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John Oliver, Jordan Klepper, Trevor Noah and Jon Stewart
Frazer Harrison/Getty Images; Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images; Amy Sussman/Getty Images; Michael Loccisano/Getty Images
How important is Jon Stewart’s return to The daily show desk? John Oliver, the former daily program correspondent turned HBO Last week tonight The host compared it to NBA legend Michael Jordan’s return to the Chicago Bulls in 1995 after retiring from the game.
“Jordan is back!” Oliver joked in an interview with NBC’s Willie Geist.
Oliver was caught as off guard as everyone else with the news, which broke in the middle of the interview with Geist.
“I mean, that’s a surprise,” Oliver said. “That’s a show that needs a host. It is certainly very, very good. So yeah, it will be exciting to see what he does.”
But he also added that the show “should name a permanent host” after Stewart’s run, naming former Peacock host Amber Ruffin and former Peacock host Amber Ruffin. daily program correspondent Roy Wood Jr. as strong contenders.
Oliver was far from the only one daily program alumni weigh in on Stewart’s return. Trevor Noah, who succeeded Stewart as president, shared a brief post on X (formerly Twitter): “Yes, yes, he’s back,” Noah posted, adding five “raised hands” emoji for good measure.
“These guys have been juicing,” he added. daily program contributor (and former correspondent) Jordan Klepper on X, adding on Instagram “welcome home, JS” under a photo of Stewart at his desk.
Troy Iwata, another correspondent, just posted a photo of a surprised Minion reacting to Stewart’s return, while fellow correspondent Grace Kuhlenschmidt shared Sugarland’s song “Stuck Like Glue” with an image of Stewart, adding: “I know “This is going to be our karaoke song.”
Stewart always had a close relationship with the team at daily program correspondents he had during his career, and the show served as a springboard to stardom, with Oliver, Samantha Bee, Hasan Minhaj and Stephen Colbert getting their own late-night shows (Stewart also serves as Colbert’s EP late show on CBS).
Other veterans of the show include Steve Carell, Ed Helms, Rob Riggle, Jason Jones, Josh Gad, Al Madrigal, Larry Wilmore and Wyatt Cenac.
Even Michael Che, now host of Saturday night live Weekend Update, had a brief career as a correspondent before jumping to SNL.
In his last show as host of The daily show (at least until he returns to the desk this year) In August 2015, Comedy Central gathered nearly all of the show’s correspondents and contributors into the show’s surprisingly cramped studio on the West Side of Manhattan.
After a sketch involving all the correspondents (and Trevor Noah, brandishing a tape measure to figure out his on-set adjustments), during a commercial break, a tearful Stewart handed out hugs. “You’re the best,” Noah could be heard telling Stewart, as the crowd of correspondents gathered around him.
We’ll see what the answer is next month, after almost a decade elsewhere.