Jon Stewart on the Perilous State of Late Night and Why America Fell for Donald Trump

The Political Scene | The New Yorker

The New Yorker

Politics, Obama, News, Wnyc, Washington, Barack, President, Lizza, Wickenden

4.2 • 3.3K Ratings

🗓️ 3 November 2025

⏱️ 48 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Jon Stewart has been a leading figure in political comedy since before the turn of the millennium. But compared to his early years on Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show”—when Stewart was merciless in his attacks on George W. Bush’s Administration—these are much more challenging times for late-night comedians. Jimmy Kimmel nearly lost his job over a remark about MAGA supporters of Charlie Kirk, after the head of the F.C.C. threatened ABC. CBS recently announced the cancellation of Stephen Colbert’s program. And Stewart now finds himself very near the hot seat: Comedy Central is controlled by David Ellison, the Trump-friendly C.E.O. of the recently merged Paramount Skydance. Stewart’s contract comes up in December. “You’re going to sign another one?” David Remnick asked him, in a live interview at The New Yorker Festival. “We’re working on staying,” Stewart said. “You don’t compromise on what you do. You do it till they tell you to leave. That’s all you can do.” Stewart, moreover, doesn’t blame solely Donald Trump for recent attacks on the independence of the media, universities, and other institutions. “This is the hardest truth for us to get at, is that [these] institutions . . . have problems. They do. And, if we don’t address those problems in a forthright way, then those institutions become vulnerable to this kind of assault. Credibility is not something that was just taken. It was also lost.” In fact, Stewart also directs his ire at “the Democratic Party, [which] thinks it’s O.K. for their Senate to be an assisted-living facility.” “In the general-populace mind, government no longer serves the interests of the people it purports to represent. That’s a broad-based, deep feeling. And that helps when someone comes along and goes, ‘The system is rigged,’ and people go, ‘Yeah, it is rigged.’ Now, he’s a good diagnostician. I don’t particularly care for his remedy.”

This episode was recorded live at The New Yorker Festival, on October 26, 2025.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	You're listening to the political scene.
0:07.0	I'm David Remnick.
0:08.3	Early each week, we bring you a conversation from our episode of The New Yorker Radio Hour.
0:16.1	This is The New Yorker Radio Hour, a co-production of WNYC Studios and The New Yorker.
0:23.3	Welcome to The New Yorker Radio Hour.
0:25.3	I'm David Remnick.
0:26.5	In September, right after Jimmy Kimmel was suspended from his late-night talk show,
0:31.0	John Stewart went on the air with a special episode of The Daily Show.
0:36.3	From Comedy Central, it's the all-new government-approved Daily Show.
0:42.4	With your patriotically obedient host, John Stewart.
0:48.5	The joke, of course, was that they'd done a full rebranding and the high style of MAGO is on display.
0:54.8	Flags flying, jet fighters soaring, the studio slathered in gold, and the desk is gigantic.
1:01.9	Stewart, in a red tie, looks like he's going to lose his lunch.
1:06.2	We have another fun, hilarious, administration-compliant show.
1:14.6	He's so anxious, he's actually twitching.
1:18.2	We're coming to you tonight from a real shithole!
1:21.9	The crime-ridden cesspool that is New York City.
1:24.8	It is a tremendous disaster!
1:29.3	Like no one's ever seen before.
1:34.7	Someone's National Guard should invade this place, am I right?
1:45.1	That night was a real reminder of why after 25 years plus we still very much need John Stewart on the air.
1:51.1	But compared to his early years on the show, the era of George W. Bush, this is a much more dangerous time for late night and for speech and for America. Kimmel nearly lost his job over a
	...

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