Jon Stewart is getting ready to head into the home stretch of The Daily Show. His last show is set for August 6 and the last batch of new episodes begins Monday. It’s expected that his final dozen shows will contain a collection of big names and/or Stewart’s favorite guests. And now we have the date for the biggest name of them all. President Obama will make one last appearance to say goodbye to Jon Stewart.
Comedy Central has announced that Barack Obama will appear on the July 21 episode of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. It marks Obama’s seventh total appearance on the show, and third since taking office as President. Stewart has never been one to shy away from tough questions, even on what is still ostensibly a comedy show, as he has previously asked the President about serious topics, like the Benghazi scandal, when he has been on the show in the past. Expect the interview to cover a range of topics from the current presidential candidates looking to replace him (we’ll call that the comedy portion) to the recent nuclear deal with Iran (a little more serious).
While the President’s own availability likely had a lot to do with the setting of the schedule, when you’ve got the POTUS in week one where do you go from there? That’s a name that works well in your final episode. Although we wouldn’t be surprised to see the new host of The Late Show stop by at some point close to the end. Just a thought. Comedy Central is not listing any guests beyond the first week so we'll have to see where things go from here.
Stewart announced in February he would be leaving The Daily Show after 16 years at the helm. Correspondent Trevor Noah will be taking over in September. While the show has done a handful of retrospective bits in recent weeks looking back at Jon’s long tenure (seriously, does anybody else even remember Craig Kilborn at this point?), little has been announced regarding any special farewell plans, beyond a possible segment dedicated to Jon’s favorite targets taking aim at him. Something we figure Donald Trump is looking forward to. Maybe Stewart can get the President to name a battleship after him or something.
The President seems to always enjoy his time on the Daily Show which makes for an entertaining interview, regardless of political persuasion. While we’re not looking forward to saying goodbye to Jon Stewart we do expect to enjoy these last few, bittersweet weeks. We’re also very curious what The Daily Show with Trevor Noah will be all about.
