What to Binge This Weekend: Travel Through Time With 'The Daily Show'

Ethan Alter
·Senior Writer, Yahoo Entertainment
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It’s always hard getting back to the grind after a holiday weekend, but this year there’s an extra reason to fear the Monday after Independence Day. That’s because July 6 officially marks the one month-countdown until Jon Stewart’s Aug. 6 departure from The Daily Show, where he’s been the nation’s comedian-in-chief for the past 16 years. He leaves behind more than 2,000 episodes worth of topical material, not to mention set redesigns, staff changes, and his own ever-graying hair.

Always quick to take the wind out of his own sails, Stewart has already been poking fun at the show’s evolution (and his personal devolution) with a series of supercuts that highlight, among other things, his interview skills and his (lack of a) singing voice. But now you can spend the Fourth of July weekend watching Stewart and The Daily Show age in real time, courtesy of Comedy Central’s “Your Month of Zen,” a 42-day binge that streams every episode from of his tenure, starting with his January 11, 1999 premiere and coming all the way up to the present day.

Related: Jon Stewart Points to Recent SCOTUS Rulings to Make Conservatives Feel Better

One note: This isn’t on-demand viewing, so you can’t just call up, say, the May 9, 2002 episode with David Boreanaz as a guest. Instead, you’ve got to log on to the marathon’s official site, where episodes have been live-streaming in chronological order since Friday, June 26 at 12 p.m. As of this writing, they’re already up to the chaotic 2000 election and Steve Carell (remember that guy?) is accepting the presidency while Stephen Colbert (whatever happened to him?) interviews fans of Boo Berry cereal. Also, Stewart’s hair is still mostly brown and the video quality is definitely not HD.

What remains unchanged, however, is The Daily Show’s endless well of creativity when it comes to correspondent segments as well as Stewart’s barbed take on the events of the day. In these early episodes, he’s still leading with comedy rather than commentary, but you can see his lightning-quick mind processing the news he’s faux-reporting, building up the deep well of knowledge and the impassioned voice he’d use later to help his audience process tragedies like Charleston and Ferguson. A Daily Show binge doesn’t just give you a crash course in the past 16 years of American history — it also lets you witness a performer’s political awakening.

The entire run of The Daily Show With Jon Stewart can be streamed at the “Your Month of Zen” website.