When Stewart took over Comedy Central’s late night slot in 1999, replacing Craig Kilborn, the show was on a little- watched cable network, with some nightly 350,000 viewers. Those who scored a ticket to the 6 p.m. taping were sworn to secrecy.
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The raffle victor, identified as Sameer P. from Santa Clara, received two tickets to Thursday’s finale of “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart”. Have I caused this? Jon, if you’re reading this (someone, please forward this to Jon Stewart), I want you to know it’s okay, because everything Colbert said was absolutely true.
Stewart, however, was kinder to his former employees, saying, “When you look at all the talent who’ve walked through these doors, it would have been hard to screw the show up”. “It breaks my heart, it really does”, said Rick Melli, 54, of Parsippany, New Jersey, before the final show.
One such friend/foe, Fox’s Bill O’Reilly, wrote an “appreciation” to Stewart for Deadline on Thursday in which the conservative host said that Stewart was “great at what he did…Whatever that was”.
As fun as doing The Daily Show for the past 17-ish years has been, Stewart admitted that it was the process that excited him most.
The heartfelt moment brought Stewart to tears, and any fans watching who weren’t already choked up suddenly felt their own eyes getting a bit watery.
In recent days some commentators have even compared him to Walter Cronkite. However, TV will not lack his touch: dozens of Stewart’s Daily Show correspondents and protégés remain active in the mainstream media, many of whom got their start under his tutelage.
Other fans on line reflected on Stewart’s retirement and legacy.
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) donned a Stewart hand puppet and said: “I’m Jon Stewart, I’m dumb, I’m stupid”. But the soon-to-be-former host of The Daily Show has not ruled out returning to the world of stand-up comedy, where he started.
As for Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, she offered mock disappointment that Stewart was going to miss covering her campaign.
But Comedy Central does. Arby’s bought time during the show to bid farewell to a guy who never ran out of ways to diss the quality of ingredients in Arby’s sandwiches. “We wish you happy and safe travels”.
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His wife, Roberta Melli, 57, called Mr. Stewart a broadcasting pioneer for the personal commentary he offered during tragic events, including his televised monologue following September 11, 2001. “I’ve got big news”.
