‘Daily Show’s Jon Stewart re-ups, while Comedy Central launches Web site for the faux newscast
October 19, 2007
NEW YORK – You’ll be seeing Jon Stewart on the air with “The Daily Show” for at least three more years. And you can go online to see him on past episodes stretching back to 1999.
Stewart has signed a two-year contract extension that keeps him in the anchor chair of his Comedy Central “faux news” show through 2010, the network announced Thursday. His contract had been set to expire at the end of 2008.
In a separate announcement, Comedy Central unveiled a stand-alone “Daily Show” Web site stocked with video clips from every episode since January 1999, when Stewart took over.
Visitors to that new site (separate from the Comedy Central site) can watch video clips from the most recent “Daily Show,” as well as the week’s highlights and some 13,000 videos spanning the full Stewart era. There are also episode synopses, games and mobile content, among other features supplementing the Emmy- and Peabody Award-winning series.
Stewart, 44, joined the satirical newscast on Jan. 11, 1999, succeeding Craig Kilborn, its host since the show began in July 1996.
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Besides his anchoring duties, Stewart will continue as an executive producer and writer of “The Daily Show.” His Busboy Productions also produces the successful spin-off “The Colbert Report,” starring Stephen Colbert as a mock-conservative pundit.
Colbert made (faux) news earlier this week by announcing his candidacy for president.
“I look forward to using this extension to having great fun at President Colbert’s expense,” Stewart said.
“The Daily Show” airs Monday through Thursday at 11 p.m. EDT, with several re-airings.