COMEDIANS and commentators have voiced their dismay after Jon Stewart, famed for his biting television satire of politicians and the media, announced he is leaving his job at The Daily Show.
Stewart, 52, who has starred on the US show since 1999, said he had no specific plans for his next career move, but was thankful for the opportunity to host the programme, which is a hit on both sides of the Atlantic.
"It's been an absolute privilege," said an emotional Stewart. "It's been the honour of my professional life, and I thank you for watching it, for hate-watching it, whatever reason you are tuning in for."
His announcement sparked a flood of tributes on social media, with JK Rowling describing The Daily Show as "one of my favourite TV programmes ever". "That's major news to get over your morning tea," she said, using the hashtag #BritishGrief.
Scots presenter Craig Ferguson sent his congratulations too Stewart on an "extraordinary groundbreaking run" while Frankie Boyle tweeted: "Hopefully some of the stuff about Jon Stewart retiring will mention that we don't have anything like his show here because we're not allowed."
Actor Hugh Laurie added: "Devastated that Jon Stewart is standing down. The thin comic line is breached and the barbarians are upon us."
The New York-based The Daily Show is expected to continue, the network said, but a replacement for Stewart has yet to be named.
"Through his unique voice and vision, The Daily Show has become a cultural touchstone for millions of fans and an unparalleled platform for political comedy that will endure for years to come," Comedy Central President Michele Ganeless said.
Stewart replaced Craig Kilborn roughly 15 years ago as host of the late-night cable programme, which has won Peabody and Emmy awards.
"17 years is the longest I have ever in my life held a job, by 16 years and five months," Stewart said on Tuesday night's broadcast.
"The upshot there being I am a terrible employee. But in my heart, I know it is time for someone else to have that opportunity," he added, prompting boos from the audience.
The Daily Show averages slightly more than one million viewers a night, a far smaller audience than his late-night competition on broadcast networks, but Stewart's lampooning of elected and would-be office-holders, journalists and other public figures has made him a darling of the political left.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article