Over 16 years ago, actor and comedian Jon Stewart took over as host of The Daily Show, replacing Craig Kilborn, who hosted the Comedy Central show for the first two-plus years of its existence. Over 2,200 episodes later, Stewart is still dominating a news entertainment space that he essentially created, but one that he will soon be departing.
He is scheduled to host his last Daily Show on August 6th, giving way to South African comedian Trevor Noah. Like Noah, the hilarious and extremely reasonable Stewart was not quite a household name when taking over the show in January 1999, with most people still knowing him better for his role in Big Daddy than his comedy bits. However, he has blossomed into one of the most well-liked and amusing television personalities of all-time over the last 16 years.
As his reign atop the Daily Show mountain continues to wind down, check out a commercial promo for his premiere Daily Show episode from 1999:
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