“The Daily Show” will be hosted by Jon Stewart rather than Desi Lydic on Thursday. The hosting change-up was announced in the wake of ABC suspending Jimmy Kimmel’s show indefinitely after comments the late night comedian made about Charlie Kirk’s killer.
Rather pointedly, the guest for “The Daily Show” will be Maria Ressa, the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, CEO of Rappler, Columbia University professor and author of “How to Stand Up to a Dictator.” The episode will air on Comedy Central at 11 p.m. ET/PT and will be available on Paramount+ Friday morning.
Since Stewart returned to the Comedy Central show in 2024, the veteran has only been hosting on Mondays, allowing the show’s senior correspondents to take over from Tuesdays through Thursdays. The only exception to this hosting rule was the 2024 election when Stewart hosted a live special on a Tuesday.
On Wednesday, ABC announced that “Jimmy Kimmel Live” would be “pre-empted indefinitely” after the late night host made a comment about Kirk’s assassin. Specifically, on Monday, Kimmel said, “We hit some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it.”
The comment garnered the attention of FCC Chairman Brendan Carr, who threatened both ABC and the network’s parent company Disney to handle the situation or else the U.S. government would “take action.” Shortly thereafter, Nexstar Media Group, which has several ABC affiliates among its more than 200 owned or partner stations, said it would preempt “Kimmel” broadcasts. ABC then announced it would be suspending “Jimmy Kimmel Live!”
Stewart isn’t the only late night host to make a move in the wake of ABC’s suspension. David Letterman, who is the host of “My Next Guest Needs No Introduction” on Netflix, called the suspension a “misery” and Trump an “authoritarian criminal.” Stephen Colbert, whose own show was cancelled earlier this year, read the news to a stunned studio audience on Wednesday night. As for “Tonight Show” host Jimmy Fallon, he backed out of a scheduled appearance at the Fast Company Innovation Festival last-minute on Thursday. The news broke too late on Wednesday night for any of the late night hosts to address it on their respective shows, which means viewers will be tuning in for their reactions on Thursday night.
Kimmel’s suspension comes in the wake of CBS permanently cancelling “The Late Show.” After Colbert ends his tenure at the late night staple in March, it will not be returning. That axing reportedly came down to financial reasons ahead of Paramount’s merger with Skydance.
