Jon Stewart isn’t ready to leave “The Daily Show” — at least, not yet.
Speaking with New Yorker editor David Remnick at the New Yorker Festival on Sunday, Stewart said he’s “working on staying” at Comedy Central once his contract expires in December.
The comedian, who returned to host Monday nights in early 2024 after nearly a decade away, acknowledged recent tensions with the network’s new corporate overseers. Comedy Central now falls under the newly formed Paramount Skydance Corporation, the result of a merger between Paramount Global and Skydance Media. “They’ve already done things that I’m upset about,” Stewart said. “But then if I had integrity, maybe I would stand up and go, ‘I’m out.’ Or maybe the integrity thing to do would be to stay in it and keep fighting in the foxhole.”
Earlier this year, Paramount announced “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” will end in 2026 — a decision widely read as fallout from Colbert’s criticism of the company’s $16 million settlement with Donald Trump over edits to a “60 Minutes” interview with Vice President Kamala Harris. (Colbert called the move a “big, fat bribe.” The network maintained that the decision was purely financial.) Stewart has also questioned the deal and its implications for press independence.
Meanwhile, Paramount Skydance has continued restructuring CBS News, appointing former Hudson Institute CEO Kenneth Weinstein as ombudsman and journalist Bari Weiss as editor-in-chief after acquiring her outlet The Free Press.
For now, at least, Stewart seems intent on staying in the fight. “You don’t compromise on what you do,” he said. “And you do it until they tell you to leave.”
