Jon Stewart Announced His Retirement From The Daily Show 6 Years Ago

On February 10, 2015, Jon Stewart announced that he was leaving The Daily Show, which he began hosting in January of 1999. In this clip, he cites restlessness, the desire to actually have dinner with his family on a school night as his reasons

Stewarts announcement came amid a wave of pseudo-retirements from a generation of late night television hosts. Jay Leno had left The Tonight Show (for the second time) the year before, Craig Ferguson had left The Late Late Show and David Letterman was about to leave The Late Show. Even his partner in crime, Stephen Colbert, had ended The Colbert Report and was moving up to replace Letterman, a job Stewart had been rumored for in the past. 

Stewart did not officially leave until August of that year, handing off the reins to Trevor Noah, but he did emotional making this announcement, which had been preceded by igns that he was being worn down by the relentlessness of the 24-hour news cycle. Stewart is slated to return to TV sometime this year with a new Apple TV+ show.

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Aaron Barnhart has written about television since 1994, including 15 years as TV critic for the Kansas City Star.