joke a bit. The interview segments, however, remain surprising, sharp, and strong (thus far, all with journalists). Watching these thoughtful discussions, it’s no great wonder the few times Stewart’s barely-watched Apple TV+ show “The Problem” went viral, it was due to a chat with an unsuspecting moron not in any way prepared for Stewart’s command of the issues.

Between “The Problem with Jon Stewart” and his headline-driving work on Capitol Hill, it would be fair to say Stewart never fully went away for long once he stepped away from hosting “TDS” in 2015. But the conversation and attention he’s generated since his return shows that he does, in fact, remain a special figure in our political and pop culture landscape.

It’s not a reboot that’s needed — but among a crowded field, he and the show make the case for renewal.

“The Daily Show” airs Monday through Thursdays on Comedy Central. Stewart hosts the program on Mondays.

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