Jon Stewart leaving ‘The Daily Show’ at year’s end

First Stephen Colbert, and now Jon Stewart. Clearly, the world of late-night TV on Comedy Central is changing fast.

Today, the network confirmed that the host of “The Daily Show” will be leaving his post at the end of the year, where he has spent most of the past 16 years providing spot-on comedy and commentary on all things pop culture. He became the official host of the show following Craig Kilborn in 1999, and he has hosted almost every show since. The only exception was a summer when he went away to film “Rosewater,” and John Oliver stepped in to be his host. In their statement below, you can see just how much the network is clearly going to miss him. (Stewart also announced the news at a taping for his Tuesday show, and his contract was up later this year.)

Who could replace Jon? That is something we’ll be spending quite a bit of time wondering, but we’d say for now that the favorite could be Jason Jones or Samantha Bee, who have both been longtime contributors to the show and have displayed a fantastic talent in this field. This is such a specific role that we don’t know how to fill it with someone unfamiliar to viewers. Who knows? Maybe the network re-brands entirely and tries something different than “The Daily Show.”

One thing is for sure here, and that is that Comedy Central will probably never be the same. He hosted the network’s most-popular show, and really was one of the biggest reasons why a younger generation became invested in politics and current events. He will probably never take credit for his role in changing the culture, but that does not minimize his contributions in the slightest.

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