Comedy Central is already losing one of its biggest ratings bringers when Stephen Colbert’s The Colbert Report finishes its run at the end of the year. Now, The Daily Show host Jon Stewart has spoken out to talk about his own contract expiring in 2015, and his comments aren’t as reassuring as fans would hope.
Jon Stewart recently spoke out about leaving The Daily Show last summer to direct his first film, Rosewater. He’s now in the middle of finishing up that project while putting together new episodes of The Daily Show four nights a week. To be frank, it’s a hectic time, and to make things even more hectic is the fact that Stewart will need to confront where his career is going in the coming months. Here’s what he had to say about his plans in 2015.
“It’s so hard to think about it in the crucible of finishing the movie up and everything else. It would be like making a decision about whether or not to keep exercising at mile 24 of a marathon. So, I’m gonna try and gain some distance and perspective so that when I make the decision, it’s not when my calves are cramping.”
In the interview with The Daily Beast, Stewart doesn’t flat-out say he is done with his political-oriented talk show. He could simply be hedging his bets and trying to leverage more money when he signs a contract the next time around. He could just as easily be exhausted with his busy schedule and ready to move on to different projects. He doesn’t expressly say he is ready to retire. He also doesn’t expressly say he wants to stick with Comedy Central in the future. It sounds like he’s leaving his options open so he can figure out what he wants to do when his contract is up.
Honestly though, Stewart has to have plenty of leverage right now. Comedy Central likely doesn’t want the talk show host going anywhere, thanks to Colbert’s leaving the cabler to take over for David Letterman in 2015. The Daily Show’s own Larry Wilmer will take over The Colbert Report’s slot, but I’m sure that Comedy Central won’t want to lose a strong performer in favor of another newbie, too. It’s not like they can just pull over the successful John Oliver, either, as he’s been doing quite well over at HBO.
Jon Stewart has been hosting The Daily Show since 1999. He’s now 51 years-old and has plenty of other showbiz opportunities. Needless to say, Comedy Central likely won’t want the host to go anywhere. We’ll just have to wait and see whether the incentives will be enough to keep him around.
