(JTA) — As the 2024 presidential election appears headed toward a Trump-Biden rematch, another familiar face is returning to help Americans keep up with — or at least joke about — the news.
Jon Stewart, the iconic Jewish comedian and longtime host of Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show,” is set to come back to the program once a week beginning next month.
Stewart, who hosted the show from 1999 to 2015, will return to the anchor’s desk on Mondays from Feb. 12 through the November election. He will also serve as an executive producer on the show. The show’s correspondents will host from Tuesdays through Thursdays.
“Stewart is the voice of our generation, and we are honored to have him return to Comedy Central’s ‘The Daily Show’ to help us all make sense of the insanity and division roiling the country as we enter the election season,” Chris McCarthy, chief executive of Showtime and MTV Entertainment Studios, said in a statement.
Stewart has made his Jewish identity a central part of his comedy for decades, and his 16-year run as host of “The Daily Show” catapulted the program into the zeitgeist of American comedy and politics. In 2021, Stewart launched a talk show on Apple TV+, “The Problem With Jon Stewart,” which ended last year over reported creative differences between Stewart and Apple.
Stewart has won 22 Primetime Emmy Awards for his work on “The Daily Show” and other comedy programs, as well as two Grammy Awards and five Peabody Awards. He won the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor in 2022. Several of his “Daily Show” correspondents — including Stephen Colbert, John Oliver and Samantha Bee — have gone on to host their own successful shows.
The 61-year-old New York native, who was born Jonathan Stuart Leibowitz, is returning to a program that has been in a state of flux since his successor, Trevor Noah, stepped down as host in 2022. The show has not yet named a permanent replacement, instead relying on a rotating cast of temporary hosts, including Sarah Silverman and Al Franken.
Earlier this month, Noah won the Emmy for Outstanding Talk Series for his last season on the show, and thanked Stewart in his acceptance speech, calling him “the person I always thank because he’s a crazy genius for thinking of it.”
“Wherever you are my friend, thank you for calling me up and asking me to come and join you on this crazy journey,” Noah said.
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