The Trump presidency continues to redefine the role of the U.S. commander in chief. Congress still bickers like The Lockhorns. School shootings continue.
One cannot help but wonder where Jon Stewart is amidst all this madness. “In many ways, I think this an environment that’s made for Jon Stewart,” Magid senior vice president of global media and entertainment Mike Bloxham said.
Stewart signed off on The Daily Show in August 2015.
A few months later, he inked a four-year deal with HBO that was to include short-form content. Almost two years ago, Stewart and HBO said the digital shorts would not happen, citing technical issues.
In summer 2017, HBO said Stewart would do a couple of standup specials. A spokesperson said those are still in the works.
Stewart hosted autism benefit Night of Too Many Stars on HBO in November 2017. A longtime champion of Sept. 11 first responders, he appeared on Fox News Channel in February to discuss the Never Forget the Heroes Act. He will direct a political satire film called Irresistible.
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Stewart still has a hand in late night. He’s an executive producer on CBS’s The Late Show With Stephen Colbert. Samantha Bee, host of Full Frontal on TBS, was a Daily Show correspondent under Stewart, as was Wyatt Cenac of HBO’s Wyatt Cenac’s Problem Areas. “He’s got his fingerprints on quite a lot right now,” Bloxham said.
Amanda Lotz, media scholar and professor at Queensland University of Technology (Australia), feels Stewart “passed a torch” to other hosts, many of them Daily Show alums. “Not only to Trevor Noah,” she said, “but the formats of John Oliver’s and Hasan Minhaj’s shows [Last Week Tonight, Patriot Act] in many ways add more depth to the informational side of the info-comedy equation.”
