Comedy CentralEven though Jon Stewart can't be convinced to stay on as host of The Daily Show, he is willing to share who he wants to take over for him once he inevitably parts ways with the long-running Comedy Central show.
Well, not specifically who but rather what he wants to see in his successor. As the face of The Daily Show for the past 16 years, Stewart has figured out what works and doesn't work in its format, but also knows that it's time for a shake-up.
"What I want to see there is the next iteration of this idea," Stewart told Catie Lazarus, host of February's Employee of the Month show, per The Hollywood Reporter. "I feel like the tributaries of my brain combined with the rigidity of the format. I feel like I used every permutation of that I could possibly use."
Naturally, he mentioned former Daily Show correspondent John Oliver as an example of someone who could move the process forward. Unfortunately for fans and viewers everywhere, Oliver will continue to stay at HBO and host Last Week Tonight, as it has been renewed through 2017! But Stewart said that he looked forward to finding someone who could take his show to the next level.
"I would love to see the next iteration of that...and it's exciting to watch it evolve and see it mutate and change and fill different gaps and different ideas," he continued. "That's the part that I'm looking forward to seeing."
Even though he's handing over the reigns to someone else, he did promise that he wouldn't be completely retiring from the entertainment industry; he just needed to spend more time at home with his wife and kids.
"I just needed more flexibility," he said, alluding to his rigorous schedule. "I got maybe four or five more years with the kids until they really don't want anything to do with me. And I'm just not there. You can't [work from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.] for 16 years and think you're going to be able to tell them to not smoke pot. You can't show up at 9 p.m. and go, 'Don't get high. OK, goodnight, sweetheart.'"
Having recently directed Rosewater, Stewart admitted that he "would like to" direct again, but that's not one of the main reasons behind his decision to depart the show. He hinted that he is also leaving because he didn't want to become complacent in his chair.
"I think I got to a certain point where I thought you shouldn't stay somewhere just because you can," he said.
As for what he'll miss most about the show—the people, of course!
"The thing I'll miss the most I think is that sort of thoughtful conversation in the morning that turns into a rewrite dance party," he said. "That feeling of...we're all bereft and we're having a very tough conversation in the morning and then finding something by 4:30 or 5 in that rewrite room that still gives us that stupid, childlike jolt of joy, that...joy machine."
He added, "The actual being on TV part has become sort of peripheral to the experience of making it. And I'll miss the experience of making it much more than the experience of presenting it."