Jon Stewart gave his first interview since announcing he will be leaving “The Daily Show” on the “Employee of the Month” podcast on Thursday.
Stewart, who has anchored the satirical news program since 1999, shocked fans last week when he announced he will not renew his contract and will exit the show later this year.
During his interview on Catie Lazarus’ podcast, Stewart made clear that his move is not a retirement, but rather he needs “more flexibility.”
“I’ve got maybe four or five more years with the kids before they really don’t want anything to do with me. I’m just not there…But believe me, I feel like I’m going to work even more, I’ll just be able to do it more near to them…. I’d love to do more stand-up.”
He went on to say that he is excited to see what the next host will bring to the show. “”You can only go so far with four facial expressions and five-to-seven curse words. There are so many iterations of that, that you can do, before people just go hmm. I would love to see the next iteration of that.”
Though Stewart did not say whom he would like to replace him, he lauded the work the “Daily Show” staff has done over the years.
“”The thing I’ll miss the most is the thoughtful conversation in the morning that turns into a rewrite dance party. Like, the Charlie Hebdo events: We’re all bereft…and then finding something by 4:30 or 5:00 in that rewrite room that still gives us that stupid, childlike jolt of joy. The actual being on TV part, the actual has become sort of peripheral to the experience of making it. And I’ll miss the experience of making it much more than the experience of presenting it.”
Stewart has not officially announced when his last episode of “The Daily Show” will be as of yet.