Replacing Jon Stewart: Good Luck With That - Error Code Show


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Jon Stewart is (sort of) back at The Daily Show, but let’s be honest—it’s not forever. So who could actually replace him when he steps away again? In this episode, we play the impossible game: guessing who might be able to carry the show’s legacy. From bold-faced names to long shots to "why not let it die," we go through the real contenders, the weird ideas, and the harsh truth that The Daily Show may never find another Jon Stewart… because there isn’t one. 📰 Satire is in trouble. Let’s talk about it.
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Some years ago, right, after Stephen Colbert
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abandoned the Colbert Report, went to the Late
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Show, which I don't blame him. I mean, it was
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a big pile of money. They backed him to his house.
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John Stewart retires, right? And I don't blame
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him. And if you read his stuff, the amount of
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work it took to put that show on and be topical
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every single day, it's hard. Like that is work
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right there. And the guy was finally just worn
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out. And I don't blame him at all. So he he nominates
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Trevor Noah To succeed him at The Daily Show
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and I liked Trevor and I don't think he did a
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bad job But I don't think he was the right host
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for that show Now John went did his thing with
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Apple for a little bit and then apparently got
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into a thing with Apple and he left Apple and
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by the way If you didn't watch the problem with
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Jon Stewart on Apple, it was great The shows
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he did until he made Apple mad And then he decides,
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okay, I'm going to do one day a week, right?
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John does Mondays on The Daily Show. And apparently
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the ratings are going back up since John came
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back. And then they rotate correspondence into
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the host chair the other three days of the week.
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Who do you get to, because eventually John's
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either going to die or walk away. Who do you
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get to replace him? Number one. And number two.
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Can you replace John Stewart or Has Has he become
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so intrinsic to what the Daily Show is that there's
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just no way to replace him I I don't think you
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can honestly replace him to be honest at this
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point. I don't think you can He's anxious it's
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it's John or bust Yep Yeah, I I I would have
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said John Oliver had John Oliver not been moved
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away to HBO Prior to to John doing the Daily
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Show leaving the Daily Show John Oliver was probably
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the one I would have I would have picked Actually
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I just had a better idea. I just had a great
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idea. Because Stephen Colbert, he's made his
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money, right? He's done. He's good. He's filthy
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rich. He never has to work again if he doesn't
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want to. Why not bring Stephen in? Because you
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know what? That's the other person I could see
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doing it. I can see Stephen doing that segment.
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I can see him. And the other thing that's good
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about The Daily Show is John got really good
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at those interviews, right? He knows how to press
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in those interviews. He knows how to make them
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fun. He knows how to do them really well. Could
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you, could you put Stephen in that chair and
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would that work? Now that the late show's done.
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And he doesn't need money. Let's say Stephen
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Colbert came back to Paramount and said, look,
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I'll do it for twenty thousand an episode. I'll
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do it for a buck an episode. Who cares? Right.
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Could you see him in that chair? Yeah, I could.
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Totally. I think that's what they got to do.
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They got to I don't. The problem is you got to
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find somebody who can hold up their own show.
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The reason Stephen Colbert did so well is he
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started on The Daily Show as a correspondent,
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then he did the Colbert Report, right? And he
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could carry his own show, right? John Oliver
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can carry his own show. I don't see anybody on
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there. Like, I like Desi Lydic. I like Josh Johnson.
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I like the guys that got on the show, but I don't
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see how any of them can carry that whole show.
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Yeah. Yeah, I don't think so. YouTube chat, somebody
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say, John, Josh Johnson would have me watching
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every night. Do you watch the Josh Johnson episodes?
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Which he's the young black guy. Oh, yeah. He's
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coming to Seattle. I think we actually have tickets
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to see his stand up. Yeah. I would actually watch
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him do stand up. He is coming to Seattle next
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August. Yep. So what do you think? Could he carry
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the show? I don't. He's funny. I watch his stuff.
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He is really really funny, but I don't know if
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he I I haven't ever seen him interview people
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So that's the only thing doesn't he do the interviews
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the nights that he hosts I think so Are you one
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of those people that cuts it off at the interview
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Sometimes I don't think he would do it. But my
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favorite one is actually Ronnie Chang Oh I I
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love Ronnie I I do really like him. I would put
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Josh above though personally Really? Yeah, but
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I mean, you know, this is like Soft -served versus
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Blizzard, you know, you're just kind of your
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own taste. I don't know Yeah, I really like Ronnie
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Chang I don't know what they're going to do when
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John finally is done done. I don't I don't know.
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The problem is, is that he got. He John had the
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the Afghanistan and Iraq wars to really hone
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everything that he was doing and all the bullshit
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of the Bush administration and. And it was actually
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funny because like when he was doing his Apple
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show and I would see him interviewing these like
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the attorney general from Alabama or wherever
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and I'm like Why do you people let like why do
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you people go to these interviews with John Stewart?
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He's going to cry. He's too good at it Because
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he's been doing it for 26 years 25 years right?
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He's just He's he's had so much practice and
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that's part of the problem is you need a situation
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and I doubt and what's funny is John said this
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when he left because he left right around the
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time that Trump was running for president like
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he left in that era because he didn't want to
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be the one to do it and He knew that somebody
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needed something completely absurd like they
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were in Iraq To practice on to like hone what
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they were doing right and and that's you need
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somebody who can hone what they're doing and
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that's actually the other reason i don't think
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the rotational thing's working because none of
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them are getting enough reps in this absurd environment
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to do it the way that john does to carry the
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show does that make is anything that i'm saying
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making sense now well i stopped listening after
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the blizzard No, I'm just kidding. I'm kidding.
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No, yeah, it does. It does. That does make a
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really good point. It does make sense. I I've
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also heard that like late night shows are actually
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going down, but they're slowly fading away. They
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are slowly that daily show. They've got a good
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YouTube run. Right. Yeah. They actually just
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hit a 10 year high. On the Daily Show. Oh. On
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YouTube? On the Nielsen's. Oh. The Daily Show
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is up 44 % from a year ago. Their share went
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from 2 .9 to 4 .17 in 2025. Up 15 % in pure ratings
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numbers. Live rating went from 342 to 393 ,000
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for live. And then his Mondays, that's the average
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for the whole show. The Mondays went from a 4
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.19 to a 6 .01 share live viewing on John's nights,
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right? So we said the average for the show writ
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large is 393. John's nights are 550 ,000 for
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live view, not rewatch. And it's up 21 % on Paramount
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Plus compared to a year ago. That's really what
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that's streaming. Wow. Tank. We should just do
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that. I don't know. I'm saying like they're actually
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going up in this era. The Daily Show is is and
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this is from 10 days ago. That's when those numbers
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came out. Hmm. That's interesting. So everybody
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else is kind of having a hard time the Daily
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Show is resurgent That's really good. Hey also
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Comedy Central if you'd like to hire Jay and
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I to co -host the Daily Show I could sing the
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theme song Yeah, maybe I could be like a security
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person sitting off to the side John was commented
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the other day about how he needed a live band.
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He could be the live band We'll make you we'll
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get you one of those one -man band like Get ups
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with like yeah the thing and the two of the D
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symbols. I think you'd be great at that. I I'm
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willing to try it. Let's do it