“The Daily Show” has finally found a new, er old, host: Jon Stewart.
The Comedy Central stalwart will return to the show as a once-weekly host throughout the 2024 election cycle, Paramount Global executives told Variety Wednesday. He will also serve as an executive producer.
According to Deadline, Stewart will return Feb. 12.
Other days of the week will be hosted by the show’s correspondents, including Desi Lydic, Michael Kosta, Ronna Chieng and Jordan Klepper.
The show confirmed the news on social media, framing the development as the day’s “Moment of Zen.” The “Moment of Zen,” a daily, out-of-context clip played at the end of the show, was popularized by Stewart as a former host.
Madeleine Smithberg, the co-creator of “The Daily Show,” celebrated his return in a statement to HuffPost.Stewart shepherded the late night show to prominence as host from 1999 to 2015, winning the Emmy for Outstanding Variety Series for 10 straight years from 2003 to 2012.
He was succeeded by Trevor Noah, who stepped back from the role in 2022 after seven years at the helm.
“Finally there will be a voice of reason in the torrent of coverage around this (possibly literal) fight to the death between fascism and democracy. (At least on Mondays),” she said. “I am so proud that the show Lizz [Winstead] and I created, and which I ran for 7 years, continues to be not only relevant but vital.”
“The Daily Show” had been without a permanent host for more than a year, prompting longtime correspondent Roy Wood Jr. to leave after he wasn’t offered the gig.
Wood called out his former employer when the comedy show won an Emmy last week, silently mouthing “Please hire a host” from the stage.
“Jon Stewart is the voice of our generation, and we are honored to have him return to Comedy Central’s ‘The Daily Show’ to help us all make sense of the insanity and division roiling the country as we enter the election season,” Chris McCarthy, President/CEO of Showtime/MTV Entertainment Studios, said in a prepared statement. “In our age of staggering hypocrisy and performative politics, Jon is the perfect person to puncture the empty rhetoric and provide much-needed clarity with his brilliant wit.”
This post was originally published on HuffPost.