Confirmed: Jon Stewart to Leave ‘The Daily Show’

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After 16 years transforming a goofball “Weekend Update” knockoff into must-watch programming that frequently embarrassed “real” journalists and elevated national debate, Jon Stewart is calling it quits.

The “Daily Show” host will leave a legacy of brilliant, funny, biting commentary, some of which is posted below. His interviews were often tougher than those conducted by the broadcasters he meant to parody. His news analysis bested anyone else’s on television. And he oversaw a farm team of talent that gave us Stephen Colbert, Steve Carell, John Oliver and Larry Wilmore, three of whom now have their own “Daily Show” spinoffs.

Comedy Central confirmed the news in a tweet, saying, “Jon will remain at the helm of The Daily Show until later this year.”

Below are what we earlier decided were the best “Daily Show” clips from 2014.

— Posted by Peter Z. Scheer

Repost from Jan. 1:

It’s been a bit of a crazy year for news, but thankfully Jon Stewart and the Best F#@king News Team Ever helped us get in a few laughs as we came to terms with the world as it was in 2014.

Jon Stewart Loses His Cool and His Sense of Humor Over the Eric Garner Grand Jury Ruling “If comedy is tragedy plus time, I need more fucking time,” said “The Daily Show” host as he tried to digest the news about another unarmed black man’s death being treated unjustly. “But I would really settle for less fucking tragedy.”

This ‘Daily Show’ Segment Reveals the Absurd Misconceptions Behind U.S. Anti-Immigration Sentiment Who knew immigrating to America came with free computers and health care?

Jon Stewart Explains Climate Change for Dummies or the House Committee on Science and Technology Using a cup of water and bowl of ice, the “Daily Show” host tries to show an exceptionally stubborn House representative why his metaphor about climate change is faulty.

What Happens to Reporters Who Mention Israel Watch as Jon Stewart gets hollered at by the rest of the “Daily Show” crew whenever he tries to talk about what’s going on in Israel.

New ‘Daily Show’ Contributor Puts America to Shame With a Comparison to Africa In a segment hilariously titled “Spot the Africa,” the latest addition to the “Daily Show” team, Trevor Noah, compares conditions in his home continent of Africa to those in the U.S. Let’s just say the truth is more than a little unpleasant.

Women Just Spend Their Whole Day Navigating a Course of Sexual Menace Jon Stewart, accompanied by correspondents Jessica Williams and Jordan Klepper, explains how American universities are practically “incentiviz[ing] sexual assault” these days with inaction and leniency toward attackers.

America Has Reached ‘Breakthrough’ in the Way That We Deal With Mass Shootings Why don’t we just accept the senseless killings that most developed countries don’t experience as an inevitable fact of American life and stop trying to fix them?

President Obama Is Like ‘Barry Bombs’ of Drone Strikes The “Daily Show” host explains how the true difference between administrations is “not necessarily what they do but what they say to get to do it.”

‘Daily Show’ Correspondent Discovers Medicare Has Spent $172 Million on Penis Pumps Clearly restoring “the glory” of male erections is a more pressing health matter than providing contraceptives for women.

‘If You’re Poor, Stop Being Poor,’ Fox Commentator Says to ‘Daily Show’ Correspondent According to “Fox Business” commentator Todd Wilemon, the U.S. will slowly slip into Third World status thanks to the Affordable Care Act, so “Daily Show” correspondent Aasif Mandvi set out to see what will happen to the “best health care system in the world.”

If you want to watch more of “The Daily Show’s” 2014 clips, click here and here.

—Posted by Natasha Hakimi Zapata