14 DAY TRIAL // After nearly 17 years at the helm of Comedy Central’s The Daily Show, it’s over and out for Jon Stewart. Stewart announced his decision to step down in January this year, so fans had several months to get used to the idea.
That still didn’t make the parting moment an easy one.
The final episode, which clocked in at 50 minutes, included celebrity cameos, appearances from all Daily Show former correspondents and plenty of moments when the tears flowed freely.
Steve Carrell, Ed Helms and Martin Scorsese came to say goodbye, as also did John Oliver, Kristen Schaal and John Hodgman. However, no other moment was as emotional as the one when Stephen Colbert told his former mentor exactly why he was terribly thankful and indebted to him.
When Colbert strayed off the script, Stewart knew that he was in for a bumpy ride, but no matter how badly he tried to stop him from continuing, he couldn’t. Colbert had come to let him know exactly what he felt and he did just that. By the time he was over, Stewart was in tears, and probably so were many members of the audience.
That segment is embedded below. The second video available is Stewart’s final goodbye. The full episode can be seen on Comedy Central.