Comedy Central confirms it, dates it for later this year

Feb 11, 2015 10:57 GMT  ·  By

Jon Stewart has been getting “restless” as host of The Daily Show on Comedy Central. He’s been host of the show since 1999, when he took over from Craig Kilborn, and he’s turned it into more than a comedy series: he turned it into a platform that reached millions of viewers worldwide, that occasionally worked as the voice of reason and common sense.

Because The Daily Show deserves better than someone who is restless, Jon Stewart has decided to leave this position and focus on something else, he said during the most recent taping.

You can see his emotional announcement in the video below, right under official confirmation from Comedy Central. Said confirmation only came after word of Stewart’s surprise announcement spread like wild fire online.  

Stewart wouldn’t say what he planned to do next work-wise, but he did joke about wanting to have dinner with family “on a school night” because “multiple sources” confirmed to them that his wife and kids are actually “very lovely people.”

Rumor online has it that he will probably move to his own show, much like former collaborator and good friend Stephen Colbert. He might also want to go behind the camera again, after his debut as director with “Rosewater.”

Comedy Central says that Stewart will be out sometime later this year. Between 2002 and 2012, Stewart won the show the Emmy for Best Variety Series without fail. The Daily Show has a total of 18 Emmys so far.