Jon Stewart is leaving 'The Daily Show'
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Jon Stewart, who helped turn "The Daily Show" into a cultural force, is leaving the anchor's chair over 16 years after taking over for Craig Kilbourn, in January of 1999. Comedy Central confirmed the news on Twitter:
According to the AV Club, Stewart announced that he was leaving the show at the beginning of the taping for tonight's episode. Stewart will continue hosting the show until "later this year."
"The Daily Show" became appointment television with Stewart as host, and he emerged as both a leading political satirist and one of toughest interviewers in newsmedia. In 2008, the New York Times' Michiko Kakutani wondered if Stewart was in fact "the most trusted man in America." But he had turned to other projects outside of the show recently, directing his first feature film last year.
In November, Stewart speculated to NPR's Terry Gross about what it would be like to leave "The Daily Show," and implied that the idea held some appeal for him: "I do feel like I don't know that there will ever be anything that I will ever be as well suited for as this show," Stewart said. "That being said, I think there are moments when you realize that that's not enough anymore, or that maybe it's time for some discomfort."