Let’s hop in the way-back machine to 1998, when Jon Stewart was preparing to fill Craig Kilborn’s size 18 (I’m assuming) shoes by taking over The Daily Show. On his second to last show ever, Craig Kilborn — who was making the jump to The Late Late Show, if you’ll recall — had his replacement on as a guest. At the time, Jon Stewart was also promoting The Faculty, which you get the impression that he did not think was a very good movie, saying of his role as an alien-possessed science teacher: “Put a goatee on me, and I’m a bastard.”
It’s funny looking back now, as Kilborn asks what changes we can expect for a Stewart-hosted Daily Show, as Stewart replies: “Changes?! By god, this is The Daily Show man! Why don’t I just draw a mustache on the Mona Lisa!” Yep, aside from revolutionizing the way we scrutinize our government and the media’s coverage of it, it’s basically identical seventeen years later.
What’s commonly forgotten is that, at the time, most people were not happy about Jon Stewart taking over The Daily Show — as friend to UPROXX and BroBible Editor David Covucci reminded me on Twitter last night:
https://twitter.com/DavidCovucci/status/565311365964124160
https://twitter.com/DavidCovucci/status/565311478732161025
https://twitter.com/DavidCovucci/status/565311510181085186
Seriously, we’ll be fine. We’ll always have a very warm place in our hearts for Jon Stewart, but whoever takes over will do an awesome job. I’m sure of it.
And on one final note, this video serves if nothing else a reminder that Jon Stewart is a very small man and Craig Kilborn is a very tall man:
