Stephen Colbert Makes Jon Stewart Cry With Touching Tribute

Stewart, 52, announced last winter that he was getting restless and wanted to move on. “I thought Trevor had started by now”, a reference to Stewart’s replacement Trevor Noah, who takes over in late September. At the end of the correspondents’ segment, his greatest disciple, Stephen Colbert, took a seat at the desk to go off-prompter, likening him, in Colbertian high-nerd fashion, to Frodo in The Lord of the Rings, who bore the Ring of media criticism and satire for us all these years. Instead of focusing too much on himself, Stewart nobly put the spotlight on everyone else involved in his almost 17-year run on the show, paying tribute to his correspondents and the staff that remained anonymous behind camera the entire time.

“From start to finish, it was fantastic”, said audience member Randy Gunnell, 29, of Westchester, N.Y. He acknowledged the kind of B.S. that wasn’t harmful, white lies that “keeps people from making each other cry all day“.

“It was definitely not a regular show”. “It will be quick if you just hold still”. “They sort of hinted and gave you a nibble… and then it was on to everything else to sort of commemorate this last moment”.

Fans of “The Daily Show” may compare the departure of longtime anchor Jon Stewart to losing an old friend. The fact that, every so often, even Stewart couldn’t make the news amusing was further proof of his decency, his suitability as an emotional barometer.

After Stewart said he didn’t have enough correspondents to cover all the Republicans running for president, guests began joining him, including Lewis Black, John Hodgman, Kristen Schaal and Steve Carell. “I’ve been in show business a long time … this is the most lovely place I’ve ever been”.

In 2010, Stewart and fellow satirist Stephen Colbert drew more than 200,000 people to Washington for what they called “The Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear”. A taped message from previous Daily Show host Craig Kilbourn said. Stewart exclaimed before he channeled Benedict Cumberbatch and performed a basic-cable version of “Hamlet”.

The host was joined by numerous sidekicks whose careers were formed on the late night show, and there were clips from some of the well known faces he has poked fun at over the years. Even Wyatt Cenac – who recently alleged that Stewart cursed him out during a heated argument behind the scenes – made an appearance (albeit not in the studio) to assure the host, “Yeah, I’m good”. “Have I caused this?”

Jeff Vasquez, 31, and Mike Kerrigan, 26, both drove down from Rhode Island and waited in line from 9:30 a.m.to see Stewart off on Wednesday. “I knew you were going to run this thing into the ground”.

Stewart proved so popular that he eventually left the Daily Show to host Last Week Tonight on HBO, a satirical news show similar to the Daily Show.