When Jon Stewart took over “The Daily Show” from Craig Kilborn in 1999, he apparently found the workplace to be “quite toxic.”
While talking to Michelle Obama on her “IMO” podcast this week, the comedian looked back on joining the iconic Comedy Central series and how it felt when he first came onboard.
“I think I’d been in a lot of places that were not healthy,” Stewart said. “And when I first got there, I don’t think it was healthy. I think it was rough and quite toxic. People’s ambition was – I think, it’s hard for people to sometimes understand is that if the show’s good, we all win. All the energy that it takes you to create toxicity or selfishness or to be overly combative, is energy that you’re not using to elevate.”
“There’s only a finite amount of energy in the day. So I had to learn how to parcel that energy for myself,” he added. “But also for the staff to understand that in some respects, it’s a refinery and we’re taking raw materials in the morning and we are trying to create a process that can refine those materials into something that we feel is – I don’t want to say great, not great – but the greatest execution of our aspiration or intention.”
Stewart remained as the main figure behind the desk until 2015 when he left the show and was replaced by Trevor Noah. He then returned to host the Monday episodes of the show in 2024. His contract with the show ends at the end of 2026, and while there has been no deal struck for the host to stay past then, a company insider told TheWrap that Paramount wants to keep him.
The series posted its highest-rated second quarter among adults 18-49 since 2017 and its most-watched second quarter among total viewers since 2018, according to Nielsen data provided by Paramount. The show has also posted year-over-year growth across key social benchmarks and received seven Emmy nominations this year.
