When it rains it pours at Comedy Central what with Stephen Colbert off to ABC and now Jon Stewart off to have dinner with his kids on school nights. Stewart said he expects to leave sometime between July and December. Five of the Republican debates will be December and earlier so I hope he stays long enough to eviscerate the on stage clown faction.
Jon Stewart had that magic few enjoy with his ability to be affable, smart, funny and a power broker all in one. After all, he single handedly destroyed CNN Crossfire, made such fun of Glenn Beck Fox had to let him go, and does better with the Millennials than any other host – where the future lies.
As to why he is leaving? He has young kids at home and 17 years is a long time to miss the evening family time. He also recently got a taste of making movies and found himself good at it. And of course like Mike Huckabee, he has to quit his network employment to challenge Hillary for that White House job.
The big talky-talk is who will replace him. Looking around the net many names are popping up like Bill Maher, Seth Meyers, Craig Ferguson, Stephen Colbert, Larry Wilmore and so on. Personally I would like to see tag team Sam Bee and husband Jason Jones take it on a Weekend Update spin with teeth rather than Lorne Michaels’ gums.
Remember though, Jon Stewart was unknown when he began so I am going to go out on a limb to predict his replacement will be in house, witty and likable Midnight host Chris Hardwick.