Jon Stewart Is Leaving The Daily Show But It Will All Be OK…Eventually

This is what I’ve been telling myself anyway.

Today Comedy Central announced that Jon Stewart is leaving The Daily Show.

In 1998 I got married and moved to the NYC area. I was working here and there as an extra on various TV shows and movies and auditioning for better things, but I had a lot of time on my hands. I was determined to make the most of living here and one of the first things I did was send a postcard to The Daily Show to try to get tickets to a taping.

Yes, a postcard. I had to mail a postcard to the show. With a stamp. The internet existed, but it was, shall we say, not all that useful yet. Every billboard had a website written on it but none of those sites really did anything yet. You definitely couldn’t sign up for a show taping online. And even if you could, I don’t think I had an email address yet.

When the show got my postcard they called me (yes, on the phone!) to find out what dates I was available to attend. But here was the thing: THERE WERE NO MORE SEATS LEFT FOR CRAIG KILBORN.

See, Craig Kilborn was the host of The Daily Show. And he was leaving for bigger and better things. And I really really wanted to see him do a show because who the hell were they going to get to replace him?

Turns out it was a comedian named Jon Stewart. Nobody wanted to attend a taping with the new guy, so there were plenty of seats. I could pick any date I wanted.

So, I went to see the new guy on his seventh day of hosting, in January of 1999. He was so new, he was still referencing Craig Kilborn’s awesome “Five Questions” bit, which Kilborn had claimed as intellectual property and taken with him to CBS.

Take a look at the opening from that episode. Jon was just a baby!

Despite the intro, I did not actually get to see Michael Stipe’s interview. Our audience saw David Cross from Mr. Show, which aired the following week. I think that was the first time I’d ever been to a TV show taping in NYC, and it was fun. The new guy though? I wasn’t convinced. The show seemed to be all about politics with the new guy! What the hell was that all about?

Well, fifteen years later we all know what the hell that was about. Jon Stewart has changed how I look at news. I’m so glad I gave him a chance. He’s a genius. He’s leaving some big, funny, insightful, ballsy shoes to fill.

I hope Comedy Central takes the same care in choosing a new host, and I swear I’ll give him – or HER! – a chance.