Jon Stewart Is Quitting The Daily Show

In a very heartfelt statement at the end of last night's Daily Show, Jon Stewart announced he was going to be leaving the show after seventeen years! I could not believe my ears or eyes as he held back the tears and talked of his affinity for the show, the people involved in putting on the show and bringing a well scripted and extremely well researched show that made fun of not only politics, but current events, history and other topics too numerous to mention.

It is a sad day today at Comedy Central after Stewart made his unscripted announcement. It is a sad day for me because I always look forward to his humorous look at the events of the day from a perspective I admire.

I like the way he puts a humorous twist on very serious subjects from all over the world. He has not decided when he will leave for good, but it will be sometime this year.

As always, click on the image to make it larger:

On occasion, I stay up to watch The Daily Show; but usually I watch it the next day while I eat breakfast. It is always a great way to start my day. I will miss that. I have sometimes gotten material for speeches from his commentary or information from his guests.

Whatever he does, you know it is well researched and well written. Whenever I talk or listen to a comedian they will tell you comedy is the most difficult form of entertainment to write and perform. He does it incredibly well with a staff of writers who put on an incredible show!

A few years ago he was named the most trusted man in America. Walter Cronkite used to be that person for those of you old enough to remember when he did the nightly news. I found it incredible when that survey came out and a comedian was the most trusted anchor on television!

I also record David Letterman and watch his brand of extraordinary comedy. It will be interesting to see how Stephen Colbert fills his shoes. His shtick was getting a little old for me the last couple years and it will be interesting to see how he changes to fill an hour-long show five nights a week.

I do not pretend to understand entertainment contracts and getting in and out of them and have no idea how or when John Oliver has his contract set up, but I think he will probably be the heir apparent to Jon Stewart on The Daily Show. He did an excellent job for the several months Stewart was directing a movie. It is just my hunch, but I believe he would be a great successor to the show.

There is a whole generation today that believes Jay Leno was always the host of The Tonight Show. They have never even seen any episodes of Johnny Carson's show. Johnny Carson was the epitome of a late-night talk show host as was Jack Parr and Steve Allen before Johnny. He used to do a ninety-minute show and introduced us to many comedians including Jay Leno.

Whenever John Stewart leaves, he will leave with large shoes to fill.

I look forward to your comments.

Later,

Mike