It’s been over six years since The Daily Show veteran Jon Stewart passed the hosting reins over to Trevor Noah and, now, the long time comedian and political host is preparing to make his return to TV. Stewart has a new streaming show coming to Apple TV+, and it doesn't seem to be too far removed from the work he did on Comedy Central for so long. Just recently, the talented TV personality actually explained how his new show, The Problem With Jon Stewart, compares to to his original one.
Jon Stewart is known for taking political issues pretty seriously, even if he can make some pretty spectacular jokes about them in the process. When it comes to The Problem With Jon Stewart, it appears as though he is tackling some pretty substantial issues that are facing people today. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Stewart described the first two episodes of the show and went into detail about how such subject matter could be covered on The Daily Show. Here is how he puts it, exactly:
I’m really interested in that area that exists between rhetoric and reality. So, the first episode deals with service people, and everyone’s like, ‘Oh, we love our military.’ Well, I don’t know if you’ve been paying attention, but they might not be feeling the love. And the second episode is about essential workers and the idea that they’re not the beneficiaries of any of the interventions. Honestly, it’s the same things that animated The Daily Show, we’re just adjusting the dials slightly. If The Daily Show was the weather report, I thought maybe it’d be interesting to do something that was [about] the climate. Now, one of the beautiful things about The Daily Show is that it was forgiving. When we shit the bed, there was always that, ‘Well, we’ll get it tomorrow.’
Despite this, The Problem With Jon Stewart isn’t The Daily Show and, during that same interview, Stewart made sure to make note of the differences. Stewart pretty much made a name for himself by injecting sharp humor into the political happenings of the day. However, it sounds like he's changed his approach in a significant way for this show In addition, the Emmy-winning host also discussed the massive expectations that come with this new project and shared how he's handling them. Here it is in his own words:
But also, in some ways, it can be more satisfying. I like that this is more of a conversation. It’s probably a terrible pitch for the show — ‘it’s The Daily Show, but less entertaining’ — but also maybe more complete. And people will ask, “How are you going to live up to expectations?” Well, I’m not, and I never have. That’s not why we do it. We make things, and sometimes those things disappoint people and sometimes they really like them.
Jon Stewart seems completely conscious of the challenge that lies before him with this new show. The fact that he's drowning out the noise and not focusing on the expectations is also a smart way to approach things. For a taste of what you can expect, check out the trailer for The Problem With Jon Stewart down below:
Jon Stewart hosted The Daily Show for over 15 years and really managed to strike a chord with audiences during his time on the air. Needless to say, longtime fans have surely been missing him. It'll be interesting to see what the veteran TV presenter has in store for audiences when The Problem With Jon Stewart makes its debut on Apple TV+ on September 30.
