Why Jon Stewart Is Leaving the “Daily Show”

Jon Stewart Portrait Session

It’s almost time to say goodbye

The shock of Jon Stewart calling it quits on the the Daily Show, in what seemed out of the blue, had many people questioning why. Although Jon has kept things under wraps since announcing his retirement, a piece in the Guardian shed some light as to his thought process behind his departure and why things may be better without him after 19 years.

We’re still a few months from seeing his last episode. The last Daily Show with Jon Stewart is scheduled to air on August 6, 2015.

Check out what he told The Guardian below.

Emotional drain

Watching these channels all day is incredibly depressing. … I live in a constant state of depression. I think of us as turd miners. I put on my helmet, I go and mine turds, hopefully I don’t get turd lung disease.

2016 Election

If anything, it was the prospect of the upcoming US election that pushed him to leave the show. I’d covered an election four times, and it didn’t appear that there was going to be anything wildly different about this one. I also felt that, for the show, you don’t want to leave when the cupboard’s bare. So I think it’s a better introduction when you have something providing you with assisted fuel, like a presidential campaign. But really, the value of this show is so much deeper than my contribution.

Family and fatherhood

Beyond that, it would be nice to be home when my little elves [Nathan and Maggie] get home from school, occasionally.

Dissatisfaction

It’s not like I thought the show wasn’t working any more, or that I didn’t know how to do it. It was more, “Yup, it’s working.” But I’m not getting the same satisfaction. … These things are cyclical. You have moments of dissatisfaction, and then you come out of it and it’s OK. But the cycles become longer and maybe more entrenched, and that’s when you realize, “OK, I’m on the back side of it now.”

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