Jon Stewart mentioned a desire to spend more time with his family when he announced he was stepping down as host of The Daily Show. Aside from this, he hasn’t discussed further details regarding his reasoning to quit. That is, until now.
On Saturday, The Guardian posted a story titled “Jon Stewart: Why I Quit The Daily Show,” which culminated from two different interviews with the show’s retiring host. Here, Stewart explains his decision a bit further, including not only that desire to spend more time with his family, but also the fatigue of the country’s repetitive election cycle, and his own personal dissatisfaction with the show:
“Honestly, it was a combination of the limitations of my brain and a format that is geared towards following an increasingly redundant process, which is our political process. I was just thinking, ‘Are there other ways to skin this cat?’ And, beyond that, it would be nice to be home when my little elves get home from school, occasionally.”
Stewart discussed how the upcoming US election coverage was the actual catalyst to make him leave:
If anything, it was the prospect of the upcoming US election that pushed him to leave the show. “I’d covered an election four times, and it didn’t appear that there was going to be anything wildly different about this one,” he says.
To be clear, Stewart went on record that he believes the formula of The Daily Show still works and brings in great returns for Comedy Central, but not for him personally:
“It’s not like I thought the show wasn’t working any more, or that I didn’t know how to do it. It was more, ‘Yup, it’s working. But I’m not getting the same satisfaction.’”
What it really comes down to is the depressing 24-hour repetitive news cycle:
“Watching these channels all day is incredibly depressing,” Stewart told Freeman in October. “I live in a constant state of depression. I think of us as turd miners. I put on my helmet, I go and mine turds, hopefully I don’t get turd lung disease.”
In this world of turd miners, Jon Stewart is King. Trevor Noah definitely has his work cut out for him.
(Source: The Guardian)
