On Monday night Jon Stewart returns to the show that made him a titan of political comedy. From now until Election Day, the comic will hosting The Daily Show, at least on Mondays. Surely he wouldn’t have come back had his last show not abruptly come to an end. Speaking of, why did that show — Apple TV+’s The Problem with Jon Stewart, that is — abruptly come to an end? Stewart has a vague-ish answer for that.
Per Variety, Stewart stopped by CBS Mornings before his maiden re-voyage, where he explained why he decided to do what he swore he’d never do and return to the Daily Show desk.
“I wanted a place to unload thoughts as we get into this election season,” he explained. “I thought I was going to do it over at — they call it Apple TV+. It’s a television enclave, very small. It’s like living in Malibu. But they decided … they felt that they didn’t want me to say things that might get me in trouble.”
Stewart didn’t go into specifics or anything like it. Were they censoring him? Or were they truly trying to stop him for his own good? Perhaps a bit of both.
During Problem‘s run, Stewart was an older, more serious version of his more clownish Daily Show self. No longer did he do what he often did and claim he was just trying to tell jokes (except when he wasn’t). Instead he was an often savage interviewer, trying to hold the powerful to task for the wrongs they allegedly did, for the heinous positions they refused to stop taking.
But The Problem with Jon Stewart is kaput but that’s fine because now he’s got a new home, at least every Monday, at least through November — or, who knows, maybe longer if things get a little weird again. Which they almost certainly will. Whatever the case, sounds like he’ll have to do a lot of work to win back Meghan McCain.
(Via Variety)
